Suozzi’s freshman 15 (minutes)

Many members of the House of Representatives are still trying to figure out how to say Suo-zzee, but after the freshman Democrat’s surprise victory in a floor vote Thursday afternoon, they probably know who he is.

It started at 11 p.m. Wednesday, when Rep. Tom Suozzi, a member of the Armed Services Committee, got a unanimous vote on a $34 million amendment to require the Navy to fund the remediation of the Northrop Grumman toxic plume in Bethpage. But by late Thursday afternoon, Republicans thought better of it and refused to include the money in a block of changes to the National Defense Authorization Act that would pass overwhelmingly. The Northrop Grumman amendment would have to survive a tough stand-alone vote in the GOP-controlled chamber.

So with 15 minutes’ notice, the scramble was on. Suozzi called fellow Long Islander Peter King, who had agreed to co-sponsor the Northrop Grumman amendment, and the veteran congressman rushed to the floor. At that point, the amendment was losing badly, but Northrop Grumman was the first vote of the day, and the clock was kept running as members straggled in. When they arrived, however, the members took guidance from their party whips on the obscure issue. At one point, the amendment was down by 50 votes.

On C-SPAN video, King could be seen standing in the well of the House asking for votes, while mostly off camera, a frenetic Suozzi said he went up and down the aisles to find Republicans he knew, fellow freshmen, others in the New York delegation, as well as new friends he had made at workouts in gym and at prayer breakfasts. The amendment pulled even 200-200 and staffers for Democrats who hadn’t voted began pointing their bosses out to Suozzi. They wanted a rare win.

The amendment was now up 216 to 209 and Democrats started to applaud, but the GOP put pressure on its members to reverse their votes, it dropped 215-210. Suozzi said Democrats started chanting, “Close the vote!” Seconds later, time was up, with the amendment passing 214-211 at the buzzer.

Suozzi said Democrats came up to congratulate him, but he acknowledged King. “I couldn’t have done it without him,” he told The Point.