National
As the year comes to a close, an added flurry of House retirements have made the ongoing retirement period one of the busiest in recent history.
The period after an election season is usually when a decent amount of retirements are announced, either as some try to capitalize on national, state, or local political environments to seek alternative office, or face the writing on the wall and hang it up rather than facing a defeat that could prove detrimental to a party’s standing.
Furthermore, the holiday season affords elected officials some reflection time, as spending time at home with family accounts for the added uptick in retirements.
Perhaps the most significant departure from the House is that of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-21), who tumultuously ascended to the Speaker chair in January and was historically removed from the position in October. Rather than stay on as a rank-and-file member, McCarthy announced he will resign from the House by the end of the year. A special election in his strongly-Republican Central Valley district will be scheduled after his resignation.
Additionally, Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10), chair of the House Financial Services Committee and Speaker Pro Tempore after McCarthy’s ousting, has also announced he will not run for re-election in 2024.
After North Carolina’s legislature gerrymandered the House lines, three Democrats announced their retirements, further bolstering the casualty list for 2023.
This brings the total House retirements up to twenty-three Democrats and thirteen Republicans, while four Democrats and three Republicans are moving on from the Senate.
Such retirements, especially McHenry’s, reinforce the observations of partisanship, gridlock, and sensationalism that make deliberating legislation such a difficulty in Congress. An exhausting job at its core, many say that the current environment brings such a heavy toxicity to the chambers that members feel the burnout much earlier in their legislative careers than normal.
The retirements in both the House and Senate further change the game for 2024, a crucial election which will have implications on down ballot energy on both parties’ prospects of retaining their razor-thin majorities in their respective chambers.
State
Governor Kathy Hochul (D) took a bold stance on the social-political stage as she signed a bill creating a commission to investigate the possibility of slavery reparations for black New Yorkers.
“Let’s be clear about what reparations means. It doesn’t mean fixing the past, undoing what happened,” said Governor Hochul. “We can’t do that. No one can. But it does mean more than giving people a simple apology 150 years later. This bill makes it possible to have a conversation, a reasoned debate about what we want the future to look like. And I can think of nothing more democratic than that.”
The committee will consist of nine members who will be appointed by state leaders over the next several months. Three will be selected by the Governor, three from Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), and three from Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers). The committee will have one year to draft a report on their findings before unveiling it to the public, with an estimated release date of summer 2025.
Nicole Carty, executive director of Get Free, a “youth-led movement to repair past harms, remove ongoing barriers to equality, and realize a future where freedom is for all,” heavily advocated for the bill.
“You can see the impacts of slavery in things such as black poverty, black maternal mortality that’s happening,” said Carty. “They’re gonna keep going on unless there’s an intervention.”
“I know the word ‘reparations’ brings up a lot of conflicting ideas for people,” said Hochul. “A lot of people instinctively dig in when they hear it, without really thinking about what it means or why we need to talk about it. I challenge all New Yorkers, to be patriots and rebuke — and not excuse — our role in benefiting from the institution of slavery.”
New York is now the second state in the nation, behind California, to authorize such a commission. California’s task force produced a report earlier this year that recommends a reparations program and a formal apology to the state’s black residents. The task force also posited that each resident could receive $1.2 million, with such payments easily spelling a deficit of billions of dollars for the state. The state legislature has not ironed out specific details, nor has Governor Gavin Newsom (D) indicated with recommendations he would sign into law.
New York faces a projected $4.3 billion budget deficit for the fiscal year of 2024.
Hochul also went as far as to address Americans whose ancestors emigrated to the United States after the fall of slavery.
“I think of the immigrants and the children of immigrants who’ve come here since the end of slavery,” said Hochul. “They will say, ‘We had no involvement in slavery…None of our relatives were slave owners.’ And there’s part of me that worries about leaping into this conversation because of the racial divisions, strife it could sow.”
Hochul’s speech was followed by a brief statement from Reverend Al Sharpton.
“I know her political advisors told her it is too risky. But she did it because it’s right,” said Sharpton. “I met with her last Thursday on several issues that we’re dealing with nationally, and she told me she had decided to sign this bill and she said that it’s going to be unpopular to some, but I’m going to do what’s right.”
State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt (R-North Tonawanda) disagrees with the legislation.
“A divisive commission to consider reparations is unworkable,” said Ortt. “As we’ve seen in California, I am confident this commission’s recommendations will be unrealistic, will come at an astronomical cost to all New Yorkers and will only further divide our state.”
State GOP chair Ed Cox also criticized the legislation.
“Governor Hochul’s decision to endorse this divisive and unproductive reparations study is misguided,” he said in a statement. “Instead of focusing on the issues that truly matter to New Yorkers, like our ongoing immigration crisis, crime, and the exodus of residents from our state, she’s chosen to reopen old wounds and stoke racial tensions for political gain.”
Local
Congressman Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) of the First District issued a statement after voting to approve the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2023 in the U.S. House.
“As a Navy Veteran and a member of the Armed Services Committee, I am proud to send the Commander-in-Chief a strong NDAA,” said LaLota. “This bill gives our troops the largest pay increase in decades, helps deter conflict with China, ensures our soldiers stationed overseas have the same legal protections as every American, supports military families, and ensures accountability and transparency in government. While this NDAA didn’t contain the FISA reforms America needs, I joined with other pragmatic and common-sense conservatives in supporting this bill that will go a long way to ensuring our military remains the most lethal fighting force the world has ever known.”
Some of the stipulations of the bill include, but are not limited to: a 5.2% across-the-board pay increase for servicemembers; funding military exercise with American allies in the Pacific to counter China’s increasing military activity; $676 million for 9/11-related healthcare; encouraging the Department of Defense (DoD) to use American-mined rare earth minerals over foreign-mined minerals; $38 million over budget request for new family housing; $356 million over budget request to renovate and build new barracks; continuing to prohibit adverse action against any servicemember who refuses the COVID-19 vaccine; fully funding the deployment of National Guard troops in support of border patrol activities at the southwest border; requiring the DoD to use or transfer all border wall materials in its possession to the southwest border; and prohibiting the DoD from contracting with any Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-owned or controlled company operating in the U.S.
The bill passed the House in a 310-118 vote, with 147 Republicans and 163 Democrats approving. 73 Republicans and 45 Democrats opposed the bill, while 1 Republican and 5 Democrats did not vote.
The bill now heads to President Joe Biden’s (D) desk for his signature or veto.
