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Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone, hope you had a great weekend. I did a Google search yesterday for New York Times headlines during the pandemic that include the word poverty. What came up is really interesting. I'll give you these in chronological order. April 17th, 2020, last year right near the beginning of the pandemic. April 17th, 2020. A gloomy prediction for how much poverty could rise. Researchers suggest the poverty rate may reach the highest levels in half a century, hitting African-Americans and children hardest. That New York Times headline from April last year.

Then July 28th, 2020. Millions Had Risen Out of Poverty. Coronavirus Is Pulling Them Back. Experts say that for the first time since 1998, global poverty will increase. At least a half billion people could slip into destitution by the end of the year. October 15th, 2020. Eight Million Have Slipped Into Poverty Since May as Federal Aid Has Dried Up. That was after the first COVID relief bill expired, but then some of this year's historic bills began to be passed. Here's a headline from March 13th of this year, 2021. Taking on Child Poverty. Most families will receive $3,600 a year paid monthly for each child age five or younger, and $3,000 a year per older child.

Then finally, last Wednesday, July 28th, 2021. COVID Aid Programs Spur a Record Drop in Poverty. The most comprehensive study yet of the federal response to the pandemic shows huge but temporary benefits for the poor, and helps frame a larger debate over the role of government. Those were all New York Times headlines from the past year and a half. Fascinating. Right? COVID unemployment brought millions into poverty. COVID relief spurred a record drop as Congress now begins to debate president Biden's human infrastructure bills, help caring for young children and the elderly, a historic debate is on.

One related battle on that front in the news today, the federal eviction moratorium expired over the weekend after landlords successfully sued to get it struck down in the US Supreme court. The local moratoriums against eviction remain in place for now in New York and New Jersey and some other places, but it's an uncertain time dawning for renters and landlords living on the edge. Meanwhile, there's the Delta variants scrambling all our lives again after what many people believed was the pandemic fading into history. How should we adjust our lives again, vaccinated or not? We'll talk about that on today's show. There's the house and Senate going different ways on getting along.

The Senate announced agreement, maybe you missed this, just came last night, on a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill. Here's majority leader, Chuck Schumer.

Chuck Schumer: The bipartisan group of senators have produced a bill that will dedicate substantial resources to repair, maintain, and upgrade our nation's physical infrastructure.

Brian: The house, well, one CNN headline says, tensions in the house of representatives boil over after the January 6th hearing and mask rule. One sign of that, did you hear what house republican leader Kevin McCarthy said about if his party takes back the house in the midterm elections next year, and he becomes speaker rather than Nancy Pelosi? He said it as the keynote speaker at a Republican dinner in Tennessee, inviting all the attendees to his swearing-in as speaker, if it happens. Now listen to what he said next. The audio on this is really bad, but you can make out the words. He says, "More importantly, I want you to watch Nancy Pelosi hand me that gavel. It will be hard not to hit her with it, but I'll bang it down." Listen, carefully.

Kevin McCarthy: I want you to watch Nancy Pelosi hand me that gavel.

[applause]

Kevin: It'll be hard not to hit her with it, but I'll bang it down.

Brian: It'll be hard not to hit her with it, but I'll bang it down. Kevin McCarthy fantasizing about and getting big [unintelligible 00:04:51] from the crowd for describing hitting the woman speaker of the house with the gavel. Democrats are calling for an apology, especially after January 6th, when people were actually coming after her to do physical harm. With us now, Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks from Southeast Queens, or more specifically, from around Jamaica, Richmond Hill, Elmont, and Queens Village down through the Rockaways. He his chairman of the house foreign affairs committee and a senior member of the financial services committee.

Earlier in his career, he worked as a prosecutor in the Queens DA's office for the special narcotics prosecutor for the city and on organized crime. He's also the Queens democratic party chairman, a relative moderate in that role who endorsed Eric Adams for mayor and helped get Melinda Katz elected as Queens DA in 2019 over the more progressive Tiffany Cabán. Cabán, as you may know, has now gone on to be nominated for the city council from Astoria. Congressman Meeks, always good to have you on. Welcome back to WNYC.

Congressman Meeks: Thank you, Brian. It's good to be with you.

Brian: What do you think of the speaker in waiting, Kevin McCarthy, having fun with the idea of striking Nancy Pelosi with a hammer?

Meeks: The speaker in waiting is Nancy Pelosi.

Brian: And?

