In 2024, George Latimer successfully primaried incumbent Jamaal Bowman to represent Congressional District 16, bounded by Yonkers and the Wakefield section of the Bronx to the south, and by Elmsford and White Plains to the north.
During a 45- minute interview, the freshman Congressman, accompanied by District Press Aide Tara Conte, shared his thoughts on coming to Washington, the intersection of business and government, and advice for citizens hoping to see change in national leadership. This article offers highlights from the interview.
On Entering the House of Representatives
“I walked through the House of representatives on the Floor, steps aware from where FDR delivered the Day of Infamy speech… where Lyndon Johnson spoke about the death of John Kennedy, which I saw as a kid. I’m in a room where history has been made. Major presidents served the same room that I’m serving in… [Y]ou walk through the Capitol, the dome and the lights at night, and you’re really in awe. “I would say it doesn’t make me feel more important or more powerful. It makes me feel more humble, because I see myself as just one small little dot in a much larger.. story about the United States.
While noting that “I’ve had plenty of positions” – serving in both the Assembly and the Senate in New York State, seven years as chief executive of Westchester County – Latimer is still “blown away by it…. I’m a kid whose mom is a factory worker. My dad was a maintenance man, and I’m in the House of Representatives… “
On the Chaos of the current Administration
Latimer’s background as a sales and marketing executive for subsidiaries of Nestle and ITT informs his take of the current administration in Washington, emphasizing that the chaotic means of governing of the current administration is profoundly un-businesslike.
“I’m there at a time of the greatest chaos that’s been seen created by a new administration in recent history, if not all of history. [T]here’s no recent precedent that I can think of as a student of government…. You may love what he’s doing or hate what he’s doing, but there is no question that there’s an unsurity about what’s happening“
“Project 2025 that said we’re going to deconstruct the federal government, and that’s what we’re watching in the first 60 days…. [Y]ou can’t predict what’s going to happen to the value of a business if you don’t know how the business is going to function in this volatile environment. So, there’s uncertainty; the financial markets are reacting by the stock market dropping.”
This uncertainty, according to Latimer, extends far beyond domestic business affairs, to US relations with our allies. “Here [is the administration] criticizing our best friend Canada, insulting them, saying, Oh, you’d be a 51st state. He didn’t say once… he said this three times! This is insulting. They’re an independent country…. So that kind of chaos in foreign affairs [makes] our allies question who we are.”
Tax Breaks and the Debt Ceiling
When asked his opinion about the motivation behind the rapid defunding of federal agencies, research institutes, and many other programs, Latimer highlighted the lack of careful planning or strategy. While he acknowledges that many feel the government is too large, “it doesn’t seem like [the administration is] executing a game plan.”
He offers a hypothetical, by way of illustration:
“I’m overweight. How do I lose weight? Do I cut off an arm? If I say my arm is 30 pounds of weight, that adds to my body weight, so I cut off my arm for 30 pounds. Yes, I’m 30 pounds lighter, but I lost my arm… In some cases, the services we’re cutting are valid, necessary services…. “
The risk to core services especially troubles Latimer. “When you’re talking about Social Security, veterans’ benefits, these are necessary things that people are living on. It’s not an automobile company [that competes with] other companies…. There’s an assertion that there’s fraud, corruption and waste, but there’s no proof of any of it.
“People have made decisions for their whole life based on some assurance that Social Security would be there, some assurance, if they serve the country as a veteran, that veteran benefits will be there. So you’re playing with the theory of business, and you play with people’s lives. And it’s clear to me that certainly Musk and… Trump, do they really care about the lives that they’re impacting? It seems to be they don’t. And if you don’t care about people’s lives, what are you doing in government? What are you doing in government?”
What is the end-game of all these cuts?
When asked what he thought the motivation was behind the president’s attacks on agencies and programs, the answer, for Latimer, comes down to a very simple equation: slashing core government programs to fund tax breaks for the wealthiest.
“I think he’s making the argument as much as he makes an argument that he’s going to cut the spending of government. And I believe he’s cutting the spending of government because he’s trying to open up financial space for him to reauthorize the huge tax cuts that they authorized in 2017 that expired this year for the largest, wealthiest individuals and the highest corporations. I think that that was something that he was prided himself on, what it did in the first term. And I think now that it’s coming due under his tenure, he intends to maintain it. His ability to do that depends if he has enough money in the budget to do it. And he has two challenges. One is to raise the debt ceiling so he can bring in more debt to pay for these things.
“Me, personally, I don’t have a problem raising the debt ceiling. The question is, what for? What are you going to do with it? And I’ll be damned if I raise the debt ceiling and then still watch the diminution of medical assistance and Social Security, and cutting all these services, throwing people out of the street without jobs. He’s made a lot of people unemployed … just so he can turn around to the Mar-a-Lago crowd and say, ‘Hey boys, I promised you big tax cut. You got it, you know, spent, spend it and enjoy.’”
On the faltering system of checks and balances and what comes next
In first few months in office, the executive branch has issued over 100 Executive Orders. (By way of comparison, over its entire four year term, the first Trump administration issued 220; the Biden administration issued 162.) As for the health of the tradition system of checks and balances, Congress has shown itself willing to approve much of what the president wants; the Judicial system seems to have some independence, at least for the moment.
“Well, I don’t think there’s the check and balance betweenthe branches of government now, because I think what he’s been able to do is have the appointed power in the judiciary to get the people… that that will philosophically align with him and in the House and the Senate… “
Latimer suggests that the role of the public may be the last and best hope for change.
“I look at it as he’s only been in 60 days. Only 60 days, we haven’t begun to see the impact of the stuff he’s doing. You will. And when you do, the court of public opinion will also be an ally in pushing back.”
“[T]he first thing is… you can’t afford the luxury of ignorance. You cannot tell yourself that, yes, I have job, I have family, I have my avocations and things I like to do, and I’m not going to pay any attention to the government if you don’t, things are going to happen that would be negative…and you can be as angry as you want and it will be too late…. You have to know what’s happening. You’ve got to read. You’ve got to seek out some information when you hear something, you’ve got to try to steel yourself from the natural reaction (to just complain).
“Today [we all] have phones in our pocket, and we can do anything we want, sometimes to simply play Solitaire all day… But you don’t have the luxury of ignorance. You’ve got to stay engaged. Otherwise you’ll wind up voting on emotion and symbolism, and that could be manipulated like that..[and end up] voting against your own best interests.”
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