PROVIDENCE — In the wake of this week’s electoral blue wave, US Representative Gabe Amo looked ahead to what Democratic control of Congress will mean for the Iran war, ICE, oversight hearings, and foreign humanitarian aid.
Amo, who represents the state’s First Congressional District and is Rhode Island’s first Black congressman, won reelection on Tuesday by defeating Republican Kellie Keenan, 68.5 percent to 27.5 percent.
During an interview with the Globe, he shared his takeaways for what the election results will mean in five areas:
The war with Iran
Amo, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said newly empowered Democrats will continue to push for a war powers resolutions aimed at ending the war with Iran.
The House narrowly passed a resolution in July to halt US military action in Iran by a vote of 214-208, just before the Senate narrowly rejected a similar resolution, 47-49.
Amo said he hopes to vote on another war powers resolution when the new Congress convenes.
“We need to vote again,” he said. “I think the House and Senate can be aligned in this. And if (President Trump) vetoes this, go back and do it again. And then let’s enforce them.”
Amo said he backs a bill to compel the House speaker to file litigation to ensure the administration complies with the war powers resolution.
In addition to legislation and litigation, he said Congress can use “symbolic powers” to halt the war.
“He just got a spanking,” Amo said of Trump. “So I don’t know how there’s a world in which unless you’re totally tone deaf — which he’s also demonstrated in the past — where you don’t say, ‘I need to change course.’ It is a deep repudiation.”
He noted Vice President JD Vance publicly broke from President Trump‘s defense of the Iran war on Wednesday, blaming the unpopular conflict with Iran for the GOP’s drubbing in Tuesday’s elections.
“(Vance) identified the war as a big reason why they lost, but it’s not the war in of itself, which is a tragic thing, it’s also the economic pain that people have felt,” Amo said. “The gas prices, grocery prices, and then the general economic malaise, at best, and at worst, despair that people have across this country.”
He noted that after the election, Trump displayed a red cap with “VETO” written on it. “That may become his new favorite four letters,” he said. “I hope they don’t.”
Rather, Amo said he hopes Trump finds a way to work with Democrats in a divided government. “We have to appeal to his better angels,” he said. “But know that his worse angels most often prevail.”
ICE
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement “should certainly not exist in its current form,” Amo said. “To me, we don’t need a paramilitary force. We don’t need terror inspired on our streets. We don’t need communities damaged irreparably.”
Amo said the House and Senate can address ICE through legislation, and he said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a fellow Rhode Island Democrat, could play a big role in that effort as future chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Congress can use “the power of the purse” to curtail ICE, although he noted the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” provided about $75 billion for ICE, he said.
Amo said Congress also can use “oversight, transparency, sunlight, and attention on the wrongs and the misdoings” of ICE.
“Look, people are inherently self-interested. I think a lot of people who work in that agency may want to have jobs in the future,” he said. “It would be good to comply with Congress.”
Oversight
Amo said House Democrats plans to use their oversight power to examine alleged self-dealing within the Trump administration.
“Follow the money,” he said. “I believe there’s been a theft of the resources, the assets, the personnel of this country to benefit a wealthy few, including the president’s family.”
Amo mentioned investments in cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence by members of the Trump family. “Sunlight, sunlight, sunlight,” he said. “My oversight theory is follow the dough and how it flows.”
House committees
Amo now sits on the Foreign Affairs, Budget, and Science, Space, and Technology committees.
When asked which committees he would like to be on in the future, Amo mentioned the House Ways and Means Committee, and the House Appropriations Committee.
“Ways and Means Committee is a very important committee,” he said. “It’s responsible for tax, for trade, for raising revenue for the tax side of Social Security and Medicare. Big, big, big important things.”
The Appropriations Committee is always key for bringing federal funding to the state, Amo said, noting that Senator Jack Reed is on the Senate Appropriations committee.
Foreign humanitarian aid
Amo has been an outspoken opponent of the Trump administration’s decision to dismantle a humanitarian aid agency that had provided funding for Edesia Nutrition, a Rhode Island nonprofit that produces life-saving food for malnourished children worldwide.
The US Agency for International Development began during the Kennedy administration and “put American values literally on products that save people’s lives around the world,” he said.
That includes the Plumpy’Nut peanut-based paste produced by Edesia plus support for public health, education, agriculture, and clean water in impoverished nations, Amo said.
“We have to use our leverage in the appropriations process — that’s the strongest thing,” he said. “And we have to fund programs while also building technical expertise at the State Department, where a lot of these roles have have gone.”
In October, Edesia expanded the size of its North Kingstown factory despite the dismantling of USAID. The expansion was possible because the family of Jacklyn and Miguel “Mike” Bezos, the late mother and adoptive father of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, provided $137 million to the social enterprise.
During a ceremony announcing the expansion, Senator Jack Reed and Amo took part in a dance celebration.
When asked who is the better dancer, Amo said, “I will never compete with (Reed) on the dance floor. We come from different eras. He might be a little more Greased Lightnin’, and I might be a little more hip-hop. When he learns how to Dougie, then we can have a conversation.”
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.