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SILive.com reports:

Partisan bickering? Political back-biting?

Not so much, maintains Rep. Michael Grimm of the seemingly endless tug-and-pull between the Republican House, the Democratic Senate and the White House on a host of issues.

"My first eight months in office, there was a lot of rhetoric and rancor," Grimm said the other day. "But I really believe you will see both sides coming together now more and more because of the scope and the magnitude of what we are facing financially" both domestically and in world markets.

This even as Grimm joined House Republicans last week in voting down a two-month payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits extension to the consternation of Democrats and the White House. Under pressure, they later reversed course at the behest of Senate Republicans, who favored it.

Also on a partisan note, the first-term lawmaker predicted: "If we take back the White House or the Senate, we will certainly repeal the health care law."

In an end-of-the-year interview, and with an eye to his 2012 agenda, Grimm pointed to his role in "Go Big," a bipartisan group of more than 100 House members looking to reduce the deficit in a way the so-called Super Committee couldn't because of "too much politics and an unwillingness to negotiate."

Grimm said the new group remains dedicated to embracing tax reform and entitlement reform -- to the tune of $4 trillion in cuts -- by "working, educating and building support from members of Congress and actually listening to each other."

It was in that spirit of bi-partisanship that Grimm teamed with Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) on the toll front to introduce legislation that would return control of the Port Authority to the federal government. Under the measure, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation would be granted the authority to determine whether toll hikes are "just and reasonable" -- and be able to prescribe a more reasonable maximum toll.

Said Grimm: "The taxpayers ... shouldn't have to face a harsh economic toll burden simply to shovel billions of dollars in toll revenue into the debt-stricken and mismanaged P.A."

Along those lines, he said he would continue to push for passage of the Residential and Commuter Toll Fairness Act that would permit state and municipal governments to offer discounted rates, this in response to a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that would eliminate toll relief for New York residents of towns bordering the thruway. 

"This is one that has got to get done," said Grimm. "It is on my fast-track."

Elsewhere on the congressman's legislative plate: seeking passage of the Homeowner Tax Fairness Act to permit homeowners who pay property taxes to deduct the full amount from their federal income taxes; the Fraudulent Prescription Prevention Act that would instruct the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to utilize existing funds to administer a secure web portal for physicians and pharmacists nationwide to record prescriptions electronically; and the Improving Physician Access in Teaching Hospitals Act that would phase in additional residency slots to teaching hospitals and give tax incentives to doctors who offer resident rotations in an effort to prevent a shortage of doctors.

And on the international front, the congressman pointed to his co-chairmanship of the House Republican Israel Caucus, and pledged to continue to stand in support of Israel as a "strategic ally" in the Middle East peace process.

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