Eric Massa - 111th Congress

111th Congress

Massa was openly seeking a position on the House Transportation Committee (Kuhl had also held a seat on the same committee), to advocate for the expansion of U.S. Route 219 in New York from Springville to Salamanca. However, he failed to retain that committee assignment.

Because he is a military veteran, he was given a seat on the House Armed Services Committee, though he did not seek it. He also inherited Kuhl's seat on the Agriculture Committee, and earned a seat the House Homeland Security Committee. Massa was also a member of the Populist Caucus, formed in February 2009.

Massa voted in favor of, and generally supported, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, but has said he finds faults with the legislation. After the act failed to generate the expected stimulus to the Southern Tier economy, Massa claimed that virtually all of the stimulus funds were funneled to the state governments and diverted to interests in New York City.

In April 2009, Massa was noted for his suggestion to close the United States-Mexico border as a response to the 2009 swine flu outbreak, which originated in Mexico. He also was a leading critic of Time Warner Cable's abortive plan to charge a tiered service rate for its high-speed Internet service.

Though he generally supports a health care reform plan, he opposes, and voted against, the current plans put forth by the Obama administration, due to the cost, and prefers a single-payer health care system instead.

During the 2009 Netroots Nation convention held in Pittsburgh, PA, Massa told a group of activists that he "will vote adamantly against the interests of my district if I actually think what I am doing is going to be helpful." in regards to single payer health care system. Moments later Massa clarified that he meant he would vote against the "opinions" of his constituents if he thought it was the right thing to do. He also controversially exclaimed that Sen. Chuck Grassley's comments describing end-of-life care as "killing Grandma" constitute "an act of treason."