Endangered Republican Rep. Mike Lawler says "I show up, and my constituents know me"

[0:00] Republican Congressman Mike Lawler. He joins us today from New York. You are in this homestretch [0:06] of campaigning in one of the most closely watched districts this cycle. Leader Jeffries has [0:12] singled out your district as a top target for Democrats. Where do you see this headed? [0:19] I think we're going to be victorious on Tuesday night, Margaret. I've done the work. Over the [0:24] last four years, between my staff and I, we've closed over 10,000 constituent cases, brought [0:30] back over $140 million to the district, passed over two dozen bills, 17 of which have been signed [0:37] into law. Ask AOC how many she's had signed into law. The fact is, I show up and my constituents [0:44] know me. And unlike my opponent who parachuted into this district from Virginia, I own a home [0:50] here. I pay taxes. I'm raising my family here. And I think my constituents respect the fact [0:56] that I've consistently been rated among the most bipartisan and effective members of Congress. [1:01] I'm the only sitting member of Congress endorsed by a member of the opposing party. [1:06] Jared Golden endorsed my reelection just a little over a month ago. And I think people know that I've [1:12] delivered for them, especially when it comes to the issue of affordability, delivering the largest [1:17] tax cut in American history, including lifting the cap on salt and leading the housing bill, [1:23] which will increase supply and bring down prices. [1:26] Well, as you just mentioned, affordability is a top issue for voters, no matter what party they are in. [1:31] We are seeing the economy growing. We're still seeing consumers spend. But for the last six months, [1:38] we are seeing that wages are not keeping up with inflation. Republicans campaigned on bringing [1:44] prices down. Why do you deserve reelection? Why does the party deserve trust when prices have only [1:49] continued to climb? Well, as we saw under the prior administration, inflation cumulatively rose 21%. [1:57] So the baseline price of everything went up. Obviously, with the war in the Middle East, [2:03] it has caused volatility in the oil markets, which has resulted in a spike in inflation. But as you [2:10] just pointed out, we saw significant growth in Q3, 3.4%. Over a million private sector jobs have been [2:18] created over the past year. We are seeing purchasing power rise. But there's still work to do. And that's [2:25] why I have focused extensively on what we can do to bring down prices. Number one, we did deliver the [2:32] largest tax cut. Number two, we did pass the largest housing bill in 36 years to increase supply and bring [2:39] down prices and increase access to capital. Before the end of this Congress, we will finalize a [2:45] permitting before the end of Congress, this Congress, we will finalize a permitting reform bill, [2:51] which will increase domestic supply of energy, which directly impacts the prices of everything from [2:57] manufacturing to transportation to groceries. And one of the problems in New York, Margaret, [3:02] utilities are up 58% under Kathy Hochul because they shut down nuclear power. They banned natural gas. [3:09] They blocked pipelines. We are working to rectify that. That will drive down energy prices [3:15] significantly, which is critical if we're going to bring down inflation and bring down costs. [3:20] Health care is one of the top three issues for voters. You are one of the Republicans who [3:25] tried to secure a short-term extension of those Obamacare subsidies that expired at the end of [3:30] the year. In this cycle, many Democrats are promising that if they win the majority, [3:35] they will restore some of those lapsed subsidies. Do you support that? Would you work with Democrats [3:42] to do that? Oh, absolutely. Look, I've consistently been rated among the most bipartisan members of [3:48] Congress. My best friend in Congress is a Democrat, Josh Gottheimer. We led that effort to negotiate a [3:54] bipartisan extension of the ACA enhanced premium tax credit. Frankly, Margaret, it was Hakeem Jeffries [4:00] and Chuck Schumer that rejected the bipartisan agreement. They wanted to go for a clean three-year [4:06] extension with no reforms. The fact is, since the Affordable Care Act took effect, health insurance [4:11] premiums are up 150% while insurance company profits are up over 2,000%. We need to fix the system. [4:19] I am fully committed to addressing the health care costs in this country. It's the biggest driver of [4:25] costs facing most Americans, and we need bipartisan solutions to actually deal with it. [4:31] The O-Triple-B, the big, beautiful bill, was projected to have increased the uninsured population [4:36] in your state by about 860,000 people through 2034. So that tax bill also may have hurt that case. [4:45] But let me ask you about something else. Respectfully, that's just not an accurate number [4:51] at all. But moreover, New York spends 80% more on Medicaid than the average of the other 49 states. [4:59] Even Kathy Hochul admits they have waste fraud and abuse in the system with the CDPAP program that [5:05] went from 10 million to 11 billion in three years. Okay. That's the health research group KFF. [5:11] Let me ask you about something else. Elon Musk's political action committee has put forward hundreds [5:16] of thousands of dollars to support you. And your opponent, Kate Conley, has criticized you for your [5:22] ties to Elon Musk. She says you're refusing to legislate on artificial intelligence or super [5:28] intelligence to protect Elon Musk. How do you respond to that allegation? [5:34] Well, first of all, Kate Conley is the AI candidate for the AI industry. [5:39] She's the one being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by two AI companies that she won't even [5:44] tell the voters what she did to earn those contracts. [5:47] Well, what does Elon Musk expect for that support? [5:48] Secondarily, I'm leading on this issue. Second, wait a minute. Well, first of all, [5:53] it's an outside group. So I've had no communication with anybody that's spending in this race. [5:57] Second of all, I'm the one leading on these issues with Josh Gottheimer, the Stop Rogue AI Act to set [6:06] national standards with respect to these rogue agents and bots and secondarily for the frontier [6:11] models to require mandatory testing. Third, Kate Conley has violated federal election law by setting up [6:19] a JFC with the House super PAC, the House Democrat super PAC, and she is spending out of that on [6:27] campaign ads, millions of dollars. And lastly, Margaret, in the last week, a Democrat super PAC [6:34] popped up. They have not filed with the FEC in clear violation of election law, spending millions of [6:41] dollars saying that I support amnesty for criminal illegal aliens. It is a straight-up lie. [6:47] They are trying to drive down Republican turnout. These are Democrats supporting this. They did this [6:53] two years ago, and they're doing it again. American Forge Group. This is a straight-up fraud [6:59] perpetrated on the voters like they're doing in Alaska. And frankly, the FBI and the Department [7:05] of Justice have informed us that they are investigating it, and it should be investigated. [7:09] They are violating election law. So people should be focused very clearly on what is actually [7:16] happening in our elections. Yes, we did ask the Conley campaign about that, and they told CBS [7:20] they had nothing to do with the mailers being sent out, but we will ask the Justice Department [7:24] as well. Thank you. And they didn't condemn it either. [7:28] We will be watching your race, sir. Back in a moment.