As the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Rep. Steve Israel (D-Dix Hills) is at the forefront of the Democratic party’s national efforts to win seats in the House of Representatives.
But the North Shore native told the Great Neck News that Long Island is still his main focus.
“My first priority is here… it always has been,” he said.
Israel is running for re-election against Republican Stephen Labate (R-Deer Park), whose campaign touts his Washington outsider status.
Israel, though, says that his position in the Democratic establishment grants him influence and access to the president that allows him to be a more effective legislator.
Describing himself as a “relentless combatant for the middle class,” Israel pointed to legislation and policies he had supported to help middle-income families.
Israel sponsored a bill this year to establish pre-tax accounts for the payment of student loans, which has not left committee. He also highlighted his consponsorship of the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act, which provided funding for the environmental preservation of the Sound – a measure that Israel said was important to protect property values for his constituents.
On the partisan flashpoint issue of debt reduction, Israel attacked what he described as Republican obstructionism while distancing himself from the Obama administration’s tax proposals.
Israel said that he supports the $4 trillion deficit reduction package that ultimately fell apart in July 2011 during negotiations between Obama and House Majority Leader John Boehner. That deal would have included a mixture of spending cuts and tax increases, an approach endorsed by Israel.
The congressman blamed the deal’s failure on the unwillingness of conservative Republicans to compromise.
“When someone says to you, I don’t want to give you [a three-to-one ratio of cuts to revenue increases,] I want four to zero – how do you negotiate with that?” he said.
“The day after the election, we have to go back to this $4 trillion compromise,” he said.
Israel said he also disagreed with one tenet of the administration’s deficit cutting agenda – the expiration of the Bush tax cuts for families making over $250,000 per year.
“$250,000 may make you rich in some areas,” but not on the North Shore, said Israel. He said that he favored ending the cuts for seven-figure earners.
Israel added that he was not confident that a comprehensive deal would be reached by Jan. 1, the date when a series of tax hikes and harsh cuts to defense and discretionary spending are scheduled to come into effect.
“I want to focus on the short term crisis,” he said.
On the fiscal challenge facing Medicare, Israel rejected the approach of GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his running mate Rep. Paul Ryan, which he characterized as privitization.
Israel did not endorse specific proposals for extending the life of the program, but said he was open to “all possibilities” and that the details would have to be worked out in negotiations.
Israel also touted his efforts to cut Medicaid fraud. Backed by Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano (R), Israel introduced legislation in August that would allow counties to recoup half the funds recovered from successful medicaid fraud investigations.
Nassau County recovered millions of dollars in Medicaid and welfare fraud investigations last year, and Israel said that his bill would help counties and encourage fraud detection.
In an election centered on the economic well being of the middle class, Israel, who attended Nassau Community College before enrolling at George Washington University, wants working voters to think of him as one of them.
“I am a product of and a relentless combatant for the middle class,” he said.
Israel took exception to that criticism.
“To criticize me on Israel defies fact and underscores how under informed he is,” Israel said, pointing to his calls for the arrest of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his sponsorship of harsher sanctions against Iran.
Israel said he hoped to avoid military conflict with Iran, but he was committed to preventing the state from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He said Iran’s nuclear program posed a threat both to Israel and to the security of the United States, arguing that a nuclear Iran would spark an arms race in the Middle East.
“You talk, and you do everything that you have to, up to and including a military action,” he said. “My fervent hope is that sanctions, international pressure and clandestine activities will work.”
Israel also rejected criticism over his handling of the sale of his Dix Hills home. A New York Post report found that the residence had been been sold for $93,000 less than the amount left on Israel’s mortgage, with lender JPMorgan Chase absorbing the difference – an arrangement known to realtors as a “short sale.”
Labate and state Republicans quickly accused Israel of using his influence to gain a sweetheart deal, but Israel said those allegations were unfounded.
Israel said he sought counsel form the House Ethics Committee, and on their advice hired a lawyer who handled all the details of the sale. He also cited real estate listings showing that 14 percent of all home sales on Long Island are short sales, and that the deal was appropriately executed.
“I had nothing to do with the timing,” he said. “You’d do exactly what I did – you make sure it’s above board, you cross the I’s and dot the T’s.”
Reach reporter Dan Glaun by e-mail at dglaun@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x203. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow1 and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
