Rep. Lawler Faces Questions, Boos, Jeers

Two attendees ejected from Rockland town hall

Many of the 700 people attending Rep. Mike Lawler’s town hall on Sunday (April 27) in Rockland County clearly brought vinegar when co-moderator Brendel Logan-Charles, the deputy supervisor for the Town of Ramapo, asked, “Who knows the end of this saying: ‘You can get more with honey than you can with …’ ”

Catcalls and jeering erupted as she and Teresa Kenny, the Orangetown supervisor, recited ground rules before Lawler, whose 17th District seat includes Philipstown, walked onstage in the auditorium at Clarkstown High School South in West Nyack. It was the first in a series of four town halls — Lawler has said he will visit Dutchess and Putnam counties in June, although locations and dates have not been announced.

Although Republican leaders have told House members not to hold town halls because of the negative response over federal cuts being implemented by the Trump administration, Lawler said in March he would host four events to show his “independence and willingness to buck party leadership to engage with his constituents.”

A town hall hosted in Poughkeepsie on March 19 by Rep. Pat Ryan, a Democrat whose district includes Beacon, had a different tenor, although spectators expressed frustration over what they see as a tepid Democratic response to Trump. Several protestors supporting Palestine who began yelling at Ryan were removed.

Entering to a mixture of boos and applause in West Nyack, Lawler spent 90 minutes parrying questions about cuts to federal programs and employees, Medicaid and Social Security, the Trump administration’s deportation practices and the belief that Congress is failing to oppose the Republican president’s decisions.

Police and security guards escorted at least two people from the event and warned several others. But the warnings did not stop intermittent shouts of “liar,” “blah, blah, blah” and other jeers as Lawler answered questions. Part of his final comments were drowned out by chants of “Leave her alone” as police and security guards surrounded a woman they wanted to eject.

Below are most of the questions, in the order they were asked, and excerpts from Lawler’s answers. Both have been edited slightly for brevity and clarity.

You describe yourself as a moderate, yet you support the policies this authoritarian administration is putting forth. … What are you doing to stand in opposition to this administration, and what specifically are you doing that warrants the label “moderate”?

My record speaks for itself. I have been rated the fourth-most-bipartisan [member of the U.S. House] for a reason, which is a simple fact that unlike many of my colleagues, I do work across the aisle; I do sit down with my colleagues.

At the end of this year, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act [passed in 2017 under the first Trump administration] is going to expire. If the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expires, do you know what will happen? The standard deduction will be cut in half. That will be the largest tax increase in American history. The corporate tax rate is set at 21 percent and I don’t support lowering it. … I do support lifting the [$10,000] cap on SALT [deduction for state and local taxes], which directly impacts all of us in this room.

Tariffs are obviously something that has been a big point of discussion for many years. [Sens.] Chuck Schumer [of New York] and Bernie Sanders [of Vermont] said [in the past] they supported increasing tariffs, and part of the reason is because other countries have had significantly higher tariffs, barriers to entry and price controls on U.S. goods.

You supported a budget that cut Medicaid and education in our district. How does that serve your constituents? [Republicans, who control both houses of Congress, are debating cuts to Medicaid to offset lost revenue from tax cuts.]

When it comes to Medicaid, I’ve been very clear: I am not cutting benefits for any eligible recipient, period. The fact is that our community relies on these vital programs. There are about 25 of us within the conference who have been very clear with leadership. We’ve met with the president about it, we’ve met with the administration, and we continue to make sure that as we negotiate the tax bill, that we absolutely safeguard these vital services and programs. When it comes to illegal immigrants, in New York state, $1.2 billion of our taxpayer money has been spent on Medicaid. I’m sorry. That is not a proper use of taxpayer money.

The Current has asked Lawler’s office for the source of this statistic. In New York and a few other states, undocumented immigrants can receive Medicaid for emergency and prenatal care or full benefits if they are age 65 or older. In 2023, while arguing that Medicaid should be expanded in New York to all low-income, undocumented immigrants, advocacy groups estimated it would expand the rolls by about 250,000 people at a cost to the state of $1.2 billion annually but argued that cost could be absorbed by its $2 billion health-fund surplus. They also noted New York already pays $500 million annually for emergency and prenatal care for undocumented immigrants.

