Amo, who represents Rhode Island’s First District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which includes all of Bristol and Newport counties, along with parts of Providence County, began his talk by addressing the need to alleviate the suffering stemming from the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

“My hope is — as not only the most junior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee but someone who is committed to finding peaceful resolutions — that we arrive at some kind of negotiated end to fighting between Israel and Hamas that sees a release of hostages, and a surge in food, medical supplies and personnel to respond to the living hell that so many people are going through,” Amo said.

During his talk, he shared his stance on three key policy issues: affordable housing, artificial intelligence and gun control.

“Housing connects to so many bedrock values… of safety, of economic opportunity, to have a real sense of belonging and place and community,” Amo said. “Right now, I don’t think we [as a country] are equipped to… address our challenges here. I think we need to lock in a core tenet that everyone in this country should have access to safe, stable and affordable place to live.”

He advocated for federal oversight to guarantee production, affordability and access to quality housing for all — not only those living in poverty.

Amo called for policies around artificial intelligence and its effects, including the possible displacement of jobs and the dangers of misinformation. “Deep fakes and other AI-generated content is making it difficult to discern facts, discern truth — that’s going to be more present in our lives,” he said. “And so we need to create a policy that adequately moves in the direction of avoiding problems that lie ahead.”

Amo also noted the urgency of addressing gun violence.

“Our challenge here is that we have political gridlock, we have partisanship,” he said. “We have a threat but no way to respond to it.”

During a Q&A session with students and members of the public, he fielded inquiries about a range of topics, including the failure of the Washington Bridge, to which he called for transparency from the state government and encouraged Rhode Island to be proactive about requesting federal assistance.

“The Federal Highway Administration is helping already with some of the technical analysis,” Amo said. “When there is a need for federal resources, I will ask alongside the most effective appropriator in Rhode Island’s history, Sen. Jack Reed, and Sen. [Sheldon] Whitehouse, and we’ll do everything we can to help this most important part that connects both parts of my district.”

In keeping with the theme of considering how government affects everyday lives, Amo added: “You have to talk about issues of disruption ... to the economy, to people’s commutes — it’s a really emotional thing," he said. "The first step is acknowledging the feeling of pain.”