Congressman Meeks: To have remarks by any member of Congress talking about physically attacking another member, to me just does not make sense. That's what took place on January the 6th, where you've seen individuals who came in to destroy our democracy, and you hear Kevin McCarthy now forgetting what he saw with his own eyes and what he said with his own lips on that day basically saying those insurrectionists were visitors. Then you have a scenario where a number of Republicans have threatened other members and that's why with the guns, et cetera, that's why right now to get on the house floor, we have to go through magnetometers.

This is not a time to be talking about violence against another member of Congress. We're supposed to be examples that we can set for other democracies around the world. Kevin McCarthy will not be the speaker. Nancy Pelosi will be the speaker. We will maintain the majority and we will maintain the democracy that we so love in this country to shine as an example for others.

Brian: There have been times when Democrats have made jokes, and McCarthy said he was just joking, about physical violence toward the opposition, is this an equal opportunity affliction or do you think it runs more one side than the other?

Congressman Meeks: Well, just look at the news as of late, where we've [unintelligible 00:07:38] the videotape. You have one individual from Georgia who has threatened people before she was a member and then after, and those who want to carry guns onto the floor. After January 6th, this is something that you can't joke about. It's something that we've got to be serious about.

Brian: Congressman Gregory Meeks with us from Queens. Moving on, do you agree with that CNN story that I cited tensions between the parties in the house are running especially high right now after the January 6th committee hearing last week and the new Delta-inspired mask mandate in the house?

Congressman Meeks: Well, I think that you have some individuals on the Republican side who are trying for political gain to really that raises the temperature on the house floor. I will say that it's not just because of the house floor, it's because of the message that it sends to the American people. Every science, we've got to follow the science. It's not Nancy Pelosi that set the mask requirement on the floor. It's Dr. Monahan, who is not known as a Democrat or Republican or independent. He's a doctor for every member of Congress.

When he sent out the mandate that there should be masks worn on the floor for the safety of everyone, then it's Nancy Pelosi's responsibility to make sure that that is carried out. For my Republican colleagues who then goes on the floor and either tries not to wear a mask or goes against wearing a mask, it seems to me that they're playing to the individuals who are unvaccinated that's causing this virus to increase at record numbers with the Delta variant. It is, I think, mainly Republicans trying to play politics and Democrats trying to say, "We need to listen to the science and let us make sure that we are all healthy on the floor."

We know that every democratic member of the house has been vaccinated. We know every Republican member of the house has not, and some refuse to say whether they have or have not. We know they come from areas of which the virus is escalating at record numbers. In order to keep us all safe, Dr. Monahan, not because of a political position, but because of a health position and what the science says that everyone should wear a mask.

Brian Lehrer: I know you were meaning to say in case people were confused, by the way you put it. You didn't mean to say every Republican member of the House is not vaccinated. You just mean not every Republican in the house is vaccinated, not every single one, right?

Congressman Meeks: That is correct.

Brian Lehrer: I read a couple of days ago, tell me if this still applies, that the Senate does not have the mask mandate and the house does and House Republicans were making that point in their protest. If they don't need one in the Senate, why do we need one in the house?

Congressman Meeks: Because every Republican senator has indicated they've been vaccinated. That makes a difference. If every Republican in the Senate has indicated that they've been vaccinated. If every Republican in the house have indicated that they've been vaccinated, then maybe Dr. Monahan would have ruled a different way, but every Republican senator has been vaccinated. Not so in the house.

Brian Lehrer: Congressman, I talked in the intro about the rise and fall in poverty during the pandemic and the effectiveness of government programs at driving a record reduction in poverty this year, do you see it in your district?

Congressman Meeks: Absolutely. I think that we learned something and the best way to deliver assistance to the people is to get money to them directly. There has been, especially in child poverty, with the child tax credits, a marked reduction in poverty, lifting children out of poverty, which is historic. I think that we learn through this pandemic, the best way to help in these scenarios is to make sure that we get dollars directly to the families.

Brian Lehrer: Does it reshape for you at all your thoughts about the role of government in keeping poverty at bay, in a larger sense, outside of the pandemic emergency?

Congressman Meeks: Yes, I think that it is instructive. For me, I'm old enough to remember, as a kid, Lyndon Johnson, and when he had government with the war on poverty, and some ways we could look at that, that was successful, and other ways that it wasn't. So this is really, as far as I'm concerned, a relook at how you eliminate and/or reduce poverty in America. This is what government is for. It helps us all, and it helps the economy, where we have the reduction in poverty, it helps health care purposes, for young people and adults having access to health care.

