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Long Island's four member House delegation is set to be sworn into office as part of the 119th Congress, and our Rich Barrabi is live right now in Washington with a look at everything that's happening today, Rich. Hi Jen, good morning to you, and the sun is about to rise here in Washington, and with it it will bring a new era in government. The 119th Congress, as you mentioned, will be sworn in later today and actually in just a couple of minutes, Congresswoman-elect Laura Gillan will get the keys to her new office here on Capitol Hill. So a lot of change taking place right now here in Washington. For this Long Island delegation, Gillan is the lone newcomer. The Democrat from Rockville Center defeated Congressman Anthony D Esposito in November. The Long Island delegation now has 2 Republicans and 2 Democrats. It is the GOP in the majority, but with an historically slim majority at that. The House has to elect a speaker today before they can. Sworn in, Mike Johnson wants to gavel back, but even that is no guarantee, with at least one GOP congressman already saying he won't support Johnson for Speaker. We spoke with a political consultant here in Washington who says this divided Congress could create a scenario where the New York and Long Island delegation could see strong influence on both sides of the political aisle. I think people are gonna be paying attention to them and they're gonna have a decent platform to try to push uh those issues that we talked about the 9/11 health, so tax, uh, things that are gonna be important to New York. Yeah, it's going to be very interesting to see how these 4 members of Congress carve out roles here in this new House setting, and we were going to speak today with Congresswoman-elect Laura Gillan and also the three returning congressmen Nick Loloto, Nick Lolota, Andrew Garberino, and Tom Suozzi will be interviewing all of them, and we'll be watching this fight for House Speaker here in Washington. Jen, a busy day ahead for you, Rich, and of course we'll be checking in for updates. Thank you.

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Island's 4 member house delegation is taking office as part of the 119th Congress. Our Rich Bahrabi is in Washington with everything you need to know. We just spoke with Laura Gillen inside of her new congressional office. Of course she is excited to say the least. She's here with her family today and she's set to be sworn in in just a few hours. We talked about two key issues that figure to take center stage early on in Congress. One I brought up, the other she brought up. I've been very open about where I stand on congestion pricing. I think it's an additional tax on. The constituents that I am about to start representing in just a few hours uh and it's not I I I'm dubious of the environmental impact it will actually have I think it's just a money grab, um, and people are struggling, people are having a hard time making ends meet and we have to make sure that we're also not burdening and disincentive. Advising people from coming back to New York City. New York City is a city that has to thrive, and we saw after COVID a lot of people started working at home and we saw a lot of empty office space and I think we wanna make sure Manhattan is revitalized and I think adding another burden and another reason for people to not travel there is is not productive at this time. When you look at this term, uh, what's the number one issue where you say not only do we have to do something on this, I can get this done. I can work with people to make sure we fix this problem. Well, I think we absolutely have to do something to secure the border. People on both sides of the aisle agree on that Democrats and Republicans. How it gets done is gonna be probably more of the messy part of it, but that's something that we absolutely have to prioritize. We have to we have to secure our border. We have to get our border patrol agents the resources they need. We have to make sure that we are creating a pathway um to citizenship, a legal pathway to citizenship to make sure we're incentivizing folks to come here through the front door, um, and we have to make sure that people who are here and, um, illegally and are committing crimes. are deported. Also today we're speaking with Congressman Tom Suozzi of Glen Cove and the two Republicans who are in the majority from Long Island. Congressman Andrew Garburio of Sayville and Amityville's congressman Nick Lalota. You can see more of those interviews tonight on News 12 Long Island and on all of the News 12 social platforms. We're in Washington, Rich Barabbe, News 12, Long Island.

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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was re-elected to the same position today. It came after two GOP holdouts decided to change their votes before the second round of voting was set to begin. Now also in Washington today, Long Island's 4 member House delegation was sworn in as part of the 119th Congress. Our Rich Barrabi is in nation's capital, and Rich, you spoke with them today, and it seems like they have a lot they want to accomplish. That's right, Antoinette. Well, now that the House has its speaker and its members have been sworn in, it is time for the work to get underway, and there was real optimism in the halls of Congress tonight that this particular House of Representatives is going to be able to get this done in some sense, being able to work across the aisle to resolve the issues that Americans and more specifically Long Islanders want to see get fixed. Just been a whirlwind of activity getting ready to come down here and represent. The people of the 4th Congressional District, as Laura Gillan enters her new office today, she knows she'll have to hit the ground running. A largely divided Congress and a host of pressing national and local issues means the time is now to act, even for a freshman Democrat in the House minority. When you look at this term, what's the number one issue where you say not only do we have to do something on this, I can get this done. I can work with people to make sure we fix this problem. Well, I think we Absolutely have to do something to secure the border. People on both sides of the aisle agree on that. Democrats and Republicans. How it gets done is going to be probably more of the messy part of it, but that's something that we absolutely have to prioritize. If Gillan wants to accomplish that goal, she'll have to work with Republicans to get it done. The GOP has a slim majority, but a pair of emerging Republican power players from Suffolk could be in a position to have a big impact on issues like the border and restoring the. State and local tax deduction. So making sure the salt fix is a part of any reconciliation bill, any extension of tax cuts is part of mine as well as the president's, as well as several other members. I think we're going to be able to get that $10,000 cap eliminated. Congressman Tom Suozzi of Glen Cove is encouraging his colleagues of all political stripes to come together. He says Democrats have to resist the temptation to be the party of no during a second. Trump presidential term and instead work to find common ground with their GOP House colleagues and the incoming president. And yet still there are some who want to continue that same track. Why do you think that is in the Democratic Party? You know, I don't think it's most of the people. I actually think it's a small percentage of the people, but because politicians are afraid of alienating their base on both sides. Democrats are afraid of the far left. Republicans are afraid of the far right. They pander to those people, so I think that most people just want to say, can't you get along? Can't you work it out. And in just a few minutes actually we're gonna be talking with Congressman Nick Lalota. He was just appointed to the House Appropriations Committee. We're gonna talk about what that means for Long Islanders specifically and being able to get funding to Nassau and Suffolk County. So we're gonna have that interview for you tonight at 10 o'clock. We are in Washington, Richuraby News 12, Long Island.

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News 12’s Rich Barrabi is in Washington with a look at what took place on Friday.
 

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