Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) and Max Rose debate during a Staten Island Advance editorial board meeting in Bloomfield on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. The race is a rematch for the 11th District Congressional seat. (Staten Island Advance/Steve Zaffarano) Steve Zaffarano
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — While congressional candidates Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn) and Max Rose disagreed on a variety of topics, from student loan forgiveness to alternative energy, the two candidates found some common ground on issues affecting Staten Islanders.
The two candidates, who are gearing up for a rematch for New York’s 11th District seat in November, met with the Advance/SILive.com Editorial Board to discuss their ideas and plans to address issues in the district, city and country on Tuesday.
Some issues where they have similar views include affordable housing and on removing taxes on Social Security benefits.
UTILIZING INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING
Regarding how they would apply funding from new federal infrastructure policies, Malliotakis and Rose did not conflict in their ideas. But they also did not overlap.
Malliotakis noted that New York state and city government will ultimately determine how the funding is allocated, but federal legislators can be supportive in the process.
“The bill offers a lot of opportunities for New York. The way it works now is that the state legislature, the governor’s legislature, or the city have to now apply in many ways for the matching funding,” she said. “I’m hopeful that our leaders on the local level will seize this opportunity. But really at this point, it’s in their hands. Although, I will continue to advocate for the projects that are important to me.”
Those projects include completing the HOV lane on the Staten Island Expressway and expanding or creating a new Outerbridge Crossing, which she and other local officials have advocated for for years.
“When I spoke with the governor shortly after this bill became law, the HOV lane and the Outerbridge Crossing were the two major issues that I brought up with her. And I hope that whoever the governor is going to be next year is going to take this issue seriously,” the congresswoman said.
Malliotakis also mentioned the ongoing sewer infrastructure improvement projects to alleviate flooding on the Island as another project to continue funding.
Rose’s ideas were primarily ambitious transportation solutions that have been floated for years, but have not stuck yet, including the North Shore Rapid Bus Transit project, a ferry to the East Shore and connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn or Midtown.
Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) and Max Rose debate during a Staten Island Advance editorial board meeting in Bloomfield on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. The race is a rematch for the 11th District Congressional seat. (Staten Island Advance/Steve Zaffarano) Steve Zaffarano
“I think there’s potential that I am dreaming, but I don’t think it’s a fantasy that we actually do a subway. That would cost a lot more than I think is available here in the infrastructure bill. But there’s certainly a significant amount of money that can be appealed to through the infrastructure project that can get this started in a significant way,” the former congressman said.
“Whether that’s a subway to Brooklyn, and we all know the story about how it got started, and then it didn’t continue. Or really shoot for the stars and do a subway right into Midtown. Whatever it might be, it would really go a long way, particularly in an era with congestion pricing,” he added.
CREATING AFFORDABLE HOUSING
On the topic of affordable housing, Rose and Malliotakis agreed on two contributing factors to the issue – supply and demand crisis and subsidies.
“There’s plenty of neighborhoods, not just on Staten Island, but throughout New York City – which is really where this matters – and throughout the country, where we need to really think about how we’re going to build more, because that’s the only way that you’ll lower the price of housing, generally,” Rose said. “It’s not with this constant game of subsidies associated with affordable housing, which only makes the cost of housing actually skyrocket as a whole.”
Rose discussed subsidy programs, such as Section 8, pointing out that eligible people sometimes don’t receive the benefits “because there’s not enough money there.”
“I think that if someone is entitled to something, then we should figure out a way to step up and provide it to them,” he said.
Rose also mentioned utilizing infrastructure funding to improve living conditions in New York City Housing Authority properties.
Malliotakis spoke on affordable housing in relation to what different level of governments can do.
“There’s a demand. People want to live in areas where they perhaps are close to transportation or they have children and care about schools or whatnot. So I think that’s one reality that needs to be addressed on the state level,” she said.
Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) and Max Rose debate during a Staten Island Advance editorial board meeting in Bloomfield on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. The race is a rematch for the 11th District Congressional seat. (Staten Island Advance/Steve Zaffarano) Steve Zaffarano
“Now on the federal level, it’s sort of what Max was saying – we can’t just subsidize it. But, what we can do is perhaps improve the environment in which people are living,” the congresswoman added.
Mallitotakis also highlighted supportive housing over unsustainable temporary options.
“There’s a real need for supportive housing that addresses an individual’s underlying issues and helps them transition in to a self-sustainable life,” she said.