With the Affordable Care Act, with the Child Tax Credits, with making sure that individuals who were unemployed as a result of the pandemic receive the dollars that they needed, it shows what government can do and should do to make sure that all of its people have opportunities to feed their families and live and have a roof over their head.

Brian Lehrer: I guess the question then becomes, how much social spending can the government afford? Where's the limit? Do you have an answer to that question?

Congressman Meeks: Yes, I think that we're negotiating what that is now. That's why it's important for us to do [unintelligible 00:13:46] the human infrastructure part of the infrastructure bill. I think that we've got those numbers insight as to what they should be and I think we'll abide by that, we'll look and as always, there's adjustments that's made during the process. One way or the other, you fix things as you move forward. Nothing is perfect the first go around, but you make some observations, and as long as your goal is to make sure that you're spending the people's money wisely, and you see that it is lifting people out of poverty, and helps improve and move our economy forward, that's exactly what it should do.

Brian Lehrer: The Federal eviction ban has now ended. Landlords took the program to the US Supreme Court and won. It's still in place for now at the state level in New York. What do you think the implications are for how many people in your district if that stays or goes from Albany?

Congressman Meeks: Well, fortunately, in my district, as you just stated, in New York State, it has not expired yet. We have until August 31. There's a lot of money that we've given the state governments and given to the Governor, Cuomo, and to the state legislators. I understand that Governor Cuomo is working expeditiously to have a process to help the money flow in a much more timely basis.

I'm hopeful that in New York, that we'll make sure that before the August 31 deadline, that the money that we've given the federal dollars, that will flow at a much quicker rate, which will get the money so that people won't be evicted, and also help the small landlords so they can have their rent paid so that many of them have to pay their mortgages. I think we are ahead of the game in New York, but still, we've got a lot to do nationwide because I'm concerned about people all over the country.

Brian Lehrer: That's the different problem that New York is having. It doesn't expire the eviction moratorium, but the relief that's supposed to come to the renters and the landlord's alike, the cash hasn't been flowing. We're going to do a separate segment on that on tomorrow's show, is our plan.

Listeners, we are ranging widely in this conversation with Congressman Gregory Meeks from Southeast Queens, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, Queens County Democratic Party chair and more if you have a question about the infrastructure bill, which we're about to get to, or the relief bill's impact on poverty, which we're just talking about, or Afghanistan or Haiti policy, or Meeks and Eric Adams home area, Southeast Queens rising in political power. He was a Adam's supporter in the primary, or anything else relevant to Congressman Gregory Meeks, 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280 or tweet your question @Brian Lehrer.

Congressman, the Senate infrastructure bill compromised. We played that clip of Senator Schumer, very excited. Do you see it as a big bipartisan win, and how would that affect your district?

Congressman Meeks: It's very much a big win. It affects my district directly, of course, because JFK is in the district. The amount of dollars that will go into airports and ports in general and the roads [unintelligible 00:17:26] leading into the airport, the Van Wyck Expressway, the Belt Parkway. All of those things would be enhanced greatly. Of course, also trying to mediate, mitigate, rather, some of the floods that take place in Southeastern Queens, that's part of this bill. The transportation infrastructure bill will deal with the physical infrastructure substantially, will help create jobs, it'll help modes of transportation, so it will be very beneficial to get that physical infrastructure passed. That being said, it's also very important to get the human infrastructure portion of the bill passed also.

Brian Lehrer: Your Queen's House colleague, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is among those uncertain if she'll vote for the compromise Senate Bill, without Biden's companion human infrastructure bill that the Senate Republicans won't support. That's the bill that has some of those anti-poverty measures. Will you vote for the physical infrastructure alone if you can't get human infrastructure?

Congressman Meeks: Yes, as long as the senate also sends over reconciliation instructions, so that that then can be negotiated and we can work and try to have that also in a bipartisan way. Nancy Pelosi was very clear that she would put the bill on the floor to vote on if the Senate would also send reconciliation instructions. We've got proposed some $3.5 trillion in human infrastructure.

I believe that the way government works, you negotiate, you may not get everything that you want, but something is better than nothing. If you get 70%, 75% of what you want and need, that's a victory. I will agree with the speaker that I would vote for the Senate's physical infrastructure if the reconciliation instructions from the Senate comes along at the same time.

