New Yorker to Succeed Green as Chairman of House Homeland Security Committee

Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York was selected late Monday evening as the new chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee by the House Republican Steering Committee.

The New York Republican is set to replace Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., who resigned from Congress to take a job in the private sector. Green stepped down Sunday.

Garbarino won out over three other candidates for the panel’s chairmanship—Reps. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, Michael Guest of Mississippi, and Carlos Giménez of Florida.

“I am honored to have earned the trust and confidence of my colleagues to lead the House Committee on Homeland Security,” Garbarino said in a statement.

Garbarino, 40, cited securing the border, countering terrorism, and strengthening America’s defenses as objectives of the committee. 

“As a lifelong New Yorker and representative of a district shaped by 9/11, I understand the stakes of this responsibility. ‘Never forget’ is more than a slogan. It is a commitment I have carried with me throughout my entire adult life and one that will continue to drive my work as chairman,” the New York congressman continued. 

Garbarino has been a member of the Homeland Security Committee since he came to Congress in 2021. The third-term lawmaker was chairman of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection in the 118th Congress. He is also a member of the House Financial Services Committee, where he serves as the vice chairman of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets.

He represents the 2nd Congressional District of New York, which covers a portion of Long Island along the South Shore. 

Prior to being elected to Congress, he was a member of the New York state Assembly from 2013 to 2020. The New York congressman is known as a socially moderate Republican, having voted for the Respect for Marriage Act that repealed the Defense of Marriage Act from the 1990s and enshrined same-sex marriage into federal law.

He also voted with 34 other House Republicans to pass legislation to establish a commission to investigate the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. When the legislation failed, congressional Democrats voted to create a House select committee to Investigate the attack. Garbarino did not vote for that committee’s creation. Garbarino has a 66% lifetime score as rated by Heritage Action for America, an independent partner organization affiliated with The Heritage Foundation.

Garbarino is a graduate of George Washington University and Hofstra University Law School. He is the vice chairman of the bipartisan Italian American Congressional Delegation and identifies as a Roman Catholic. 

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