Congresswoman Nita Lowey and Congressman Eliot Engel are calling on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to hold hearings on the licensing of what they are calling "High risk nuclear facilities" such as Indian Point, which are located in densely populated areas.  

Engel, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee said, "It is time for the NRC to realize that natural disasters and terrorism are all too real. Because of its location it is too inviting a target." He also expressed deep concerns that the plants are built along the Ramapo fault. 

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was in Westchester today hosting a Veterans Roundtable discussion with leaders of the veterans community as well as other government leaders.

Congressman Eliot Engel (Westchester, Rockland, Bronx) is calling it a victory for co-op owners. Engel said he helped persuade the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to reverse itself on a plan to ban private transfer fees on real estate sales, a move that would have penalized co-op owners.

Westchester/Rockland Congressman Eliot Engel (l.) with Ramapo Town Supervisor Chris St. Lawrence observe a moment of silence in remembrance of the shooting in Arizona. They were at a 'tent city' event at the Ramapo Town Hall on the first anniversary of the earthquake the killed more than 200,000 people in Haiti. They stood in silence with people throughout the country in the aftermath of the wounding of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 13 others and the murder of six people including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl.

With just two days to go before election day, New York's Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates held rallies in Westchester on Sunday.

The man behind the attempted Times Square car bombing has been sentenced to life in prison. Faisal Shahzad told a judge in Manhattan this morning that he felt no remorse for planning out the attack that failed five months ago. Shahzad pled guilty to ten terror-related charges in June. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara says the would-be Times Square bomber got the sentence he deserved.

The 31 year old parked a car packed with homemade explosives near a crowded Times Square intersection May 1st. They did not detonate.

He was arrested after an alert Times Square vendor, Duane Jackson of Buchanan, alerted authorities about the suspicious vehicle.

After the verdict, U.S. Congressman Eliot Engel (D-Bronx, Westchester, Rockland) commented,

Congressman Eliot Engel (D-Westchester,Rockland,Bronx) says to date 86,164 New York seniors receiving Medicare have received their "donut hole" checks to begin to close their prescripton drug coverage gap.

Under the Affordable Care Act, seniors whose prescription drug costs are so high that they fall in teh Medicare prescription drug "donut hole"  in 2010 are receiving the one-time $250 rebate. The money is tax-free. Engel says the fourth round of checks since health care reform took effect has gone out over the past few days.

An estimated one in ten seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries hit the "donut hole" coverage gap. Another 4 million are expected to receive a "donut hole" check over the next several months.