Capitol Q&A: Suozzi on the Democratic Party, Trump and Bipartisanship
The New York Democrat says that the parties should work together on immigration policy.
Rep. Tom Suozzi is a longtime Democrat. But that doesn’t mean he’s solely focused on President Donald Trump. He thinks his party needs to lean in on messaging for the future, not just on opposing the current president.
Suozzi, 62, represents New York’s third congressional district, a position he first held from 2017 to 2022 before he left for an unsuccessful bid for the New York governorship in 2022. He reclaimed the seat in a special election after George Santos, the now criminally-convicted ex-Congressman, was expelled from the House in 2023, and then won again in the 2024 general election.
Suozzi currently is co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus and serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means, as well as its Oversight and Tax subcommittees, where he puts to use his background as a trained certified public accountant and lawyer.
Prior to his time in the House, Suozzi served as the Nassau County executive from 2002 to 2009 and as the mayor of Glen Cove, New York, from 1994 to 2001.
U.S. News & World Report sat down with Suozzi in May to discuss the future of the Democratic Party, areas where bipartisan achievement is possible and more.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You’ve made a bit of a splash with comments about the future of the Democratic Party. Is there a Democrat who is getting this moment correct?
I think that the Democrats have to do a better job focusing on the basic messaging we’ve had this quarter, which is to rebuild the middle class and to help people who aspire to the middle class. And that’s about jobs and wages and about benefits, so that everybody in America should believe that if you really work hard, in return for working hard you get a good life. You make enough money to buy a house, educate your kids, pay for health insurance and retire without being scared. We’ve got to get back to that basic, simple message.
It’s not all just about what Trump is doing wrong, of which I think he is doing certain things wrong. But it’s not just about that. It's got to be about what is our vision for the future of the country – to make government work better for the people, and for people who work hard to have a good life.
Is there something in Trump’s first 100 days that’s not getting enough attention?
I actually think that the fact that the border is secure, or more secure than it was, is an important achievement by this administration. I'm very unhappy that he hasn’t reached across the aisle at all. It’s all been ‘my way or the highway,’ not only with him but with the Republicans in the Senate and the House. And I think that we're going to have to come to a point where we're going to have to do some stuff together to actually permanently secure the border, to fix the broken asylum system and to treat people like human beings and to try to improve our economy.
I’m unhappy with the prices going up. I'm unhappy with the stock market going down. I'm unhappy that he said he’s going to solve Ukraine and make peace there in 24 hours. And, if anything, I'm unhappy with the fact that he’s trying to appease Putin, as opposed to settle this war justly on behalf of our ally and friend Ukraine. So there’s things that are good and there's things that are not so good. So we've got to try to talk about all those different things.
You are in the Problem Solvers Caucus. What are some areas where you think there could actually be bipartisan achievement?
There's no question that immigration is the place to be the big focus. Secure the border, fix the broken asylum system and get something done for the Dreamers (people brought to the U.S. without legal status as children) and for the farm workers and the healthcare workers.
You know, 50% of the farm workers in America are undocumented. I mean this is a major problem in our country. We can’t deport everybody; people who have been here for 20 or 30 years, who’ve been otherwise living by the laws of the United States of America. We should be trying to figure out how to bring those people from under the shadows, collect taxes from them, let them work productively, go to work five days a week and go to church on Sundays. So let's make it work for everybody.
Should Donald Trump bring whatever kind of trade deal he secures to Congress for approval?
He absolutely should. We’ve got to have a plan. I mean, one thing I’m very concerned about with this administration is that there are some good goals, like I’m unhappy with China and they’re our strategic adversary and we need to beat them in the long run. But it's been kind of reckless.
Even the (Department of Government Efficiency) cuts, I think the government is wasteful, there’s fraud and abuse. We've got to make it more efficient and make it so that when you call up the phone to the department, you know that actually somebody picks up the phone and talks back to you. You get things done, and you don’t waste money on a $500 toilet seat.
We have to make things more efficient in government. But it’s been kind of reckless, and that recklessness is manifest in the stock market plummeting. Reckless in the way our allies are treating us. Why are we treating our allies the same as we treat our adversaries? That doesn't seem to make sense.
Why aren’t we making a plan for how we’re going to deal with China? So we don’t have these supply chain shortages right away, when you see empty shelves and prices skyrocketing. Let’s have a plan to do this.
When we want to cut things from government, why are we cutting the people who are overseeing the nuclear stockpile and then bringing them back? Cutting the people that oversee avian flu, then bringing them back? Cutting the people that oversee measles, then bringing them back? That doesn't make sense; it’s reckless. So let’s work together more to accomplish our common goals and make our country better. And enough with the finger-pointing, and enough with the ‘my way or the highway.’
Alan Kronenberg contributed reporting to this article.