Op-ed by Congressman Lee Zeldin
It has been an honor to serve New York’s First Congressional District in our nation’s capital. As our government transitions to a new president and a new Congress, the media is abuzz with speculation as to which direction our country will be headed. As your representative, it is my mission to ensure that the priorities most important to Long Islanders continue to be an integral part of this conversation moving forward.
First and foremost, we must do everything we can to finish the fight against the outbreak of coronavirus, and get Long Islanders back to their way of life. To do this, we need to make it easier, not harder, for New Yorkers to get the coronavirus vaccine who want it. New York's rollout has been an unmitigated disaster: unused coronavirus vaccines sitting in freezers for weeks, doses ending up in the trash, local health departments overwhelmed with vaccine demand, thousands of appointments cancelled, New Yorkers showing up to appointments only to be turned away and more. While these drug companies need to continue ramping up the production and distribution of vaccines, the state needs to ramp up its strategy, rules and communications.
Also on the state level, we need to allow more of our local businesses to get fully back to work quickly and safely. This is the best stimulus and the fastest and most effective way to help our economy rebound, drive down unemployment and put money in Long Islanders’ pockets.
Our local governments have also been on the frontlines in the battle against coronavirus, and will be critical in finishing the fight on the ground. In light of historic, enhanced budgetary shortfalls caused by this ongoing outbreak, we must ensure our local governments have the direct funding necessary to recover fiscally. The CARES Act, passed by Congress in March of 2020, provided $500 billion in funds to local communities, but was limited to municipalities with over 500,000 residents. This restriction cut off smaller communities from receiving funding, even the large Town of Brookhaven, which barely missed the cut off due to its population of just under 500,000. Recently, I introduced the bipartisan Direct Support for Communities Act to provide funding directly to communities of all sizes.
Our first responders and law enforcement have also done exceptional work during the pandemic. Despite the acts of heroism performed by the brave men and women in uniform every single day, our heroes in blue have become the targets of attacks in New York and around the country. I will always stand by our great heroes in law enforcement and will never support the efforts to defund, abolish, or dismantle our great police. Crime is already soaring in places like New York City and we must not let the same happen in the rest of our local communities. For the sake of our brave police officers and the people they serve, I will do everything I can to give them the resources, training and support they need to do their jobs to protect our communities and those who call Long Island home.
We must also remain focused on protecting our communities from other threats that exist. We have made great strides in taking on the scourge of gang violence in our district, but we must remain vigilant. This includes working closely with local and federal law enforcement to secure new tools and resources that can be used to crack down on financing and money laundering schemes that have allowed gangs to take hold in our communities in the past. In addition to gang activity, we must continue to stem the tide of illicit drugs into our neighborhoods and protect our loved ones from the deadly and destructive substance abuse epidemic. Just recently, I announced a $125,000 federal grant to SAFE in Sag Harbor, an organization that works to prevent youth substance abuse. I also voted to fund the Drug-Free Communities Program at $102 million. Every Long Island family has been affected by substance abuse and we can never rest when it comes to this effort. As a member of the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic, I will continue to support and fund programs that focus on prevention, treatment and enforcement.
It is vital to maintain our commitment to preserving and protecting Long Island’s beautiful and unique environment, and we’ve recently had some big wins for our district on this front. I successfully secured passage of a huge local victory that was signed into law to repeal the mandate that required Plum Island to be sold to the highest bidder. In addition to saving Plum Island from the auction block, I also secured $1.5 million in federal funding to restore its lighthouse. I’ve also secured tCongressional authorization for the Fire Island to Montauk Point (FIMP) project, which will bolster 83 miles of our local coastline, which is critical to our environment, economy and coastal way of life. In addition to FIMP, several other Army Corps projects in NY-1 have been advanced over the past couple of months. Even after these victories, there’s still more work to be done to safeguard our environment. As more and more homes in the Calverton and Manorville area begin to test positive for PFAS contaminants as a result of decades-old activities at a nearby military installation, the Navy must step up and immediately remediate the situation and undertake the expense of ensuring these residents have access to clean and safe drinking water.
In addition to ensuring clean and safe drinking water for our communities, we must make sure people can afford to stay in the communities they love. It is getting more and more difficult for Long Islanders to survive on Long Island. I believe that our children should be able to live, work, and raise a family here, just like we have, and that our seniors should be able to afford to live out their golden years in the communities they love. Instead, the insane cost of living here is driving our children to relocate elsewhere. In 2017, I voted against placing a $10,000 cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction. Ever since, I have been working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reverse that cap. It’s also important to keep in mind though that the reason why our state and local tax deduction was as high as it was, is that our state and local taxes are as high as they are. Albany must do its large part to deliver tax relief. This must come in addition to lowering energy costs, improving the business climate for private sector job and wage growth and pursuing other opportunities to drive down the cost of living on Long Island.
Far too many schools across the nation still haven’t fully reinstated in-person education. Online education has proven to be a struggle for students and parents, and our students’ health and development have paid the price. Online schooling has clearly not been an effective substitute for in-person learning, and study after study from reputable organizations has shown that the risk of coronavirus spread in schools is low. We need to immediately get all of our kids back to 5 day per week in person learning.
2020 was a difficult year for all of us, and we still face many challenges. We must do everything in our power to emerge on the other side of this pandemic stronger than ever.
Congressman Lee Zeldin represents New York’s First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Original source can be found here.