Brian Lehrer: Let's take a phone call. Hillary, in Kips Bay, Manhattan, you're on WNYC with Congressman Gregory Meeks from Queens. Hello, Hillary.

Hillary: Hi. You said you're going to do a show on the evictions tomorrow, but I keep hearing that there's this $46 billion out there that has not been distributed that could help so many people who are in danger of being evicted. What is the problem with getting the money out? I heard it'll help with COVID and pandemic and there was that 300 billion and then Republicans didn't want to get more money out the door because there was-- Why doesn't the money get where it needs to go? Thank you.

Congressman Meeks: Thank you. It is something that we have been-- I think the one thing that we maybe even in a bipartisan way, have been screaming about, the money we gave to the states and for the states to distribute those dollars for a specific purpose to make sure that the tenants and landlords received the [unintelligible 00:20:55] that they need so that they can continue to survive. It has not been streamlined and the money has been held up in various state governments.

We're looking at two things. Number one, to see if on a federal level, we can give the states, if they can't do it on their own [unintelligible 00:21:14] the guidelines in which they need to get the money out into the hands of the people that need it most. I think that's the main factor right now. We gave it to the states and I know governor Cuomo is now working to do just that before the August 31st deadline where the eviction status changes. We got to get the money out of the state government into the hands of tenants. Particularly for me, small landlords, but landlords in general also.

Brian: Angad in Fort Lee, you're on WNYC with Congressman Gregory Meeks. Hello, Angad.

Angad: Hello, good morning. How are you?

Brian: Good. Thank you.

Angad: One of the issues that I've noticed in the past year and a half is that a lot of state programs have been passed and a lot of things have been going on that benefit tenants allowing them to receive benefits from the government and then not pay for rent. Eviction moratorium has been going on and it ended regionally, but I've had experience where a lot of my tenants decided that they didn't want to pay any money and understand things have been tough, but it puts me in a very tough position because the banks are coming after me for my mortgage, and there's nowhere for me to get any of that money.

I know people have said that there are loans you can apply for and there are ways that the government can help you, but I find it extremely difficult for someone who's newly investing to get a hold of these programs and these loans. It seems like more access is being given to people who have neck in the game and have experience with all of this and the people that are often associated with that shark notation of being very vicious as a landlord, but all of the immigrants that I know in my network that are new to investing and trying to establish themselves and leave something for their children are having a hard time getting access to these programs. I just want to know what recommendation do you have and any advice you could give.

Congressman Meeks: The first piece of advice that I would give is, when we appropriate the money and send it to the states, it was to assist both the tenants and landlords, because we know that landlord has expenses, et cetera. When they are not being paid rent, it makes it difficult for them to pay their bills also, and it's not gotten out into the hands of the people that it was intended to. I would say I know that it was announced by governor Cuomo, here in the state of New York, I think it was a couple of days ago last week, that-

Brian: Regarding the landlords.

Congressman Meeks: -the program being looked at, revamped, so that it can get into their hands. I would recommend also that what you can do, whatever district that you're from, is to call your member of Congress. We may be able to assist you through the process. I'm doing that, I know in the fifth congressional district, for both tenants, as well as landlords, and we are calling directly the state and trying to follow through with those constituencies that we have to try to make sure that we let you know the process of what you must go through to try to apply and get the dollars and the resources is there for you.

Brian: Angad, since you're calling from Fort Lee, we were talking before about the New York state anti-eviction program having trouble getting the money actually out, both for tenants and landlords, because it is supposed to help, especially smaller landlords continue to be able to pay their mortgages while the tenants aren't necessarily paying all their rent. Do you know if there's a similar program in New Jersey that at least on paper is supposed to help people like you?

Angad: Well, I'm actually originally from Queens, but I'm in Fort Lee currently just because I was attending to some business. The issue that I've had with that is that it doesn't necessarily apply to mixed use properties and since I have a mixed use property, I wasn't eligible for it. Something that was mentioned a couple of minutes ago was that the program that was signed-- the Congressman had mentioned that it was being given to the people that it was intended to.

I don't feel like that's necessarily the case. In the past couple of months I've seen that there are a lot of campaigns for BiPAP in New York city to get vaccinated. There has been a lot of boots on the ground to make sure that people from my community are educated on the vaccine. There are a lot of people that are making sure we know what's going on, but I don't think that that's the case with all of these loans and all of these programs for people who are new to investing or investing in real estate in the city. I feel like the people that it's intended to go to are the people who have been in the game for so many years and are those shark landlords that are taking advantage of people.

