George Latimer is halfway through his first year representing the 16th Congressional District following a political career that’s included elective office on the local, state and county level.
The former Westchester County executive’s district reaches into the villages of Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington and Tarrytown, and the Town of Greenburgh.
The 71-year-old from Rye sat down with River Journal in mid-June at his district office to discuss his first six months in office and what he expects in Congress before the summer recess.
Here’s a Q&A with Latimer, which has been condensed for brevity. The interview was conducted June 17, weeks before President Trump’s budget bill passed on July 3. Latimer voted against the bill.
River Journal: What are some of the programs you’ve been working on specifically for the River Towns?
Latimer: We have a number of programs that were resubmitted for approval. They were approved in 2024 under my predecessor, but they were not carried forward in the continuing resolution that was adopted by the House earlier in 2025.
They include a sidewalk project on Benedict Avenue in Tarrytown; improvements to East Rumbrook Park in the Town of Greenburgh; slope stabilization on Warburton Avenue in Yonkers just south of the Hastings border for a significant impact from flooding that goes down to the train tracks and the river.
We have the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that we’re working with to study flooding that’s happening along Jackson Avenue in the area just west of Route 9A in the Town of Greenburgh.
RJ: What will be the focus of the upcoming session?
Latimer: The biggest issue is the budget that’s proposed by President Trump. He calls it a big, beautiful budget, I call it a big ugly budget. I think it’s the worst budget we’ve seen in recent memory and the proposal that passed the House by one vote — all the Democrats were in opposition. It would dramatically cut Medicaid, dramatically cut SNAP, it would rescind tax credits for renewable energy. It would codify a number of decisions made by the president on executive orders to reduce the size and scope of the government that I think are unwise decisions.
There’s negotiations going on where a certain number of Senate Republicans are not in favor of the bill as it passed the House, so in all likelihood there’ll be a revised bill coming sometime in the month of July. The question is how much of a revision is it going to be and if it’s going to be acceptable in the House.
I’m in the minority and the minority does not control the agenda. The Republicans control the House, they have control of the Senate, they have control of the presidency. So far on every bill large or small, they’ve maintained an iron-clad support for whatever the agenda is, call it the MAGA agenda if you want. As a Democratic representative, I look at how those things affect the district and if they affect the district negatively, I vote no.
RJ: What’s been the biggest difference between serving in federal government vs. at the county and state level?
Latimer: It’s more partisan than I expected. My experience certainly in Westchester County government was that you have disagreements between Republicans and Democrats. But in my experiences in Westchester, and to some degree in Albany, you’re able to make some common ground, to develop some relationships to work together. I’ve only been in Washington six months, that’s not a long enough time to make final judgments, but my impression is that it’s far more partisan. I think that’s because people — some Democrats feel this way but Republicans particularly — believe that the partisanship benefits them.
In Washington it’s much more in my judgment about performing arts. You worry much more about, “Can I get on TV, can I get Facebook likes and Twitter positive comments? Can I raise money?”
RJ: What’s your relationship with Republican Mike Lawler in District 17? I know you voted against the budget that Lawler supported.
Latimer: We have a good working relationship. We have certain issues that we have been together on. We both fought against the removal of the Social Security office in White Plains. We’ve had common support in general on the State of Israel and some of the issues that are happening in foreign policy. There are issues that relate to Hudson River quality that we’re both on the same page about. Where we disagree, we disagree, we don’t turn it into an unnecessary argument or fistfight.
The reality of the Republican leadership — this isn’t Mike and it isn’t any one Republican. I think Donald Trump has unique political control in this moment, far more than any president in recent memory, more than Roosevelt in terms of political control, not necessarily ability to govern. But he has popularity in the Republican base that is unrivaled.
RJ: Westcheter has a vibrant immigrant community. What are you hearing from constituents about the ICE deportations?
Latimer: There’s a lot of concern about the aggressive actions the federal government will take for deportation and will they snatch people from their place of work. We’ve seen it already where the administration has avoided due process, any court accountability.
The fear I sense out there is how aggressive is ICE going to be? Are they going to act in unilateral ways that do not respect local laws? In fact, to some extent they enjoy the way they’re doing it by striking terror and making people afraid.
RJ: Beyond the drama in Washington, what should local residents be watching?
Latimer: The issues that have to be understood going forward is how the federal decisions to reduce federal programs, the gutting of the Department of Education, the gutting of environmental protections, what that’s going to mean to local governments and what awful choices they’re going to have to make.
The question is: How will Dobbs Ferry, how will Irvington deal with these decisions that are being made up here in the macro land. People think this is a national debate, but when they start cutting these things it’s going to come down to the impact on the local communities. So, a conversation with the mayor of a village is, have you made an assessment of what’s going to happen if this big, beautiful bill comes through, and if it does, how is it going to affect your operations?
It would be a mistake for people to think, “Well, I have a really nice community, and we have these services and everything’s great,” to assume that what’s happening in Washington isn’t going to affect them. It’s going to affect them and it’s going to affect how the local governments operate as well as how it affects them in their own pocketbooks. So, they need to pay attention to the substance of these issues, not just the symbolism of it.
