New Congressman Nick LaLota reflects on his first days in a tumultuous, history-making House

It was a full week before Rep. Nick LaLota and the 73 other new members of the House of Representatives could raise their right hands to take the oath of office. And what a week it was.

While America watched the spectacle of House Republicans struggling to elect a speaker, LaLota, was in the thick of it, debating rules changes demanded by about 20 hard-right members who withheld their support for California Republican Kevin McCarthy in his quest to become the 55th Speaker of the House.

The 44-year-old Bay Shore native admits to being somewhat awestruck by his presence in the House chamber, participating in the historic week that pushed the election of a speaker to 15 ballots — the most ballots to elect a speaker since 1855. When it culminated in McCarthy’a election in the early morning hours of Jan. 7, LaLota — who supported McCarthy from the beginning — and every member and delegate took the oath at the same time on the House floor.

“I’ve woken up every one of the mornings ever since I came to Washington on Jan. 1 with a tremendous reverence for the institution, respect for the job, and the appreciation for the folks who sent me here,” LaLota said in a phone interview yesterday.

“It’s an awesome honor to be able to continue my service in this capacity…having served state and local government for about 10 years,” he said.

LaLota, who defeated County Legislator Bridget Fleming by 55% to 43% of the votes cast in the November general election, said his top priorities as a member of Congress are “real simple.”

“It’s a commitment to America, plus delivering for the district,” LaLota said. “So it’s the economy. It’s public safety. It’s restoring freedoms. And it’s holding the administration accountable — plus, bringing as much bacon as I can back home to the district.”

Committee assignments have not yet been finalized, he said. “I’m hoping to get onto the Armed Services Committee,” he said. The military is of particular interest to LaLota, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and Navy veteran whose brother is a retired Marine Sniper. Freshman representatives are usually named to just one committee, he said.

LaLota said he is “very comfortable” with the rules changes brokered with the holdouts to McCarthy’s election.

“They actually empower junior members of the House to be able to participate more in the process,” LaLota said. “Specifically, being able to offer germane floor amendments is a tremendous opening towards this constitutional republic that we have, wherein I, a freshmen from New York, can attach an amendment to a colleague’s piece of legislation, so long as it’s germane, to do things that are good for my constituents and the country,” he said.

LaLota, of Amityville, does not live in the First Congressional District. Residence in the district is not a legal requirement to hold office as a congressional district representative. During his campaign, LaLota said he would move into the district if elected. Yesterday, he said his house is on the market and when it’s sold, he and his wife are planning to move their family “most likely to Huntington Bay or Centerport.” LaLota and his wife Kaylie, who he calls “superwoman,” have three daughters.

LaLota succeeds Republican Lee Zeldin in NY-01. Zeldin vacated the seat to mount an unsuccessful run for governor last year. Republicans flipped four Democratic seats in the November election, expanding New York’s 26-member House delegation in the 118th Congress to 11 members.

Among the newly elected Republicans is the scandal-plagued Rep. George Santos in NY-03, which takes in northern Nassau and part of northern Queens counties. LaLota was the first House Republican to call for an investigation into Santos after the N.Y. Times last month reported Santos’ many fabrications about his past and on his resume. LaLota called for “a full investigation by the House ethics committee and, if necessary, law enforcement” into Santos’ behavior.

Yesterday, LaLota said Santos should resign.

“What he’s done is disgraceful, dishonorable and unworthy of the office. I think he should resign,” LaLota told Axios.

“He hasn’t shown any remorse, he hasn’t corrected any of the behavior. He still has antics like showing a white power sign on the House floor. It’s not appropriate for our conference, for our country,” LaLota said, according to the Axios report.

LaLota’s remarks broke ranks with the speaker and, so far, all but three other House Republicans. McCarthy has said in televised interviews that if Third District constituents are unhappy with Santos, they will not re-elect him. McCarthy has not said whether he is considering any internal sanctions against Santos.

On other votes this week, the first full week of business in the House, LaLota has voted with the Republican majority in passing bills and resolutions that were adopted along party lines. Besides supporting the adoption of the new House rules, LaLota voted in favor of:

A resolution establishing a Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, a subsidiary of the House Judiciary Committee to investigate the activities of executive branch agencies in collecting information or otherwise investigating citizens.

A resolution establishing a Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, authorizing the committee “to investigate and submit policy recommendations concerning the status of the economic, technological, and security progress of the Chinese Communist Party and its competition with the United States.”

A resolution condemning “recent attacks on pro-life facilities, groups, and churches” and calling upon the administration “to use appropriate law enforcement authorities to support their safety.”

The “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,” the first piece of legislation passed by the House in this Congress. The bill would require any health care practitioner present at the time of a live birth during an attempted abortion, to render the care that would be provided to preserve the life and health of any other child born at the same gestational age, and to ensure that the child is immediately transported and transmitted to a hospital.

Despite the party-line votes in the first week of a Congress that is expected to be even more polarized by partisan politics than the last Congress, LaLota said yesterday he hopes the House will manage to work in a bipartisan way.

“I think the numbers kind of necessitate that — with only a single-digit majority, you know, as a conference we’re gonna lose some votes on some things. And it’d be wise to try to pick up some votes from the other side of the aisle,” LaLota said.

“And whatever we pass here in this house has to get through the Democrat Senate and be signed by a Democrat President,” LaLota said. “So I think that the dynamic of the situation for those who truly want to be productive, not just have messaging bills, but for those who want to actually get things signed into law or get things passed into a budget should look to do so in a bipartisan way,” he said.