Congressman Mike Lawler, with Mark Halperin on 2Way
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fTf625ocQU&t=1105s
By Dan Murphy
Westchester Congressman Mike Lawler recently sat down for an interview with Mark Halperin. In the interview, Lawler made news by explaining that he is working with the Republican majority in Congress to expand the cap on state and local tax deduction (SALT) and vowed that he would not vote to make any cuts to Medicare and Social Security, nor are there any plans in Congress to cut either.
Protests across Westchester, which included several prominent Westchester democrats, alleged that the Republicans in Congress and President Trump were working to “give tax breaks to millionaires” while “cutting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.”
Lawler said that the attacks against him were false. “Some of my colleagues want to focus only on Medicaid. But that’s not what this bill is. I want to be clear: I am not cutting Medicaid. I am not taking away benefits from people who qualify.
Medicaid will grow by 24% over the next 10 years. So, saying we’re “cutting” it is wrong. What I support are smart changes:
● Work requirements for able-bodied adults in the expansion group.
● Making sure only citizens get Medicaid.
● Checking if people still qualify every three months, not once a year.
These changes could save hundreds of billions of dollars,” said Lawler.
“But I have firm lines I won’t cross:
● I will not let the federal share go below 50%.
● I will not support per-person limits or block grants.
● I will not allow work rules for people with disabilities.
“I support fixing the system. But I will protect the people who need help,” said Lawler.
Many wealthier Westchester residents and those who live in houses with very high property taxes have called for the restoration of the State and Local Tax deduction.
Lawler explained that in 2017, the tax bill that passed Congress and was signed into law by President Trump capped SALT deductions to $10,000. For many Westchester homeowners paying $30,000+ in property taxes and $25,000+ in State income tax, a significant deduction was lost, primarily to the wealthy.
But the tax bill also doubled the standard deduction, giving EVERY Westchester resident a tax cut, regardless of their income. Most Westchester residents and taxpayers now take the standard deduction.
“The SALT cap ends this year. If no tax bill passes, unlimited SALT comes back, but so does the AMT and a smaller standard deduction—that would be a massive tax increase.
“I’d love unlimited SALT, but it’s not realistic. I proposed raising the cap to $100K for individuals and $200K for couples, which helps most people, not the ultra-rich. I’m working with leaders to find a fair fix that gives real middle-class relief.
“This is about fairness and double taxation. People in states like New York already pay high state and local taxes, then get taxed again by the federal government.”
Also, New York sends more money to the federal government than it gets back. So the idea that we’re asking others to subsidize us isn’t true.
The President also has ideas like no tax on tips, overtime, or Social Security, and changes to SALT and car loans.”
Lawler acknowledged that he is only one of three Republicans elected to Congress whose district also voted for Biden in 2020 and Harris in 2024.
I’m in a district where Kamala Harris won by one point and Joe Biden by 10 points. We are talking about a Federal Government spending $7 trillion per year with $1 trillion in interest payments.
If we can make cuts to the budget without cutting benefits to individuals on Medicaid, fine.
We are running $2 trillion deficits annually. We saw record inflation and food and gas prices skyrocketing because of the reckless spending in Washington and increased spending in a short period. We were printing money that we didn’t have.
I would ask my democratic colleagues what they are willing to cut. They just want to increase taxes.
When you look at the tax cuts from 2017, the standard deduction was doubled; if we don’t extend that, it would be a tax increase for millions of Americans.”
When interviewed by a moderate, nonpartisan journalist, Mike Lawler sounds like a reasonable, thoughtful congressman. The problem is that in our hyper-partisan world of political journalism, there are few, if any, of these journalists left, so Lawler, to his credit, takes interviews from both sides of the political spectrum.
But during those interviews, from the left, he is forced to push back on the Trump rhetoric, and from the right, he takes the red meat questions and goes MAGA.
However, there is one journalist where Lawler shines, which was shown during a recent interview with Mark Halperin on 2Way. Halperin, the co-author of Game Change, has revived his career and now has a new platform, 2Way, which hopes to bring together all viewpoints and discuss them reasonably and without disdain for the other view.
When allowed to explain his views, it is easy to see why Lawler won election to Congress two times in a district that voted for President Biden and Vice President Harris.
But the fact that Democrats need to flip only five House seats in 2026 points to a continued attack on Lawler, who already has five Democratic opponents in his reelection, which is more than a year and a half away.