Brian: Angad, thank you for making that point and thank you for your call. Congressman, it sounds like a valid point that the program should at least include, and I don't know if they do or they don't, but he feels that it's not reaching smaller landlords who may be newer landlords and need outreach, need communication, just like we've talked so much about reaching out to people to educate them about the vaccine, as he says, or educating people about how to do ranked-choice voting before that election. What would you say to that concern and whether there's enough in place.

Congressman Meeks: I would hope that under the revamped instructions that the governor is working on, that he then will have basically a campaign via talk TV commercials and radio ads, et cetera, annunciating exactly what that is. It's also part of my job and others who are elected, especially in the state governments also, for us as this is where our constituency services are truly important. I try to make sure that individuals know what's taking place, call my office if they're from my congressional district, so that we help them give them updates as to where they are.

I know for me, what I do is, for the last basically 14 months, I do a Facebook live every Tuesday. We're recessing for the summer, we'll get back on the 14th of September, but we've been doing it every Tuesday where we give all of the updates and all of the phone numbers and all of the email addresses of the various programs and agencies for people to be able to take advantage of. Then we have some of our constituent caseworkers in the office who keeps a file and goes back and forth and tries to be that person to have a dialogue and conversation, particularly with those who are less sophisticated and how to fill out papers, et cetera, to assist them in doing just that if there's an application that needs to be filed.

Furthermore, we have some of our local not-for-profits here in the Fifth Congressional district, for example, at York College, we have The York College Small Business Administration who tries to help people throughout Queens, not just the fifth congressional district, if it's a business person that needs some help. Same thing with the Queens chamber and for tenants and others, of course, we have the legal aid society in greater Jamaica development and Rockaway revitalization programs of which they get the information out.

I know that most of my colleagues are in New York, simply calling your member of Congress can be very helpful in trying to walk you through and help you get the information you need and file the papers so that you can make sure you take advantage of it. The problem has been the process in the state has not been clear. Hopefully, the governor will have it straightened out before August 31st, at least for the eviction and protections of landlord and renters.

Brian: I'm glad you went down that list because a lot of people don't know about a lot of those programs and some of them are particular to your district in Southeast Queens, but as I think you were getting at, some of them are replicated in many or every congressional district via the office of whoever a person's member of Congress is, as well as some of the more local programs in different agencies in whatever neighborhood they're from. Again, Angad, I hope that's helpful for you. Maybe that's helpful for a lot of people listening right now. Virgil in Stanford, you're on WNYC with Congressman Gregory Meeks. Hello, Virgil.

Virgil: Thank you, Brian, long time listener, first-time caller. Regarding the comment on how much the government needs to spend to fight poverty, actually, the government need not have to spend much more. All that needs to be done is to revamp the tax code so that wages from labor are not treated at a disadvantage to earnings from investments. That's how we end up with all these multi-millionaires and billionaires that pay no taxes and corporations making millions and millions in profits paying no taxes. That's one item.

The other item is to enact policies that make it easier for unions to be formed. That's what we owe our middle class too, but there are a lot of laws on the books that make it very difficult to form unions. The other item would be disbanding the student loan program where most of our future comes out of school indebted to the financial services industry. For the meritorious students, and I emphasize the meritorious students, higher education should be free. Those are three things that will go a long way to even the financial playing field.

Brian: Virgil, thank you so much for those three. Right, not giving investments such a tax break, making it easier to join and maintain unions, and more breaks for student loans. Congressman, a quick comment on Virgil's comment, and then I want to finish up with another couple of topics.

Congressman Meeks: I basically agree with Virgil. I think that under the Human Infrastructure Plan, we will be looking at tax reform. That's something that's really important. We know that the tax reform that Donald Trump did when he was President, just benefitted the top 1%, but we need to look at how we make the tax code more fair so that everybody's paying their fair share. I think that's tremendously important.

Brian: Virgil, thank you very much. You're the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, like I needed to tell you that, and among other things right now, there are the crises in Haiti and Afghanistan, you certainly have a Haitian-American population in your district in Southeast Queens. Is your committee considering any action with respect to the assassination of the president there and the rise of COVID with only the beginning of the vaccination program in the country?

