In the News

Chris McKenna Rockland/Westchester Journal News | USA TODAY NETWORK

Only nine months ago, all three held other offices, two of them leading counties across the Hudson from one another. One was running for Congress but the other two had no immediate notions about moving up.h Then came a courtordered redrawing of district lines, new opportunities and unexpected campaigns. Today, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro and Pat Ryan all wear congressional pins on their lapels, a pair of Republicans and a Democrat representing the Hudson Valley (and beyond) in a wholesale turnover of representation for most of the region, from the middle of Westchester County to Albany. Ryan, the former Ulster County executive, started a few months earlier than the other two by winning a special election for a vacant seat in August (in which he beat Molinaro, his counterpart in Dutchess County). h All three began two-year terms on Jan. 7, sworn in after Republicans slogged through 15 votes over four days to elect a speaker.

See FRESHMEN, Page 4A

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY PETER PIETRANGELO/USA TODAY NETWORK; GETTY IMAGES AND USA TODAY NETWORK FILE PHOTOS

Continued from Page 1A

They took office at a charged time, with Republicans wresting control of the House with a slim majority and vowing to launch investigations of the Biden administration; a clash looming over raising the federal debt limit; and presidential campaigns likely to heat up by the middle of the year.

But in interviews about their priorities and what they hope to accomplish in a split Congress, none of the Hudson Valley rookies spent much time on the red meat of cable news. Each spoke more about tending to their districts and easing economic pressure on constituents, though not without partisan jabs.

The tough task these newcomers face is building a record of achievements they can show voters at a time when a Republican-led House and Democraticrun Senate might not agree on much. Notching victories is hard enough for a freshman with little clout and reelection less than two years away; the prospect of partisan gridlock increases the difficulty.

Their contrasts showed when they talked about the expected debt standoff and a new investigatory panel Republicans formed. Yet they also spoke of working across party lines, pursuing shared Hudson Valley interests and shutting out the political “noise” of Washington.

The region they represent has a fourth congressman who was in their position as a newcomer two years ago: Jamaal Bowman. The Yonkers Democrat represents the southern half of Westchester and was elected to a second term in November.

Unlike Bowman, the three newbies who joined him hold competitive seats in swing districts that the other party will be gunning for soon. Here’s what they said about their goals and some early issues as they look to make their mark.

Mike Lawler

Lawler had been a state assemblyman for just one term when he scored a major upset by unseating five-term Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the head of the House Democrats’ campaign arm. It was one of the nation’s closest House races, with Lawler winning by fewer than 1,800 votes.

The 36-year-old Rockland resident and former Republican consultant now represents the Democratic-leaning 17th District, which takes in all of Rockland and Putnam counties, the northern half of Westchester and a sliver of Dutchess.

Lawler says his priorities are the same issues he ran on, including affordability and public safety. His first bill targets an affordability factor: a 2017 Republican tax-code change that hurt taxpayers in highly taxed areas like his district by limiting how much of their state and local taxes they can deduct from their federal income taxes.

Lawler said he hopes Congress ultimately will scrap the $10,000 SALT deduction cap, a sore point with elected officials from both parties in New York and New Jersey. But as a first step, he has proposed doubling it to $20,000 for jointly filing couples.

He also wants to block the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s plan to start charging people to drive in part of Manhattan. Congestion pricing is meant to ease traffic and raise funds for transit upgrades, but is fiercely opposed by commuters who drive to work and would pay as much as $23 every time they go south of 60th Street.

Lawler last week joined Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a northern New Jersey Democrat, in support of his bill to suspend federal funding for the MTA and give tax credits to commuters if the congestion pricing takes effect. The MTA’s plan was approved by New York lawmakers in 2019 and is awaiting federal approval.

“The idea that New York can implement this legislation when it impacts other states such as New Jersey and Connnecticut, to me, is illogical,” Lawler said.

He supports insisting the Biden administration agree to spending cuts before Congress raises the federal debt limit, a tactic Democrats warn could result in a catastrophic loan default. He dismisses the prospect of a default and argues the debt-ceiling vote is a vital tool to get the White House and Democratic-led Senate to trim the budget. “They’re not going to be able to run roughshod on us,” Lawler said. “They’re going to have to come to the table in a serious way and negotiate.”