This administration deported three children, ages 2, 4 and 7, who are U.S. citizens — the 4-year-old has a rare form of metastatic cancer, receiving treatment and deported without medication. … Where is your line on these illegal actions?

With respect to the deportation of U.S. citizens, that should not happen. They should be immediately returned, and the administration should facilitate their return now, as the Supreme Court ruled on the case of Mr. [Kilmar] Abrego Garcia.

The court has ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador.

What is Congress going to do to help enforce what should be done by the administration?

I have reached out to the administration with respect to the issue pertaining to the deportations where there is a court order and believe fundamentally they should abide by it. If they do not, the mechanism for enforcement of that is through the court, and the court will take action to enforce their order. If then, they [Trump officials] still do not adhere to a court order, then Congress certainly would have purview for oversight.

Do you think [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] is the right man for that job [health and human services secretary], and do you approve of what he has been doing and the changes he’s going to make to our medical care?

On the issue of vaccines, for instance, I’ve been very critical of many of his statements, especially statements pertaining to autism. I think, obviously, it is certainly something that all of us should want: research on causes of autism, or why we have seen over the last 20-plus years a significant increase in the number of autism cases. But I fundamentally believe in the efficacy of vaccines. I have disagreed with him on a number of decisions and have written him numerous letters with respect to, for instance, cuts that would impact the World Trade Center Health Fund.

You talk about pushing back against all these cuts that they’re doing to the NIH [National Institutes of Health] and to the FDA [Food and Drug Administration]. … What do you need to do to make sure you’re successful?

What I have done, and what I continue to do, is engage directly with the president, with his cabinet secretaries, with the administration, with the staff on a daily basis. And sometimes we’re successful in getting them to reverse, and other times we’re not, and that is just a reality of government.

What is Congress doing to coalesce behind a movement to stop this administration creating chaos and destruction, not only in this country, but all over world?

Congress is going to be going through [budget] reconciliation, appropriations and a recissions package, and through that process, Congress will exert its constitutional authority of power of the purse and control of the spending. And that is the give and take. The administration has an ability to put forth rescissions that they would like to see. That does not mean that we have to accept it.

Social Security has not been cut, but the people who administer it have been cut. How is it possible to give the people who have paid into it what they deserve when the ability to implement it is gone?

The federal workforce prior to COVID was 2.7 million people. At the end of Joe Biden’s administration, the federal workforce was about 3 million people. Based on all the estimates that we have, based on changes that the [Trump] administration has made to the federal workforce, they are still above 2.8 million in the federal workforce.

The Social Security Administration said in February it plans to cut 7,000 of its 57,000 employees. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the federal workforce was 2.84 million in December 2019 and reached a six-year high of 3.16 million in August 2020, under the first Trump administration.

What is your position on holding federal funds back from institutions of higher education [such as Harvard]?

Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act requires these institutions to enforce federal law and crack down on antisemitism. They have, in a large measure, failed in that responsibility. … In the last Congress, I introduced legislation that absolutely would strip any of these institutions of higher learning of federal dollars if they promoted or sanctioned antisemitism on their campuses. I would also say the flow of foreign dollars into our universities and institutions from countries like Qatar and China needs to be cracked down on because they are using those dollars to exert control over what is being taught in these institutions by endowing a chair.

I’d like to know what your thoughts are on the fact that the United States, in the last 100 days, has suffered a terrible loss of pride. People are just ashamed of their country.

On the issue of America’s standing in the world, we’re going to strongly agree to disagree. The fact is, after four years of Joe Biden’s foreign policy, America and the world are in the most precarious place since the lead-up to World War II. You had that disastrous withdrawal in Afghanistan, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the terrorist attack against Israel, the threats emanating in the Indo Pacific from China.

Video by Leonard Sparks