Welcoming the Honorable Thomas R. Suozzi to the House of Representatives

Floor Speech

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Mr. SUOZZI. Mr. Speaker, I thank Jerry and the New York delegation, all my colleagues, and my friends and supporters who are here tonight.

Mr. Speaker, I never thought I would be back here, but the Lord works in mysterious ways, and God made a way when there was no way.

I thank God for blessing me with this great responsibility, and I thank God for my best friend and partner for 30 years, my wife, Helene. She hates that.

Mr. Speaker, on the night of my election victory, I promised the people of Long Island and Queens I would deliver a simple message to this Chamber: Wake up. The people are sick and tired of the finger- pointing and the petty partisan bickering. They want us to work together.

They want you guys to work together, too. What are you doing? You are supposed to be clapping for that.

Mr. Speaker, I know there are so many good people in this Chamber on both sides of the aisle, but people are worried about the cost of living; they are worried about the chaos at the border; they are worried about Israel, Gaza, and Ukraine.

They look to Congress, and what do they see? The extremists get all the attention. We are letting ourselves be bullied by our base. We aren't getting anything done. We need less chaos and more common sense.

The last few months, I have talked with Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, and they all ask the same thing: What about me? What are you doing for me? Enough with the theater and the drama, enough with the hyperbole and the histrionics, enough with the shutdowns and the put-downs.

The people aren't paying us to make things worse. The people pay us to be in the solutions business.

Mr. Speaker, you and I came to Congress together in 2017. I remember when you founded the Honor and Civility Caucus. You said at the time it was to restore collegiality and encourage productive dialogue. Sign me up. Sign me up right away. Mr. Speaker, I know you believe in collegiality and productive dialogue. We need more of that and less of the hot air fanning the flames of anger that happens much too often in our country these days.

Mr. Speaker, after my recent election you said something I must gently take exception to. You said: Tom Suozzi ran like a Republican. Now, I know you meant that as a compliment. Let me be clear. Mr. Speaker, I am a true blue, dyed-in-the-wool Democrat; but more important, like you, Mr. Speaker, and the men and women in this Chamber, I am a true blue, dyed-in-the-wool American.

Like any patriot of the greatest country on Earth, I am willing to compromise to try and solve problems like the chaos at the border. The bipartisan Senate bill doesn't have everything I wanted. I believe that Dreamers and TPS recipients should be granted a pathway to citizenship, and millions of others should have a path to legalization, but I will support a bipartisan compromise.

To not do so will keep the border open, will endanger peace in Israel, and will empower Vladimir Putin.

I know compromise is hard in this town, Mr. Speaker, but bring a bipartisan compromise to the floor, and I guarantee it will pass.

All of the issues we face in this country are complicated, every single one of them, and you can't solve anything in an environment of fear and anger. We can't fix them with a tweet or a press conference or even a speech.

I know many of you in this Chamber. I know a whole lot of you. You are inspired to do this work because of the command: Love thy neighbor. Let's actually do that. Let's do the hard work and get back to the solutions business.

Sadly, many of the people in America believe Democrats and Republicans can't work together. They have told me, Tom, wake up. You have to face the real world.

The real world is not something we must simply face. The real world is something that we as free men and women actively create. We make the real world.

I love this country. My father came here from Italy as a young boy, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross during World War II, and went to Harvard Law School on the GI Bill.

It is hard to imagine today, but he faced rampant discrimination as an Italian immigrant, and no one would hire him, even though he went to Harvard, so he started his own law firm.

At 28 years old, he ran for city court judge and became the youngest judge in the history of New York State. What a country.

My father lived a great American success story like many of the stories in this room, and I will do everything I can to honor my father's legacy. More importantly, I will do everything I can to honor this Nation's legacy.

We all know what politics has become. Let's think about what it could be. While I may be the only one being sworn in today, what if we all see this as a fresh start?

What if we all took this chance to break some of our bad habits? What if today we remembered why we ran for office in the first place? Let's get back into the solutions business.

God bless the men and women of this Chamber. God bless the important work we do. God bless the United States of America.

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