George Santos

Federal prosecutors are looking into the finances and financial disclosures of Republican Congressman-elect George Santos after he admitted to fabricating significant parts of his resume.

The federal probe marks a potentially serious turn for Santos, who said he still intends to take his seat in the House come January.

Newsday reports the Republican district attorney for Nassau County is also looking into Santos following the revelations of the Long Island congressman-elect’s falsehoods, although they haven’t specified what aspect of Santos’ behavior they’ll be reviewing.

Santos admitted in an interview with the New York Post this week that he “embellished” his work and education history after the New York Times reported it was unable to substantiate claims that he had graduated from Baruch College in New York or worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Santos was also called out for falsely claiming to be Jewish

Congressman Joe Sempolinski said he’s very disappointed to learn about Santo’s fabrications of his background, “Whether he resigns or stays in office, there’s only one person who can decide that and that’s George Santos. Clearly, I think the people of that district out on Long Island are going to take this into consideration should he choose to run in 2024. I don’t know if he will, or will not. At this point, I think he has said he plans on serving his term. I don’t know anything much beyond that.”

Sempolinski doesn’t know if Santos can be investigated by the House Ethics Committee since the deception happened prior to him being elected. Another fellow Republican congressman-elect Nick LaLota has called for Santos to be investigated by the House Ethics Committee and potentially by law enforcement.

Joe Sempolinski

Representative Joe Sempolinski is looking back at the highlights of his four-month tenure in Congress.

Sempolinski has represented the 23rd Congressional District following a special election in August. He replaced Tom Reed who had resigned.

He said passing the 21st Century Assistive Technology Act was his proudest accomplishment, “This law is going to have a profound effect on those with disabilities. It’s going to make a difference in their lives. And helping Americans with disabilities is the cornerstone of my time in office.”

He said he also was proud of helping nearly 300 constituent calls from the district.

One item that Sempolinski supported that did not get completed was the passage of the “Words Matter Act” to replace the “r” word in the U.S. Code with more respectful terminology to identify those with developmental disabilities.

He said he has spoken with House members who are returning next term about getting that bill reintroduced, including incoming Representative Nick Langworthy, “Talking about bipartisanship, on that bill you have Conservative Republicans, you have Liberal Democrats, and that is some place again where you’re dealing with community, in this case, the developmentally disabled, that people of all ideological descriptions want to be part of supporting.”

Sempolinski said he anticipates that the bill will get passed in the new session given the level of bipartisan support it has.

Joe Sempolinski

Representative Joe Sempolinski said he will vote no on a $1.7 Trillion omnibus package.

The package was unveiled by Federal lawmakers early Tuesday morning. It includes another large round of aid to Ukraine, a nearly 10% boost in defense spending, and roughly $40 billion in emergency spending, mostly to assist communities across the country recovering from drought, hurricanes and other natural disasters.

The bill includes about $772.5 billion for non-defense, discretionary programs and $858 billion for defense and would last through the end of the fiscal year at the end of September.

Sempolinski said the whole process is flawed, “This status quo, this way that it’s always been done attitude, is completely unacceptable. These have been bad budget deals that hurt our nation, especially in this case, spending is way up and I’ve been always concerned by how much we, as a country, spend. It’s not healthy for the future, the debt we’re placing on our children and grandchildren, it’s not healthy for the present of our nation with the inflation that we’re inflicting on the people of this country, so we have to get our fiscal house in order.”

Lawmakers are racing to complete passage before a midnight Friday deadline or face the prospect of a partial government shutdown going into the Christmas holiday.

The stopgap measure, known as a “continuing resolution,” is needed to avert a partial shutdown of federal agencies that would otherwise begin on Saturday.

It passed 224 votes to 201, largely along party lines, with nine Republicans voting for the measure.

Congressman Joe Sempolinski voted no, as he said he would in his weekly media call. Sempolinski said there’s a big problem with how Congress does budgeting, “We’re not anywhere close to regular order. We’re not anywhere close to how this is supposed to be done. And in this particular case, no House Republicans have been part of this negotiations. This is just Democrats fighting with Democrats and also including some Senate Republicans, arguing about how much to increase spending. They’re not fighting about, ‘Should we keep spending the same, or should we cut spending when we’re in a significant deficit?’ They’re talking about how much to increase spending.”

Top congressional negotiators announced on Tuesday an agreement on a framework for the full-year “omnibus” bill. They did not reveal the amount of money they had agreed on, though it is expected to exceed last year’s $1.5 trillion.

In addition to funding the U.S. government, the package is expected to include aid for Ukraine in its fight against the Russian military and a bill reforming the way the United States certifies presidential elections.

House Republicans object to a full-year bill, saying they would prefer to vote on funding the government early next year when they take majority control of the chamber and will have more power to slash domestic spending.

