Suffolk Reporter

On Monday, Congressman Andrew R. Garbarino hosted a telephone town hall where he engaged with constituents, providing updates and addressing concerns. The event, which was attended by 10,281 residents of New York's Second District, allowed the Congressman to discuss various topics and hear questions directly from his constituents.

"I always value hearing directly from my constituents about the issues that matter most to them. The strong participation in this town hall shows how effective these events are in reaching a broad audience across my district," said Rep. Garbarino. "I’m grateful to everyone who took the time to join and provided me the opportunity to answer your questions directly."

During the session, Rep. Garbarino tackled a range of issues including SALT relief, Medicaid, veterans' benefits, and Social Security. On the topic of SALT relief, he stated, "The fight right now is front and center...Now we have the numbers, and any extension of the $10,000 cap will not fly...We’re going to have [SALT relief] in the [reconciliation] bill, and it’s gonna be something that I think you all can be very proud of, because if it’s not something I can be proud of, I’m not going to vote for it."

Addressing rumors about Medicaid cuts, Rep. Garbarino clarified, "You may have seen commercials or social media posts claiming that I voted to cut Medicaid. That accusation is categorically false. There’s been a lot of misinformation flying around, so let me be clear — there was no legislation voted on that would cut Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security."

Regarding veterans' benefits, he assured constituents, "The legislators here in D.C., both in the House and Senate, have no interest in harming veterans or stopping programs that we authorized and appropriated...Right now, we are working with the VA, the Secretary of the Veterans Administration, and we are working with the White House to make sure that these cuts [to veterans’ benefits] don’t actually happen...at this point, it’s just rumors. Here on Capitol Hill, we’re doing whatever we can to work with the Administration to ensure that anything Congress has authorized and appropriated funds for continues."

On potential cuts to Social Security, Garbarino informed attendees, "Social Security, under the budget reconciliation process, is not permitted to be touched. There is a lot of bad information out there, saying that the reconciliation bill will affect Social Security benefits and such. We are not legally allowed to touch it under this process, so that information that you’re getting out there, that this might be changed under reconciliation, is false."

Residents interested in staying informed about Rep. Garbarino’s activities in Congress are encouraged to subscribe to his newsletter.