Suozzi Sworn Into 118th Congress

Washington, DC - This evening, Congressman Tom Suozzi (D-Nassau, Queens) was sworn into the United States House of Representatives’ 118th Congress. Suozzi, who won the February 13 special election took his oath of office on the floor of the U.S. House, in front of a packed chamber and gallery filled with family members, campaign staff and supporters. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson administered the oath of office to Suozzi on a Bible published in New York in 1803, on loan from the Library of Congress.  

After the swearing-in ceremony, Suozzi delivered an impassioned speech on the House floor, imploring his colleagues in Congress to wake up, stop playing games, and start doing the work that they were elected to do.

Suozzi’s swearing-in ceremony and floor speech can be viewed here.

The transcript of Suozzi’s floor speech is below:

Thank you Jerry and the NY delegation, and all of my friends and supporters.

Mr. Speaker, I never thought I’d be back here, but the Lord works in mysterious ways and God made a way out of no way.

I thank God for blessing me with this great responsibility, and I thank God for my best friend and partner for over 30 years, my wife Helene.

Mr. Speaker, on the night of my election victory I promised the people of Long Island and Queens I would deliver a simple message to this chamber:

"Wake up!”

The people are sick and tired of the finger-pointing and petty partisan politics. They want us to work together.

I know there are so many good  people inthis chamber …on both sides of the aisle.

But people are worried about the cost of living. They are worried about the chaos at the border. They are worried about Israel and Ukraine.

They look to Congress, and what do they see?

The extremists are getting all of the attention!

We are letting ourselves be bullied by our base!

We aren’t getting anything done!

We need less chaos and more commonsense!

The last few months, I’ve talked with Democrats, Republicans, and Independents and they all ask: “What about me? What are you doing for me?”

Enough with the theater and drama.

Enough with the hyperbole and the histrionics

Enough with the shutdowns and the putdowns.

The people aren’t paying us to make things worse. The people pay us to be in the solutions business.

Mr. Speaker, you and I came to Congress in 2017, I remember when you founded the Honor and Civility Caucus. You said at the time it was to “restore collegiality, … and encourage productive dialogue.”

Sign me up.  Sign me up.

Mr. Speaker, I know you believe in collegiality and productive dialogue. We need more of that and less of the hot air fanning the flames of anger that we have seen from some in our country.

But, after my recent election, you said something I must gently take exception to. You said,

“Tom Suozzi ran like a Republican.” I'm sure you meant it as a compliment.

Let me be clear, Mr. Speaker: I am a true-blue, dyed in the wool, Democrat – but more important, like you, and the men and women in the chamber, I am a true-blue, dyed in the wool American.

Like any patriot of the greatest country on earth, I am willing to compromise to solve problems  . . . like the chaos at the border. 

The bipartisan Senate bill doesn’t  have everything I want. I believe that Dreamers and TPS recipients should be granted a pathway to citizenship, and millions of others should have a path to legalization.

But I will support a bipartisan compromise.

To not do so would:

1) Keep the border open,

2) Endanger Israel, and

3) Empower Vladimir Putin!

I know compromise is hard in this town – but Mr. Speaker, bring a bipartisan compromise to the floor and I guarantee it will pass!

All of the issues we face are complicated, but we won’t solve anything in an environment of fear and anger.

We can’t fix them with a tweet, or a press conference, or even a speech.

I know many of you. You are inspired to do this work because of the command to “love thy neighbor.” Let’s actually do that. Let’s do the hard work to get back in the solutions business.

Sadly, many of the people in our country believe Democrats and Republicans cannot work together. They have told me, “Tom, you must face the “real world.”

But the “real world” is not something we must simply face. The real world is something that we, as free men and women, must actively create!

I love this country. My father came here from Italy as a young boy, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in WWII, and went to Harvard Law School on the GI bill. It’s hard to imagine today, but he faced rampant discrimination as an Italian immigrant and no one would hire him,so he started his own law firm, and at 28 ran for city court judge and became the youngest judge in the history of New York State. What a country!

My father lived a great American success story – like the many stories in this room.

I will do everything I can to honor my father’s legacy.

More important, I'll do everything I can to honor our nation’s legacy.

We all know what politics has become, let’s think about what it could be.

While I may be the only one sworn in today, what if we all saw this as a fresh start?

What if we all took this chance to break bad habits?

What if today, we each remembered why we ran for office in the first place.

Let's get back in the solutions business!

God bless the men and women of this chamber.

God bless the important work we do, and

God bless the United States of America.

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