GREEN VS. TRADITIONAL ENERGY
Malliotakis and Rose agreed on the potential positive impact that alternative energy could have on the economy, but differed in what they see as some of the factors driving an unstable energy industry and how to address it.
Rose asserted that the nation’s goal should be to become carbon neutral, while Malliotakis said all options should be explored.
“I support diversification. I just don’t support it at the exclusion of our traditional energy sources,” the congresswoman said. “I don’t think it’s a zero sum game. I think we need all of our diverse energy to meet our needs.”
Rose said oil should be in the short-term plan.
“What we are seeing now with the turbulence in the energy market speaks to two things. It obviously speaks in the short-term to increasing the supply of oil as best as possible, using every tool at our disposal. But long term, it speaks to the fact that we have got to transition to a net carbon neutral future so we’re not held captive, irrespective of how much oil we produce,” he said.
Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) and Max Rose debate during a Staten Island Advance editorial board meeting in Bloomfield on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. The race is a rematch for the 11th District Congressional seat. (Staten Island Advance/Steve Zaffarano) Steve Zaffarano
In terms of driving factors, Rose attributed fluctuating energy source prices to the stock market and oil. Malliotakis blamed it on President Biden’s policies.
Both candidates spoke in favor of domestic production of clean energy materials instead of overseas from China, which they referred to as a national security issue.
“As we think about the 21st century, we think about competing with China, and we think about the United States of America and New York City having the strongest economies of the future and the strongest, biggest middle class. I think a critical pillar of that is we have to own the technologies and the industries of this century. And certainly, alternative energy is probably the biggest answer there,” Rose said.
“We haven’t seen the cost of wind and solar energy fluctuate nearly as much as the cost of oil over the last 30-40 years,” he added.
Both candidates also noted the potential thousands of jobs that the alternative energy industry would offer.
“This would be a great project for Staten Island because it comes with a lot of benefits. It comes with not just the energy production aspect of it, but also the jobs that will come with it, the economic stimulus that we’ll have in the businesses that surround where the warehousing is taking place. So, I think this is something important,” Malliotakis said.
Rose pointed out that the industry would expand the middle class with more union jobs available making it an “absolutely amazing opportunity that we have to pursue.”
STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS
Malliotakis and Rose outright disagreed on whether student loan forgiveness should exist.
“I am opposed to the President’s plan. I don’t believe diverting an individual’s debt to another individual is the right thing to do. I myself worked. My father had two jobs. I worked part-time to get through college and then I worked full time to get my MBA at night. At that was my choice, right? That was what I had to do to pursue my education,” she said.
Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) and Max Rose debate during a Staten Island Advance editorial board meeting in Bloomfield on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. The race is a rematch for the 11th District Congressional seat. (Staten Island Advance/Steve Zaffarano) Steve Zaffarano
“But under no circumstances should there be a debt transfer in this country. I think it sets a very dangerous and wrong precedent. It’s unfair,” the congresswoman added.
Also on Biden’s loan forgiveness policy, Rose said there are “really significant weaknesses associated with his proposal,” particularly that the program doesn’t address the root issue of the astronomical price to receive a college education.
“There should have been a much bolder effort to address the cost of education in the United States of America, as well as to incentivize alternative routes to the middle class other than a four year degree,” he said.
Rose and Malliotakis both emphasized that education and professional training are not limited to four-year college programs and that there should more investment in vocational education and other forms of training.
The congresswoman also said that the price of education should be addressed.
“I do believe we do need to rein in universities that are ripping people off. There needs to be some type of control over the situation, particularly if they’re receiving particular nonprofit status for receiving taxpayer funding. And I think that needs to be really where the conversation is. I also think that we need to do more to expand vocational training in our country,” she said.
PROTECTING SOCIAL SECURITY
One issue that Malliotakis and Rose completely aligned on was protecting Social Security recipients’ income.
Both said that Social Security shouldn’t be taxed.
“We need to lift the taxes on Social Security benefits. In particular, that’s one way that we can help seniors right now, looking at Social Security and ceasing the taxation on it. I think that’s one of the biggest things we can do right now to alleviate some of the impact that particularly our seniors are facing. They’re the ones most impacted by this inflation right now,” Malliotakis said.
Rose brought up a recent Republican Study Committee idea to raise the age for Social Security eligibility, which he denounced. The congresswoman also said she was opposed to raising the eligibility age.
Rose and Malliotakis will face off in the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
Crime, immigration, abortion were hot topics at Malliotakis/Rose congressional debate
Tensions flared with hot button topics, such as bail reform and abortion, on which Rose and Malliotakis questioned each other’s voting records.
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