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Katko's first month -- fast paced and looking for consensus

Ellen Abbott
/
WRVO News File Photo
Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus) answers reporters questions at his office in Syracuse.

As Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus) is finishing up his first month representing the residents of the 24th Congressional District, he says he’s getting used to the pace and the politics of the nation’s capital.

Katko, joins a Congress that has the largest Republican majority since the 1930s.  And he admits that getting all the factions of the GOP to work together as one can be a challenge.

"Make no mistake, we’re going through some growing pains within our Republican conference,” said Katko. “But, we’re feeling each other out, and we’re starting to get to the point where we know where we need to go, to get consensus amongst our colleagues.”

He believes the way to maneuver through these ideological divides, is by starting with what Democrats and Republicans, Liberals, moderates and conservatives all have in common.

“For example, on the border, everyone agrees we want to stop the influx of illegal aliens. And everyone agrees we want to make sure we secure our border, so terrorists don’t come across the border by land. And everybody agrees on that,” said Katko. “So let’s agree on that fundamental premise and then work towards how to get there.”

Katko is painting himself as a consensus builder in the new Congress, joining the No-Labels coalition, and breaking with Republicans on one vote.

One thing that’s surprised the Syracuse-area Republican so far, is the pace of Congressional action.

“We move very fast in Congress. It’s amazing. We’ve already passed 27 bills, which is pretty amazing. And the Senate doesn’t move as fast. They’ll have debate for weeks, and we’ll have it for hours.”

Katko has also found it interesting how technical and procedural many of his votes are. He says there are often two or three votes in advance of a vote on the substance of a bill.  

From his perspective, the most important of the bills passed so far involve rolling back President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration.

And that issue included the one time Katko has broken with the Republican leadership. He sided with Democrats when it came to the president’s order to stop deporting illegal immigrants brought into the U.S. as young children.

“That was simply for a very small piece of the bill. I voted for all the other aspects of the bills that roll back the president’s executive action. I really think it’s dangerous what he’s doing. He’s legislating from the executive branch.”

Katko expects the immigration debate to heat up in coming months as funding for the Homeland Security Department needs to be approved.
 

Ellen produces news reports and features related to events that occur in the greater Syracuse area and throughout Onondaga County. Her reports are heard regularly in regional updates in Morning Edition and All Things Considered.