Rep. LaLota sets the record straight: Suozzi and Gillen closed the government closed for political gain.
In a recent op-ed from Long Island Rep. Nick LaLota, he sets the record straight on Two-Faced Tom Suozzi and Lying Laura Gillen’s devastating government shutdown.
LaLota explains Suozzi and Gillen “once warned against shutdowns,” but voted last week to shut down the government anyway “as leverage to extend pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies.”
He notes just how devastating this shutdown may be, as it risks “leaving troops, air traffic controllers, and tens of thousands of federal workers on Long Island without pay.”
“Republican Rep. Nick LaLota got it right: This shutdown jeopardizes the safety and well-being of everyone across Long Island, and Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen are responsible. It’s disgusting, disgraceful, and New Yorkers will hold them accountable for it next year.” – NRCC Spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole
Read the full op-ed here or excerpts below:
Op-Ed: Shutdowns Should Never Be Used for Partisan Leverage
The North Shore Leader
Congressman Nick LaLota
Democrats Suozzi and Gillen previously said no, I said no in 2023, but today’s Democrats are saying yes to force through pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies.
In 2018, during the longest government shutdown in our nation’s history, my colleague Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) said plainly: “We shouldn’t be holding all these people’s lives hostage because [the President is] trying to negotiate a deal for an issue he wants.”
In October 2023, Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) echoed that view, warning shutdowns “put millions at risk and [waste] more time from Congress actually doing the work of the American people.”
They were right to make those statements. Shutting down government operations as a bargaining tactic is reckless, it hurts ordinary Americans, and it undermines national security.
That’s why, in 2023 and 2024, despite strong disagreements with President Biden’s open-border policies, I refused to use a shutdown to fight that battle.
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Now, in 2025, DC Democrats are taking the opposite approach.
Just last week, House Democrats—including Suozzi and Gillen, who themselves once warned against shutdowns—voted to shut down the government outright by rejecting a clean 52-day funding bill with no partisan riders that simply extended existing Biden-era spending.
Why? To use a shutdown as leverage to extend pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies, by their own admission.
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