Congressman Meeks: I had the first full committee hearing on Haiti not too long ago. I, along with UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, went to Haiti just a week ago last Friday at the funeral for the assassinated President Moïse. Our committee is very much focused and looking and overseeing what the United States should do in conjunction with our allies because we firmly believe that it has to be something that is done in a multilateral way as well as making sure that it is something that is led by the Haitian people, not something where the United States is coming in and imposing its will on the Haitian people. We've got to listen. The Haitian people have a commission that's come together from the civil society and I think that's tremendously important to have their voices at the table.

I had sent my letter along with my friend and colleague Hakeem Jeffries way back in December asking the President to send a special envoy to Haiti to work with folks on the ground, to listen to people on the ground so that we can be part of a team. The President, last week, announced that Ambassador Foote would be that special envoy. He traveled with us also to Haiti, stayed there, spoke to him this week. He's going to be committed to give us a further briefing as to what's taking place there and working collectively.

Again, I think the key to Haiti is making sure that all of the voices of the people of Haiti is heard as well as I've had some experiences dealing in Colombia also when the Narco traffickers and those that were funding gangs and bribing the government, as long as they were moving around with impunity, you could not get a government that was functioning.

Something similar is happening in Haiti right now and some of those individuals who are funding the gangs, who also have something to do with the transshipment of drugs have a relationship with the United States.

They may be both citizens here and citizens there. We've got to crack down on them. They can't continue to operate with impunity, creating the violence that causes the status quo in Haiti. I met with some young people from the civil society in Haiti, and they talked to me, and they said there can never be an election or anything of that nature until the Haitians feel comfortable that those individuals can't be moving around with impunity. Yes, the committee's going to oversee, continue to look, hold hearings, visit, do all that we can, talk to our multi-lateral allies, but most importantly, listen to the Haitian people to try to see if we can make a difference working collectively together for the benefit of those living in Haiti.

Brian: From the international world to the local, to finish up, you're the Queens Democratic Party Chairman for the county. You supported Eric Adams in the mayoral primary. Other parts of the county, more in Western Queens went more for Maya Wiley. Would it be fair to say the Queens Party is increasingly divided into the AOC Tiffany Cabán wing and your wing?

Congressman Meeks: I think that we always talk about One Queens. We talk about a democracy. People have different viewpoints in different parts of Queens. Some are more progressive, use that word. Some are more conservative, if you want to use that word. We try to figure out how we can work together in that regard. I would hope that once we have these elections that some are more contentious and some are not, especially these primaries, then we all come together to work for the benefit of Queens. That's what I expect to happen with Eric Adams. That's what's happening now with--

We had a very close election in regards to the District Attorney's Office with Melinda Katz. We're working together there. Donovan Richards as the new Queens Borough President. I would think that we are having conversations with everyone in that regard to figure out all those things that we can agree upon as opposed to focusing on those things we disagree upon. As Democratic Nominee, Eric Adams has said, "We have different philosophies. We're not monolithic," and so everybody's going to talk about what they think is the best way to move and then try to figure out what we can agree upon for the benefit of the residents of Queens county.

Brian: Former Congressman Joe Crowley, the previous Queens County Party Chairman, also an older relatively moderate Democrat, famously lost his seat to AOC after apparently falling out of touch with his District, and then he left the county chairmanship too to take a lobbying job. What are the lessons in the Joe Crowley story for you from a left versus center standpoint, Queens Democratic new chairman standpoint, or any other way?

Congressman Meeks: Point number one, I think that Joe Crowley's district changed substantially from the district that he had when he first got elected and even years before. You looked at different individuals that had moved into the community, others had moved out, so you've got to listen to not only your old constituencies but the new ones also. I think that makes a difference. Joe, to his credit, I think, was working hard.

When he lost, he had the opportunity at that time to be-- He was part of the Democratic leadership in Washington, D.C. and he had a chance for New York to have a speaker if that opportunity had presented itself. We're going to have differences, I think, on certain ways to move forward and how government should work. I mean, clearly, we had huge differences with reference to what you do and what should happen as far as criminal justice is concerned in the district attorney's race, but now we're trying to work with Melinda Katz, I would say, is working for everybody in Queens, whether you are from Western Queens or Southern Queens or Eastern queens, and listening, and I think doing a great job about it. You don't hear the divisions that often are talked about in the media.

I think the same thing will happen with Eric Adams. I think that for basically, the people of Queens, I want the same thing. We've just got different methods and different ways we want to get there.

Brian: All right, we will see. Congressman Gregory Meeks from Southeast Queens. Thanks for going through so many important topics with us this morning. We really appreciate it.

Gregory Meeks: Thank you, Brian. Always good to be with you.

 

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