Photos, Video, and Rush Transcript: Congressman Dan Goldman Holds In-District Swearing-In Ceremony

Brooklyn, NY – Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) today held an in-district swearing in-ceremony at the Brooklyn High School of the Arts.  
 
Goldman was sworn in by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and joined for the ceremony by Congressman Jerry Nadler, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, Congresswoman Yvette Clark, Comptroller Brad Lander, State Senator Simcha Felder, State Senator Iwen Chu, Assemblymember Bobby Carroll, Assemblymember Brian Cunningham, Assemblymember Harvey Epstein, Assemblymember Charles Fall, Assemblymember Grace Lee, Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes, Assemblymember JoAnne Simon, Council Member Alexa Aviles, Council Member Erik Bottcher, Council Member Rita Joseph, Council Member Christopher Marte, Council Member Keith Powers, and Council Member Lincoln Restler.
 
PHOTOS are available here.  
 
VIDEO is available here.
 
A rush transcript of the Congressman’s remarks is available below:
 
Thank you all for being here, it feels a little bit like my Bar Mitzvah.  
 
But it’s truly humbling to be standing here as the new Congressman for the new 10th District of New York.
 
We were asked at our orientation event, to all the new members, to stand up and say something cool about your district, and I was very honored to be able to stand up and say that my district is the coolest district in the country.  
 
It’s so nice to be able to be sworn in today by the legendary Charles Schumer, who many of you know as the superb Majority Leader of the United States Senate, but I prefer to think of as my constituent, Chuck from Park Slope.  
 
It’s really nice to be here, in Brooklyn, representing Brooklyn, especially because, along with Senator Schumer, we have Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Brooklyn is at the top of both bodies of Congress.
 
I have very large shoes to fill, as Brad said, and it really is an honor that the Congressmembers who have previously represented parts of this district all came tonight to be here, to welcome me, and, thankfully for me, this is not the first welcome. They have all been incredibly generous – with their time, with their guidance, with their wisdom, and I am very grateful for all of that.
 
Congressman Jerry Nadler, who did have, as I said, about half of it, all of the Lower West Side of Manhattan and into Southern Brooklyn. When I was on the campaign trail, and I would be in the parts of my district that are, were his, I cannot tell you how many people came up to me and basically said, in various different ways, that, if you can just be like Jerry, we’ll be in good shape.  
 
And that is also a tribute to Amy Rutkin, his chief of staff this year, Rob Gottheim, who is his district director, who have been with him forever. Jerry’s team has really helped to define how I want to be a representative here in the district, and his leadership on issues of Constitutional Law, which are near and dear to my heart, are big shoes to fill. And hopefully I can do that and learn under his tutelage.
 
Congresswoman Velazquez, give her a round of applause.  
 
My district now has the most NYCHA developments of any in the city, which was a surprise to me. And right as soon I won the primary, I got to work. And already I’ve met with the tenants’ association leaders in every single development in my district.  
 
And a guidepost for me in representing the residents and tenants of our public housing here in New York City is Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, who has been such a strong fighter.
 
And I truly am honored and privileged to be able to join her in putting forward and introducing, once again, the Public Housing Emergency Response Act, which will provide essential and necessary money for capital improvements to our NYCHA developments. The bill, based on a formula of what the need is, will give $32 billion to NYCHA to do the work that we all know is really necessary.  
 
Now, it almost passed last Congress, we’ve got a real uphill battle this Congress, but we are determined to keep fighting. And if we can’t get it through this Congress, we’ll be ready January 2025, when we take back the House, to pass that.
 
And, last but not least, is my good friend, Congresswoman Yvette Clark, who has provided me so much wisdom – through the campaign, after the campaign, to really understand all of the different responsibilities that you have as a member of Congress. Of course, we’re down in Washington, doing as much as we can to fight for our democracy, hold people accountable, pass legislation, but we also have to be really present and on the ground in the district to make sure that issues big and small for our constituents are properly addressed. And Yvette has been such a model and mentor for me in that, so thank you very much.
 
