Long Island Business Leaders Hear Congressional Panel on Washington Policy

Four members of Long Island's congressional delegation gathered at Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury on March 16 for what the Long Island Association billed as a "spirited but congenial debate" on the issues shaping Washington policy, with immigration enforcement deaths in Minneapolis, a U.S.- and Israeli-led attack on Iran, and the region's energy future driving nearly an hour of sharp but civil exchange before several hundred Long Island business leaders.

Reps. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville), Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove), Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) and Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) joined LIA Acting President and CEO Stacey Sikes, who moderated the annual "What's New in Washington" panel. LIA board chairman Lawrence Waldman framed the evening's design plainly: "The thing that's so brilliant about the system, I think, is today we're going to have [four] Congressional representatives, two Democrats, two Republicans," Waldman said. "They're going to sit in the interview with Acting President Stacey Sikes, and I'm sure they'll agree on some of these issues and disagree on some."

The sharpest disagreement emerged on Iran. Three weeks after a U.S.- and Israeli-led attack that drove up oil prices and triggered global economic disruption, Gillen said she remained without reassurance. "I haven't heard a plan," she said, adding that even in confidential briefings she has not heard anything that gives her confidence in an exit strategy or goal. Garbarino, who chairs the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, offered a narrower commitment: he does not believe there will be boots on the ground, and deploying them "will require congressional approval and funding."

On immigration, the four lawmakers broadly agreed that deportation efforts should prioritize immigrants with criminal convictions. But Garbarino's remarks on recent federal enforcement tactics in Minneapolis drew particular attention. He said he pushed back "both publicly and behind the scenes" on tactics by Immigration and Customs Enforcement there, and stated directly that the two shootings "definitely should not have happened." He also said he will "never judge a police officer's actions on the ground." In the same breath, Garbarino credited White House border czar Tom Homan, whom President Trump deployed to Minneapolis to lead enforcement following the two high-profile fatal shootings, as "doing a very good job." The panel also addressed fear among Long Island's immigrant communities and discussed legislation that could provide a path to legal status for some.

LaLota, whose district stretches from Melville in western Suffolk County to Montauk, pushed an energy argument tied directly to local economic conditions. "The economy is growing, we have more demand, more power here on the Island and across the nation," he said, pointing to what he described as a "ton of natural gas" in New York's Southern Tier. "If we do things the way that Pennsylvania does them in that same part of the world," LaLota said, "jobs will be created and prices would be lower."

Suozzi used the forum to highlight the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, a 46-member group evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. "We have committees that work together on issues, on everything from affordability," Suozzi said, noting the caucus also takes up immigration and national security. The panel's coverage of renewable energy rounded out a wide-ranging agenda that reflected Washington's crowded legislative calendar heading into spring.