Congresswoman Rice speaking at Rambam Mesivta
Congresswoman Rice speaking at Rambam Mesivta
Congresswoman Rice speaking at Rambam Mesivta

Last year, Congresswoman Kathleen Rice paid a surprise visit to Rambam to congratulate the school for being the only high school in New York State to be awarded Blue Ribbon status in 2015. Rambam is the only boys’ yeshiva high school on the East Coast to ever earn this mark of educational excellence.

This week, Congresswoman Rice paid a return visit to talk about both domestic and foreign issues that concern members of the Five Towns community. She made it clear that no matter how one felt about a particular issue, no matter whether one was a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, it was crucial to go to the polls and vote.

Parents and community members who joined the students for this special assembly were able to hear Congresswoman Rice’s position on many different areas. Additionally, they had the opportunity to pose a number of questions during the course of her remarks. Questions ranged from gun control to taxes, the transpacific pipeline, Iran, Jerusalem, UNESCO, term limits, and gerrymandering.

Her support of Israel was unequivocal and she made it clear that Israel is our staunchest ally and the only real democracy in the Middle East. She shared that she faced intense pressure from President Obama to vote for the Iran deal. Despite the pressure, she decided to vote against the deal because she felt it was not a good deal and posed a threat to Israel’s long-term security. She said that after reviewing the deal carefully and getting security briefings, she felt that despite the tremendous pressure it became easy to vote against the deal, because doing so was the right thing to do.

Congresswoman Rice mentioned that the fact that she is employable as an attorney in the real world gives her a sense of independence in Congress. “The system is broken,” said Rice, who noted that it is “not smart to keep the same people who caused or tolerated the problem in power for an unlimited amount of time. We need term limits!” explained Rice.

Rice wrapped up the assembly by imploring all students to vote when they come of age, saying, “You are the future of our country.” And given the school’s track record of political activism, it was clear that her words would be heeded come November 8.

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