Now That Government Is Open, Newly Elected Rep. Rose Says He's Ready To Fight For Working Class
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- With the federal government reopened, for many new members of Congress, Monday was their first official day of business.
CBS2's Dick Brennan caught up with the city's newly-elected representative.
"I'm very to happy to say the government is open, but it took too damn long. It took too damn long," Rep. Max Rose said.
Web Extra: Extended Interview With Max Rose
The newly-elected congressman from Staten Island and a part of Brooklyn is on the job, in your face, and hasn't been patiently waiting to get going.
"The only thing that pisses me off is that we had to wait three weeks in order to do what is eminently obvious," Rose said.
MORE: Democratic Newcomer Max Rose Stuns Republican Congressman Dan Donovan In New York's 11th District
Rose is the Democrat who knocked off Republican Dan Donovan in a tight race and it's pretty obvious he's ready for a fight.
"You pundits really crack me up. You guys like to pigeon-hole people," Rose said, when reminded that running down the middle in politics tends not to work.
When asked if we live in a divided country, Rose said, "No, we don't. No, we don't. What we do have, though, is hard-working Americans and a political class that has ignored them for a generation."
Brennan took a stroll with Congressman Rose down New Dorp Lane, and it quickly became clear he's a man in a hurry.
When asked what the one thing is he would tell the people on the streets to make his district a better place, Rose said, "Well, certainly when it comes to this neighborhood it's getting the seawall built."
And that's just part of his agenda. He also wants to solve an opioid epidemic and fix Medicare, all while standing up for the working class, whom he said is being stiffed. It's a sentiment that has been shared before by the likes of President Donald Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders, among others.
So, is that Rose's message as well?
"That's not a message. That's a statement of fact. That's a statement of reality," Rose said.
Rose is just 32 years old, the youngest male in Congress. He's a decorated veteran, having served five years in the Army and having survived his vehicle getting blown up in Afghanistan.
"I was informed that years earlier I would have died from that explosion," Rose said. "The only reason that I lived is that Congress had allocated the necessary funds to outfit my vehicles with the armor underneath to push that explosion away from its core."
Now on New Dorp Lane, Rose is the new kid on the block and says he's committed to getting results, for as long as he possibly can.
"And then I'll be blessed and privileged to pass the baton to the person coming up behind me to continue the fight, but it will always be a fight. The fight's never gonna stop," Rose said.
Being a veteran, Rose will be on the Veterans' Affairs Committee and Homeland Security Committee.