Rep. Mike Lawler
By Dan Murphy
If you live in the 17th Congressional district, which includes half of Westchester County, you have already been receiving political mailings from democratic and progressive interest groups seeking to label Congressman Mike Lawler as a “MAGA Republican.”
Rep. Lawler has taken the middle of the road on many issues facing our country, while at the same time, pointing out how powerful New York Democrats haven’t helped New York City and the 100,000 migrants that have come in over the past year.
Issue 1: Possible Government Shutdown: Negotiations continue between President Biden’s White House and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy on coming to an agreement to keep the US Government open and operating, and the government funded.
House Republicans have threatened to shut down the government unless democrats agree to spending cuts, while democrats don’t want a government shutdown, but don’t want to concede to the republicans demands.
In the middle are a few House republicans speaking common sense; one is Rep. Lawler, who said, “I didn’t come here to shut the government down or play stupid games so we could raise $5 dollar donations by claiming we’re doing something and sticking it to the administration, when in fact all they would be doing is screwing the American people. You’re not saving money in a shutdown. In fact, it’s going to cost more money in a shutdown. And at the end of the day, they’re weakening our hand and the Speaker’s hand to negotiate,” said Lawler on the Hugh Hewitt radio show.
Lawler supports two ways to keep the US Government open. Members of the Problem Solvers caucus, (64 House members, 32 democrats and 32 republicans including Lawler) have passed a framework to avoid a shutdown.
Lawler has also suggested that he may cross party lines and vote with the House democrats to keep the government open. Lawler is one of just a few NY House republicans willing to do so, but only 5 republicans are needed to join with the democrats in keeping the government open.
“We absolutely need to rein in spending. But we only control one-third of the government. And when you don’t control the Senate, and you don’t control the White House, there’s a reality that we have to deal with. We still have to govern,” said Lawler.
Lawler’s moderate comments drew the wrath of Congressman Matt Gaetz, who tweeted, “And you know what, if these New York Republicans want to go sign up with the Democrats… then maybe I’ll head up to New York City and tell all those folks angry about the border crisis that it’s their New York Republican representatives joining up with Democrats.”
Lawler continued, “Unfortunately, we have some folks who are refusing to cooperate in a serious and meaningful way to find compromise within the caucus. These folks said no. They refused, because in some bizarro land that they live in, no, we don’t need to fund the government in the short term.
“You need 218 votes. And some of these people are just stuck on this mindset that it’s their way or the highway and that if they don’t get what they want, they’re going to stomp their feet and, you know, throw a temper tantrum until they do so. They basically leave people that are reasonable with very little choice but to find ways to work across the aisle,” said Lawler.
Migrant Crisis: Lawler who lives in Rockland County, has publicly asked where the most powerful New York Democrat has been during the crisis: NY Senator and US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Chuck Schumer, US Senate Majority Leader, from NY State, has done absolutely nothing and is silent. What happened to those Sunday press conferences? Chuck Schumer needs to get off his behind and do something. He represents New York State. Silence is unacceptable. The Southern border has been overrun-we now have 100,000 migrants coming to NYC in just the last year.”
Most of Lawler’s constituents do not want the migrant crisis to reach their suburban communities. But those same constituents wonder, why hasn’t the Federal Government, and Leader Schumer, delivered funding for NYC to deal with the migrant crisis? Or if the House Republicans won’t pass it, why hasn’t Schumer and the senate democrats at least tried? Or why hasn’t the Biden administration done something? Many believe that this issue will hurt democrats in 2024.
“This is a crisis of their own making. It’s very similar to cashless bail,” Lawler said. “I think it has been very poorly handled by the administration, they’ve allowed over 6 million migrants to cross our border since Joe Biden took office. You have a backlog of asylum-seekers: It’s taking at minimum two to three years for these cases to be heard. Two thirds of the cases are being rejected when they’re finally heard, because poverty, in and of itself, while tragic…is not the basis for asylum.
“My wife is an immigrant. She came here over a decade ago from Moldova. I’ve been through this process; it is a fundamentally broken process; it needs to be reformed.
“We need to secure the border; we need to stop the massive influx of not only undocumented migrants but fentanyl pouring across our border. The precursors are coming from China. It’s being manufactured in Mexico; the drug cartels are trafficking it across the border. And it’s killing tens of thousands of Americans a year,” said Lawler.
When President Biden came to Westchester this year, for a speech at Westchester Community College, he had good things to say about Lawler. “Mike’s on the other team, but you know what? Mike is the kind of guy that, when I was in the Congress, there was a kind of Republican I used to deal with. He’s not one of those MAGA Republicans.”
Lawler told President Biden that he would “support whatever (budget and debt) deal you and the speaker negotiate, but you need to negotiate.”
The 17th Congressional District voted Biden over Trump by 10 points in 2020. So far, Lawler says that he would not vote to impeach President Biden. “if you’re going to go down the road of impeachment, the facts and the evidence need to warrant it. I think people want reason—a rational, balanced approach to government, and they want to know that you’re being an adult in handling these things. And [impeachment] is not something that should be just used because it was used in the prior Congress and administration. As of today, the House has not met the high bar of impeachment.”
Lawler supports Speaker McCarthy. “I think the Speaker is doing a phenomenal job. He’s fighting to put us in the best position to serve the American people and do the job we were elected to do.”
Democrats are hopeful to beat Lawler next November. Former Congressman Mondaire Jones is the leading candidate to face off against Lawler next year. Jones was critical of President Biden’s favorable comments about Lawler, saying “People were horrified when they heard what Joe Biden had to say.”
Lawler said he is focused on, “delivering bipartisan results for our country and my district.”
New York’s 17th Congressional District includes all of Rockland, Putnam, and Dutchess, Counties, and mid-northern Westchester County.
