House members from Long Island say caucuses reflect priorities, from military to environment

WASHINGTON — Long Island Rep. Tom Suozzi belongs to a caucus on robotics. Rep. Nick LaLota is co-chair of one that focuses on toys. Rep Laura Gillen is in a caucus on lowering utility bills and Rep. Andrew Garbarino belongs to one on diabetes.

There are nearly 400 such caucuses or groups registered in the U.S. House on all sorts of topics — a number that has nearly quadrupled since 2001 — and other, less official ones. Long Island’s four House members alone claim memberships in more than 120 such groups, holding several chairmanships and vice chairs.

Some caucuses draw headlines, like the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the House’s most prominent left-wing ideological group, or the Congressional Black Caucus. A few are secretive or exclusive, such as the invitation-only Freedom Caucus of fiscally and ideologically ultra-conservative members.

LaLota (R-Amityville) said the myriad congressional caucus opportunities are, to him, like offerings on a college campus. "Committee assignments are your major, while caucuses function more like clubs centered around shared interests and priorities," he said.

So, while LaLota said he spends much of his time in formal committee hearings on questions of appropriations and homeland security, he said, "I also devote significant time to bipartisan caucuses in more informal settings, often over lunch at Chick-fil-A, Cava, or frankly anything other than D.C. pizza. Those conversations matter."

Today, there are groups devoted to weighty issues surrounding countries like Israel, Taiwan or Ukraine, or to certain diseases. There are also those tied to sports and recreational activities, like snowboarding, or even fragrances, tequila and fatherhood. Formal registration with the Committee on Administration allows these groups to use internal House mail and have lawmakers’ personal office staff assist with some of the activities.

"These organizations can raise awareness, form coalitions and political bonds often across the aisle, and educate members about policy problems facing these constituencies," Josh Huder, of Georgetown University’s Government Affairs Institute, explained. Sometimes they can produce legislation or unified opposition to proposals.

But lawmakers can also simply be padding their membership lists as window dressing for political and regional constituencies, Huder said, even if not much genuine activity occurs.

"It really is a form of advertising," said Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University. "It sends a message that your member of Congress is paying special attention to the issues constituents care about."

Here are some of the groups Long Island’s members of the House belong to, and how they suggest their choices should be interpreted:

Rep. Andrew Garbarino 

Garbarino (R-Bayport) — the only Long Island member of the House to chair a major committee, the Committee on Homeland Security — also listed 38 caucuses on his website.

Those include seven co-chairmanships or vice chairs, including the Problem Solvers Caucus, the Italian American Congressional Delegation, SALT (State and Local Tax) Caucus, Climate Solutions Caucus and Lupus Caucus.

Other groups listed are the Live Events Caucus, Long Island Sound Caucus, Horse Caucus and Zoo & and Aquarium Caucus.

"As vice chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus and co-chair of the SALT Caucus, I’m able to work directly on issues that impact Long Island families every day, from affordability to finding practical bipartisan solutions," Garbarino said.

At the same time, he said caucuses focused on issues like public safety, the environment and autism awareness help him to make sure he is hearing directly on those issues from advocates, leaders and families back home.

Rep. Laura Gillen 

The freshman Democrat’s office provided a list of 18 caucus memberships, including the Long Island Sound Caucus, SALT Caucus, Black Maternal Health Caucus and Lowering Utility Bills Caucus.

Gillen also listed membership in the Congressional Haiti Caucus. In April, she passed her first bill in Congress to reject part of President Donald Trump's immigration policy and reinstate protected status for nearly 350,000 Haitian nationals living in the United States.

Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) frequently notes Long Island and New York State are home to one of the largest Haitian American populations in the country.

"Whether it's lowering Long Islanders’ costs and taxes or reducing airplane noise, no issue is too big or too small," Gillen said of her choices. "Caucuses are fundamental to finding common ground across the aisle, breaking through gridlock and ensuring no voice is left unheard."

Rep. Nick. LaLota 

LaLota displayed an eclectic list of 38 member caucuses on his website. He notes he is co-chair of several: the Long Island Sound Caucus, Toy Caucus and Aviation Security Caucus.

The Navy veteran and graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, also co-chairs the Navy and Marine Corps Caucus, and is a member of the Military Veterans and Joint Strike Fighter Caucus.

Other memberships include the SALT Caucus; Republican Study Caucus, which is the largest conservative caucus in the House; the Small Brewers and Sportsmen caucuses; several related to animals and wildlife; the Flood Caucus; the Ocean and Shellfish caucuses; and those focused on diseases or health conditions such as Lyme disease, epilepsy and diabetes.

"I hope my constituents see a few things," LaLota said. He said those include that many of his choices reflect issues that directly impact Long Island families; that he is proudly Republican but also that he works across the aisle in groups like the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus; and that military service matters to him.

Rep. Tom Suozzi 

At the top of Suozzi’s list of 29 member caucuses is the Problem Solvers — the same group LaLota and Garbarino are members of. Suozzi, as its co-chair, is its top Democrat.

The higher-profile bipartisan group is geared to Congress finding middle ground on sometimes tough, partisan issues — and under Suozzi’s co-leadership this session, it has been active in proposing legislation.

A challenge is to turn around perceptions the group has been mostly a performative veneer for lawmakers to claim bipartisanship to moderate voters back home. Suozzi said he has been working to change that.

Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) also listed caucus co-chairmanships in such groups as the Congressional Romania Caucus, Uyghur Caucus, Quiet Skies Caucus and the Democrats for Border Security Task Force. He, too, is a member of the Long Island Sound Caucus, as well as the Bipartisan Offshore Wind Caucus and Labor Caucus, which he said he founded.

"There’s a new robotics business in my district," Suozzi said, explaining his membership in the Congressional Robotics Caucus. Most of his memberships, Suozzi said, are focused on topics "that I am really passionate about" or that he believes his constituents want to see him involved in.

There are other caucuses that he said he was asked to join — even if the focus is not so closely tied to his district. For instance, "I am not Romanian, and I don’t have that many Romanians in my district."