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Maffei hopes for bipartisan cooperation on the economy

Just a week after being sworn in a second time, Syracuse area Rep. Dan Maffei appeared back in the district in East Syracuse Friday afternoon. The Democrat from DeWitt said that he hopes Congress will be able to work through their differences by focusing on the economy.

“As long as we stay focused on that, I think that we’ll be able to get a lot done. Even given how dysfunctional Washington is, we’ll work as hard to get a lot done here in the meantime,” said Maffei.

Maffei said he hopes that newer members of Congress, like fellow Rep. Bill Owens and Rep. Richard Hanna, a Democrat from Plattsburgh and Republican from Barneveld respectively, will be able to cooperate in Washington -- perhaps better than representatives who have been in office for longer.

“We haven’t been around that long, and we still want to roll up our sleeves and get things done and we don’t care what party gets the credit. So I’m happy with upstate New York, I think we will be able to see a lot of cooperation. I just hope that spreads to the rest of the country.”

The 113th Congress will be tested in the coming months as they negotiate ways to address the automatic spending cuts that go into effect March 1.

While Maffei is technically a freshman in Congress, this is his second time serving. The congressman regained his seat from Republican Ann Marie Buerkle in November.