Suozzi, Gillen vote to censure Trump heckler Al Green

Daily Point

LI's Dem reps argue for decorum, face pushback from constituents

It’s not easy bucking Green.

Long Island’s two Democrats in the House voted Thursday to censure a member of their party for interrupting President Donald Trump at the start of his Tuesday address to Congress. CD3’s Tom Suozzi and CD4’s Laura Gillen were among only 10 Democrats who joined the GOP majority to reprimand Al Green.

The vote was 224-198 for censure, a very infrequent measure. Green, a Texan who said he wanted the president to know "that he had no mandate to cut Medicaid," had refused Speaker Mike Johnson’s admonitions to sit down while Trump spoke.

"I thought what he did was wrong," Suozzi told The Point. "I can’t say I’m bipartisan and Mr. Civility and then just take the party line."

Suozzi has gained national attention for urging bipartisanship at a time when Democrats are angry and demanding the party take a more forceful stand against Trump’s policies. But the Democratic caucus entered the chamber Tuesday with the understanding that they were not to become the story, he said. Green, however, went his own way. "This is what we are talking about, nobody is talking about the president’s speech," said Suozzi. "Strategically, it was wrong."

Suozzi said he voted early Thursday in order to catch a flight back to New York. "I looked up at the board and saw that one Democrat had voted yes and I was the second vote and I left."

After the censure was approved, some of the more liberal Democrats sang "We Shall Overcome," prompting some Republicans to shout at them while Johnson hammered the gavel to demand order. Suozzi acknowledged he was getting some angry calls, while the pushback on social media to Suozzi and Gillen was intense.

Gillen told The Point that she was upset not only with Green but with the behavior of her Democratic colleagues who did not stand to honor some of those in the chamber that the president recognized, including Stephanie Diller, the widow of slain NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller of Massapequa. "It sets the wrong tone. People expect both Republicans and Democrats to behave with decorum and that was not exhibited by either side at the address," she said. Putting on a show, she said, "is not bringing down the price of eggs or stopping the wrongful termination of federal employees."

Suozzi and Gillen hosted a packed town hall together on Saturday at Hofstra University and said they talked before the vote, but Gillen said "we make up our own minds."

— Rita Ciolli rita.ciolli@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Elected to stay mum

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Great Eggs-pectations Point

Trickle down egg-onomics

President Donald Trump addressed Congress Tuesday for the first time since winning his second term. During the longest such address since 1964, he could not avoid the issue that has come to encapsulate the affordability outrage: the high price of eggs.

Trump made sure to mention that former President Joe Biden "let the price of eggs get out of control" but said his administration is working hard to get prices down. He also called out the Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins directly during his speech to "do a good job on that [lowering egg prices]" being that she "inherited a total mess from the previous administration."

During the last two years of Biden’s term, the average egg price was $3.39 per dozen in March 2024 and $4.03 in March 2023.

Bird flu continues to cause egg shortages and with the approach of the Easter and Passover holidays that tend to increase the demand for eggs, prices show no sign of dropping anytime soon.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the current national average for a dozen eggs is around $8.00. Maybe the White House should consider taking PETA’s suggestion of replacing eggs at this year’s Easter Egg Roll with potatoes.

The national average is also the price on Long Island: This week, 12 large white eggs is averaging $7.99 a carton. There was no increase in price at the LI supermarket being monitored by The Point.

— Christine Wallen christine.wallen@newsday.com

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