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Meng looks back at first year in House

Meng looks back at first year in House
Photo by Alex Robinson
By Alex Robinson

Having survived a government shutdown, a shooting outside the Capitol and a mugging, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng’s (D-Flushing) first year in Congress was anything but uneventful.

The freshman congresswoman took office last year after defeating then-City Councilman Dan Halloran to become New York’s first Asian-American member of Congress.

“It’s been productive,” she said in an interview at the TimesLedger Newspapers’ offices. “I’m incredibly privileged to have this opportunity to represent a district which I love because it’s all within Queens. It makes it a little easier to advocate a lot of issues and legislatively we’ve gotten some things passed.”

She witnessed a city on edge as a number of events shook Washington in her first year.

In October, she endured a 16-day government shutdown triggered by Congress’ failure to pass legislation that would fund government agencies for the 2014 fiscal year.

Two weeks after a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard rattled the city, police shot a woman who was driving erratically outside the Capitol in October.

Meng then fell victim to a mugging when she was walking home from dinner one evening in mid-November.

Her move to Washington has posed a whole new set of challenges for Meng, a mother of two young boys whose family has stayed in New York.

One of the most challenging tasks, she said, has been getting to know her Republican counterparts in order to push bipartisan approaches to governing.

“[I’ve] really been trying to overcome that stereotype where one party doesn’t work with the other and trying to reach across the aisle,” she said. “I think that regardless of which constituent you’re talking to, that’s one of their No. 1 complaints — that it’s so polarized.”

She said building bridges with other members of Congress has required an adjustment from what she was used to in the 150-member state Assembly. The House of Representatives has more than 400 members who are rarely all on the floor at the same time, except to vote.

“So you have to spend a lot more effort and take a lot more initiative to try to find ways to reach out to people,” she said.

In one such initiative, Meng joined a bipartisan Christian prayer group, which is frequented by a number of Republicans.

The congresswoman also started a Kids Safety Caucus with members of both parties to work on legislation focused on the safety of children.

She said she was struck by how well she got along with certain congressional members who are ideological opposites.

Other than partisanship, Meng said she hears a lot of concerns from constituents about veterans services and immigration.

Meng said she was confident some form of immigration reform would be passed in the House eventually.

The U.S. Senate passed an immigration reform bill in May 2013 that would give undocumented immigrants legal status and a path to citizenship. The bill, however, was never brought before the House of Representatives for a vote.

The congresswoman said she has heard rumors Republican leadership were thinking of passing legislation that would be in several bills on a piecemeal basis, unlike the comprehensive reform the Senate passed.

“I think that nationally the Republican leadership sees this as a must do because of the political climate. They don’t want to lose the Latino vote again,” she said.

Meng also joined the Asian-American caucus, which she said is so sparse it welcomes non-Asian members, such as U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Jackson Heights). The group works on nationwide diversity issues, Meng said, and tries to tackle problems the Asian-American community faces.

The congresswoman had three pieces of legislation pass the House in her first year.

The first of these bills allowed houses of worship that were damaged by Superstorm Sandy to apply for federal disaster funds.

The second bill was a response to the terrorist attack in Benghazi and gives the secretary of state more power to discipline U.S. State Department employees who put diplomats in danger.

“It helps close the loophole to protect the safety of diplomats abroad,” Meng said.

The third bill was an attempt to eradicate the massive backlog of disability claims which has caused extremely long wait times for veterans seeking assistance.

Meng said all of her bills have stemmed from complaints, concerns or ideas that came from constituents, who contacted her district office.

When she first took office, Meng said she quickly realized she would need more than just the one district office in Flushing her predecessor had, so she opened a second office in Forest Hills, at 118-35 Queens Blvd., Suite 1610.

“People in Queens really identify with the local neighborhood they’re from, so it was very important to have an office on Queens Boulevard closer to the southern and central parts of the district,” she said.

Reach reporter Alex Robinson by e-mail at arobinson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.