Rep. Rice Thinks Washington Could Use a Little Disruption
By: Jacquelyn Connelly
When Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-New York) left her position as district attorney of Long Island’s Nassau County to run for a seat representing New York’s 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, she had to give it “some real serious thought.”
“I was frustrated by the lack of progress going on here in Washington,” Rep. Rice said when she addressed yesterday’s Young Agents & InsurPac State Chairpersons Legislative Luncheon during the 2018 Big “I” Legislative Conference. “The problem is that you have the far right and the far left digging in, not allowing anything to get done.”
But Rep. Rice couldn’t bring herself to complain about how her federal counterparts weren’t making progress if she wasn’t willing to step in herself and start working toward a solution. “We need to start sending people to Washington who are moderates,” she said.
As an elected official, it “doesn’t take long” to recognize how “dysfunctional” Capitol Hill can be, Rep. Rice said. “And it doesn’t have to be—it’s not designed that way. But it has become so polarized now.”
Making progress on the Hill means “us getting down to doing our jobs,” she said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty right now. The only way we’re going to change is if we elect more people who are middle of the road.”
When something’s not working, Rep. Rice believes in taking a business-like approach. “In a company, if you don’t hit your mark, you’re out—you’re not sticking around. As a prosecutor, if you’re not winning cases, you’re out,” she pointed out. “I’m trying to get the Democratic Caucus to operate the way a successful business operates. What we need in Washington right now is more people speaking truth to power.”
According to Rep. Rice, “change is everywhere, and change is good”—whether it’s in the insurance industry or the political realm.
“I think we’re at a time in our history when we need a little disruption,” Rep. Rice said. “We need people to feel a little uncomfortable so we can all dig deep and ask, ‘What kind of country do I want to live in? What are my values?’ This is a time for all of us to think those big thoughts and come out in a position where we can articulate what we can do to make this country what we think it should be.”Jacquelyn Connelly is IA senior editor.