I’m really grateful that so many of my colleagues, overlapping in the district, from the City Council and the State Legislature are here, especially those folks who came back from Albany today for this, thank you.  
 
State Senator Iwen Chu, from the Sunset Park and South Brooklyn is here. Assemblymembers Jo Anne Simon, Bobby Carroll, and Grace Lee. Councilmembers Lincoln Restler, Keith Powers, Chris Marte, Rita Joseph, and Erik Bottcher, thank you all.
 
Of course, our Comptroller, Brad Lander, who now is our city comptroller, but of course was in the City Council representing a big swath of the 10th District for many years, incredibly, incredibly ably. Thank you for being here as well, Brad.
 
And thank you to so many of you who are here, who really did check with me, through the campaign and into office now, it’s an honor. There are too many of you to name, but I’m really grateful that you all showed up.
 
Thank you to Rabbi Timoner for the lovely invocation.
 
And thank you to Daniel Vecchiano and the Brooklyn High School of the Arts choir. I’m looking forward to the remaining performance.
 
And our fabulous Lunar New Year performance by the United Fujian Seniors of Sunset Park.  
 
And then, I also just want to take note, and I think this is something that we all need to do a bit more of, particularly with January 6th so close, in our rearview mirror now, the second anniversary, of the officers of the 84th Precinct, who do so much to keep us all safe. Thank you for being here.
 
Most importantly, I want to thank my family, who are here. Three of the children came up here, you saw, one has refused.  
 
My kids were my secret weapon on the campaign, and it was so nice to be out there with them. It’s been really a pleasure to have their involvement, their support, and to have their sacrifices, as it’s not easy when I’m down in DC for several, three to four days a week. So, thank you guys for putting up with me.
 
But I especially want to thank my wife, Corinne. I chose our wedding siddur to get, to use for the swearing in because, unbeknownst to me, that turned out to be the greatest decision that I ever made. And this is not exactly what either of us had planned when we got married. And she has been such a rock, such a support, obviously, with young children.  
 
There’s a tremendous amount that falls down to her, but it’s not just the sort of traditional support that a politician’s spouse plays. She is my smartest advisor, and she was during the impeachment investigation, the best lawyer I know, and I’m very lucky to not just have her support and her love, but also to have her wisdom and guidance. So thank you.
 
That was some first two weeks. I think we saw a little of everything and I think that what we saw in that first week was a foreshadowing of what’s to come in this Congress, which is Republican chaos and dysfunction.  
 
I think when you are going to measure on a spectrum the quality and competence of Speakers of the House, you will see Nancy Pelosi on one end and Kevin McCarthy on the other end. And there is nothing that is normal, there is nothing that is functional, there is nothing on their side that has any rudder other than power, and to some extent, chaos and destruction.
 
And so, we will expect a lot of that. And certainly that is something I am very focused on beating back, and leaning into making sure that extremism is exposed for what it is. And that we as Democrats represent the party of ideas and the party of solutions, which will be in direct contrast to the Republican partisan political propaganda and overreaching investigations, and division and hate that we have seen recently.
 
The second week I was sort of like a pent-up ball of energy from sitting on the House floor for a week, and we certainly tried to hit the ground running. As Congresswoman Velazquez said, we already have introduced the Public Housing bill which is going to be something that we’re working on. But I think overall what I’m most excited about is to do what you elected me to do, which is to stand up for our freedoms, our fundamental rights, our families and our future. And I think even Leader Jeffries would be happy with that alliteration.  
 
We already are facing challenges to our democracy, our free and fair elections, and I was very proud to be a leading voice against George Santos, exposing him as a fraud. But I think more seriously, exposing and pushing for more transparency from Speaker McCarthy, Elise Stefanik, and other leadership because they were in on it. They knew what George Santos was doing, and they were complicit. I think that story hasn’t played out fully.  
 
I also spoke out strongly against a new Subcommittee in Chairman Nadler’s Judiciary Committee, which is really just designed to undermine our democratic institutions, to put more chaos and to damage the foundation of our democracy.
 