Joe Sempolinski

Congressman Joe Sempolinski is celebrating the passing of the 21st Century Assistive Technology Act in the House of Representatives.

Sempolinski was the primary Republican sponsor of the bill and worked with Democratic Rep. Mark DeSaulnier to secure 350 bipartisan votes. The bill still needs to be passed in the U.S. Senate.

Sempolinski said it helps promote awareness of critical assistive technology devices and services while improving access to life changing technology for those living with disabilities, “It could be a walker, a wheelchair, a communication device, a children’s toy or game as a learning aide. And getting this technology into the hands of those who need it in the disability community changes lives. It makes people who might not otherwise be able to be employed, employed. It makes people who might not be able to be independent, independent.

Sempolinski added that passing the bill is one of his proudest achievements while in Congress given that helping people with disabilities has been a focus of his tenure.

Congressman Joe Sempolinski discusses energy policy and politics in his weekly media call.

Joe Sempolinski

Lee Zeldin

Lee Zeldin is stepping back from running to chair the Republican National Committee.

Zeldin said in a statement that he is falling short of a needed majority to defeat current chair, Ronna McDaniel.

McDaniel has been serving as the RNC Chair since 2017.

Zeldin, who is a Long Island congressman and was the 2022 Republican nominee for New York governor, urged party officials to select a new leader after a disappointing midterm result for Republicans in Congress.

Zeldin lost the race for governor this year against incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul. But the race was the closest gubernatorial contest in decades in Democratic-heavy New York.

23rd Congressional District Representative Joe Sempolinski said he was disappointed that Zeldin withdrew from running for the seat, “I think the world of Mr. Zeldin. I think he would have been an excellent RNC chairman. Basically, we could have done better in the midterms. We could have done better in other elections that have occurred. And so, I think having somebody put their name forward, saying, ‘Hey, maybe we should go in a different direction. Maybe we should have a different choice. Maybe we should present options to the RNC committee members,’ would have been wonderful. I certainly think this is not the last we have heard from Lee Zeldin.”

Zeldin was held up as a model by some in the party as an example of how the GOP can compete in suburban areas of the country.

He was also credited with having unusually strong coattails that enabled down-ballot Republican victories in Congress.

Joe Sempolinski

Congressman Joe Sempolinski will not be supporting the Respect for Marriage Act, citing concerns for religious freedoms.

The legislation protects same-sex and interracial marriage and was passed the U.S. Senate 61 to 36 on Tuesday. It is expected to be acted on by the House next week.

Sempolinski, who calls himself a Constitutional Conservative, said with an amendment by Senator Mike Lee failing in the Senate that would have protected the tax-exempt status of organizations, he has concerns, “And not having those stop-gaps and safeties in there makes me concerned about how this legislation would be used against people whose religious beliefs are not in accord with different definitions of marriage.”

The act does provide exclusions for religious organizations, meaning those groups, “shall not be required to provide services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges for the solemnization or celebration of a marriage.”

The legislation would not force any state to allow same-sex couples to marry. But it would require states to recognize all marriages that were legal where they were performed, and protect current same-sex unions, if the U.S. Supreme Court‘s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision were to be overturned.

If a state bans same-sex marriage, couples would have the option to marry in states where same-sex marriage is legal.

The bill would also protect interracial marriages by requiring states to recognize legal marriages regardless of “sex, race, ethnicity or national origin.”

23rd Congressional Representative Joe Sempolinski discusses the GOP winning the House, what legislation he anticipates for the remainder of the session, and his thoughts on the possible Railroad Strike.

Joe Sempolinski

Joe Sempolinski, Nick Langworthy

Congressman Joe Sempolinski said Nick Langworthy is a good fit for the new 23rd Congressional District.

Sempolinski said being a former Congressional District Director is the best preparation someone can have to becoming a member of Congress, “And one thing Mr. Langworthy and I have in common is he is a former Congressional District Director. He has worked in that capacity for previous members of Congress and I think that will put him into be doing a job that is focused on the people of the new 23rd district.”

Sempolinski, who is representing the current 23rd Congressional District, said he’s been in contact with two members-elect and the sitting member whose new districts overlap with the old 23rd district, “Nick (Langworthy) will be responsible for six of the counties that I currently represent. Claudia Tenney will be responsible for three of them and Marc Molinaro will be responsible for two. And these are all people I have a great relationship with. They’re all people I’ve know for years. They’re all people I have a good line of communication with and they’re all people we’ve been discussing constituent issues. We’ve been discussing transition issues.”

Sempolinski credited Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin‘s strong campaign as to why Republican Congressional candidates had success at the polls, leading to seven new representatives from the Republican party joining the four Republican incumbents who won re-election in New York State.