He also supported the creation of a subcommittee to probe what Republicans view as the “weaponization” of the Department of Justice and FBI against conservatives. As one example, he argued the FBI had strayed from its proper role by telling Twitter executives “what type of news can be shared” on their social media platform. “They should have to answer for that,” he said.

Pat Ryan

Ryan’s opening came last spring when then-Rep. Antonio Delgado left office to become lieutenant governor. Ryan, an Iraq war veteran who had led Ulster County since 2019, campaigned for the vacant seat and beat Molinaro in a special election in August, a race that got national attention.

With new district lines in effect for the November elections, Ryan then won a different seat with a different opponent and now represents the 18th District, which consists of all of Orange County and parts of Ulster and Dutchess. He’s the first West Point graduate ever to represent the military academy in Congress.

Ryan, a 40-year-old Ulster County resident, offers two broad goals for his term: delivering economic relief, and defending rights and freedoms.

He ticked off relief measures he supported last year while Democrats were in the majority. The $5 million in grants for the city of Newburgh that he was set to announce that day. A new $35-per-month cap on insulin costs for seniors. A bill giving $300 million in grants to small and medium-sized police departments.

“Those kinds of things are still possible,” he said. “I think it all comes back to rebuilding trust, rebuilding trust between myself and other elected officials and those we represent. And the only way to do that, I think, is to actually deliver and show that we’re going to make good on our word.”

Ryan said he and Molinaro, his new Republican colleague, already have discussed ways to collaborate. He vowed to approach his job the same way he led a diverse group of soldiers while deployed overseas: focused on the task and not their differences.

“We had a mission to accomplish, we had to figure out how to work together,” Ryan said. “So that’s the mindset that I’m certainly going to bring to Congress.”

He agreed to an extent with Republicans on controlling spending, saying “we have to have a discussion about financial responsibility, absolutely.” But he warned those talks can’t push the government into a debt default, and said he worried that could happen after seeing the week-long battle GOP dissenters waged over a speaker.

Ryan supported the creation this month of a House committee to toughen relations with China — formed with broad bipartisan support — and has applied for a seat on it. But he said he saw no purpose for the “weaponization” subcommittee other than partisan posturing and TV exposure for its members. He doubted it will be constructive.

“Our politics are so toxic; we’re so divided right now,” he said. “This, to me, risks adding more fuel to that fire. And I think our job is to try to de-escalate and rebuild trust, and I worry that this will just further cleave that same divide.”

Marc Molinaro

Molinaro brought to D.C. the deepest government experience of the three House rookies. Elected mayor of the village of Tivoli at age 19, he has now served 29 years in all as mayor, assemblyman and Dutchess County executive. He ran for governor in 2018, an unsuccessful bid to unseat Andrew Cuomo.

Now comes Congress. The 47-year-old Dutchess resident says his first role in public service shapes his view of his latest. He calls himself “the mayor of the 19th Congressional District.”

“When the roof leaks, it leaks on Republicans and Democrats, and our job is to fix the roof,” he said. When he runs for reelection next year, he said, “I want to be able to say I went to battle for the people of the 19th District, regardless of party affiliation. And that when they needed help we were there, I helped them.”

The redrawn 19th District crosses 11 counties and takes up a huge swath of New York, from the Connecticut border in the east to the Finger Lakes region in the west. The Hudson Valley portion includes Columbia and Greene counties and part of Ulster.

Molinaro said his priorities are reflected in the first two committees he was assigned. He said he plans to use his perch on the Agriculture Committee to seek tax relief for farmers in his predominantly rural district and open new markets for their products. And by serving on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, he hopes to channel federal funding to road and bridge repairs on his turf and expand highspeed internet and cellphone service.

“The committee assignments give me an opportunity to really speak up and be the voice of upstate New York,” he said.

He, too, supported pushing for spending cuts as part of the debt-ceiling negotiations. “The president and the administration has to develop a plan that more carefully spends taxpayer dollars,” he said, pledging to be a “willing partner” in those discussions.

Molinaro argued the “weaponization” panel was justified by legitimate concerns about government intrusion.

“I’m comfortable with the idea that we provide oversight to demand accountability,” he said.

Molinaro said he counts both Ryan and Lawler as friends and expects to work with both on shared interests and regional matters like Hudson River protection and expanding high-tech jobs. Republicans and Democrats in the politically mixed region have always worked together, he said.

“The only way America has ever solved its problems is by finding that common ground,” Molinaro said.

Chris McKenna covers government and politics for the Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.