But it’s also designed to obstruct justice, because in somewhat unprecedented fashion, the Committee has jurisdiction, according to the resolution that passed, to investigate ongoing criminal investigations, which we know of course is partly the investigations into Donald Trump.  
 
But what is little said is that those investigations are also into members of Congress, the Republican members of Congress, some of whom are under investigation. And so, we will need to fight very strongly to beat back those investigations which I think are quite clearly an effort to do political harm to our democracy and to President Biden.
 
I also spoke on the floor against anti-abortion bills. We need to make sure that we are fighting for our fundamental rights and individual freedoms, and I will continue to do that.  
But we’re also legislating. And I was proud, not only to co-lead the Public Housing bill, but I introduced a bill to designate January 6 as Democracy Day. And we’ve got a number of bills that are in the works that I’m very excited about introducing.  
 
We’re going to have to continue on both fronts. Because we’re going to have to expose the extremism, we’re going to have to make sure that those are held accountable who either violate the rule of law or are overreaching, but we’re also going to have to legislate. And I think what’s important is that we can do both. And I am committed to making sure that we’re doing both.  
 
But I’m mostly committed, and very proud of what our district office was able to do even before we have a district office, so our team here which is the vast majority of our budget, that was a  very intentional decision by me. Most members have most of their budget in Washington, but I wanted to make sure that we had a really strong staff here in the district – culturally competent, language accessible to meet the needs of every single member of this district.  
 
And not withstanding that we had no computers, we had no office, they figured out a way to continue to answer calls, to do constituent service work, to get out into the community, so let’s give our district team a round of applause.
 
In closing, I ran for Congress to bring a different kind of politics to Washington. We need to aggressively stand up for our democracy against extremism. But we also need to bring new, creative ideas for finding solutions, for finding results, for delivering for our district. And I am excited to bring some of the creativity that Chairman Nadler and I and others used to prove the case in the impeachment investigation, not by doing the traditional demand for information, which is often how Congressional investigations work, but by inflating pressure around those who we are investigating, or around those on whom we’re conducting oversight.  
 
And I think that’s very important because it applies equally to legislation, it applies equally to George Santos – the more pressure that we are applying and exposing more of the lies, more of the broader involvement in a scheme to defraud, more pressure comes to bear on the Republican party to do something about it. And that works just the same way for legislation. And so, I’m eager to do that.  
 
We’re going to struggle, frankly, to pass legislation in this Republican Congress. We saw that last week with the bills that they put on the floor, which reflect the new control of the extremists in their party.  
 
But there’s a lot that can be done here, and I think it’s a combination of making sure that we are answering what is coming in, but also that we’re engaging folks who have not traditionally been engaged in the political process.  
 
We’re going to have to strengthen our democracy and we’re going to have to provide solutions. And the ultimate goal, and I am determined to pursue this, is to make sure that we even the playing field and give access to everyone to pursue the American Dream.  
 
Finally, this is a group effort. No one can do it alone. So, I’m going to pledge to you to be a zealous advocate in Washington. But I need a promise from everyone in this room, and everyone else who may see this as well: we need everyone to engage a little bit more. To do one more small thing beyond what you might otherwise do in your daily lives. To help a neighbor, to help your community. To help the city. To help our democracy.
 
Our collective engagement, our collective advocacy is going to be how we ultimately beat back the threats to our democracy and the authoritarian strain that is a part of the Republican party right now. That is how we’re going to restore the greatness of our country and the greatness of our democracy. And that is how we’re going to keep our Republic, as Benjamin Franklin said and as Senator Schumer described.  
 
In the end, we are stronger together. We need to stick together and work together, because our collective action will achieve much more than any individual action.
 
Finally, I want to emphasize – this is important – my door, our door, is always open. I want to welcome everyone’s input, everyone’s ideas, everyone’s engagement. I truly am at your service, I’m eager to learn, I’m eager to dig in, and I’m eager to be as good a representative of this district as I can.  
 
So, thank you all for coming tonight, I’m very grateful.