Axios

By Josh Kraushaar

While Democrats hold a fighting chance to win back the House majority in 2024, the emergence of problematic candidates and messy primaries in several key races could complicate their path.

Why it matters: The Democrats’ House campaign committee doesn’t plan on getting involved in contested primaries, according to officials familiar with its strategy. That runs the risk that weaker candidates could emerge in must-win races — a dynamic that Republicans are very familiar with.

Driving the news: Jamie McLeod-Skinner, a progressive attorney who lost an Oregon district that Biden carried by nine points in 2022, is planning to seek a rematch against Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.).

• But Democratic state Rep. Janelle Bynum is already in the race — and said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) encouraged her to run.
• A co-owner of McDonald’s franchises, Bynum is seen by party leaders as a more business-friendly candidate better positioned to win swing voters.

What we’re watching: Democrats are also facing a potential primary headache involving the suburban northern New Jersey seat of Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.) — a true bellwether district.

• Sue Altman, the leader of the progressive Working Families Party in New Jersey, was the first Democrat to enter the race and announced raising over $200,000 in the recent fundraising quarter.
• Democrats privately worry that her profile — she led protests against neighboring Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) for his moderate record — makes it harder for them to win the seat, but no obvious alternative has emerged. Roselle Park Mayor Joseph Signorello, former State Department official Jason Blazakis and former state Sen. Raymond Lesniak are all mulling runs.

Between the lines: In one of the marquee House Democratic primaries, two candidates with solid political pedigrees are squaring off.

• Former Rep. Mondaire Jones and local school board trustee Liz Gereghty (better known as the sister of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer) are running in a primary to face Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), one of Democrats’ top targets.
• Jones, a recognizable former congressman and CNN commentator, starts out as the primary front-runner, according to Democrats tracking the race — but some worry his progressive record could alienate crime-conscious moderates.
• After winning his first congressional election in 2020, Jones tweeted: “We must reimagine our criminal legal system” in a call to reduce mass incarceration. Notably, in his campaign kickoff video, he touts an endorsement from a local policeman who says he “funded the police.”
• Crime was the top issue for New York voters in last year’s midterms, as Republicans picked up three Democratic-held House seats in the Empire State despite an otherwise disappointing election. Lawler defeated DCCC chair Sean Patrick Maloney in one of the GOP’s signature 2022 victories.

The other side: Republicans have a few primary red flags of their own. Joe Kent, the right-wing candidate who lost to Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) in a district Trump carried, is running again for Congress.

What they’re saying: “Candidate choices in the key districts are going to matter — and if primary voters make a poor choice or two, it could have a major impact on the overall landscape,” said Kyle Kondik, the managing editor at Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.

The bottom line: With primary voters often preferring ideologically-driven candidates, an urgent task for both parties is ensuring electable nominees emerge in battleground races.

• The GOP’s hands-off approach in 2022 likely cost the party several Senate seats, prompting the Republicans’ Senate campaign arm to engage more aggressively in primaries this year.
• Democrats, facing ideological divisions in their own party, could be forced to make similarly tough decisions if problematic candidates emerge.

Monsey Scoop

Congressman Mike Lawler addressed a gathering of veterans from various parts of Rockland County during his Veterans Town Hall held in New City on Friday.

The event, organized by American Legion Post 1682, provided an opportunity for Congressman Lawler to express his commitment towards tirelessly assisting veterans and ensuring they receive the necessary support and entitlements they deserve.

He emphasized that he and his team will persistently work towards serving veterans’ needs.

Times of India

WASHINGTON: US Representative Mike Lawler on Thursday (local time) said that he is looking forward to welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US Capitol and hearing his address to a joint session of the US Congress during his (PM Modi) upcoming state visit to the US.

Lawler said that India and US have an “important strategic” partnership, and added that it is one of the most defining and consequential partnerships of the 21st century.

Click here to read more

The Jerusalem Post

By Tovah Lazaroff

The US House of Representatives has passed a bipartisan bill to create the diplomatic position of ambassador for the Abraham Accords to help advance Israel’s normalization with its Arab neighbors, particularly with Saudi Arabia.

“The addition of a special envoy will be critical for bringing Saudi Arabia into the accords and continuing to strengthen and expand them,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-New York) said.

According to the bill, which was approved in a 413-13 vote on Tuesday evening, the new envoy “would serve as the primary advisor to, and coordinate efforts across, the US Government relating to expanding and strengthening the Abraham Accords.”

The envoy would “engage in discussions with nation-state officials lacking official diplomatic relations with Israel regarding the Abraham Accords,” the bill says.

Such an envoy would “consult with representatives of nongovernmental organizations that have attempted to expand and strengthen the Abraham Accords,” it says.

The bill’s passage was a testament to the strong bond between Israeli and the United States, Lawler said.

“The overwhelming bipartisan support for my bill shows that working for peace in the Middle East isn’t a Republican value or a Democrat value, but rather an American value,” he said.

“Israel remains our strongest ally and a beacon of democracy in the region,” he added. “The Abraham Accords not only guarantee Israel’s recognition by its neighbors, but also present the hope of continued progress toward peace and prosperity across the region.

“We have never been closer to peace in the Middle East than we are today, and that is something that all of us, regardless of party or policy differences, can celebrate,” Lawler said.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-New York), who co-sponsored the bill, said: “We are bending the long arc of the Middle East in its proper direction – toward peace and prosperity for Jewish people, Christians and Muslims – the children of Abraham standing together as one.”

“The Senate should move swiftly to consider and pass this legislation, advancing it to the president’s desk so we can codify the role of special envoy for the Abraham Accords into law,” he added.

Biden administration working to expand Abraham Accords

Passage of the bill, which now moves to the Senate, comes as the Biden administration is actively seeking to expand the accords created under the Trump administration, by which Israel normalized its ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.

The Biden administration has focused on a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke about the Biden administration’s desire to create such a position when he addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee earlier this month.

There has been some speculation that former US ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro could be tapped to fill the role.

Jewish Insider

By Marc Rod

In his first six months on Capitol Hill, freshman Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) has established himself as a lawmaker to watch on Israel and antisemitism policy.

In just the past week, Lawler has spearheaded pieces of legislation that aim to clamp down on antisemitism on college campuses — a response to a recent incident at the City University of New York — and expand oil sanctions on Iran.

The first-term congressman’s district is among the most Jewish in the country, with a significant population of conservative-leaning Orthodox Jews who helped propel Lawler to an underdog win in November against then-Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chief Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY).

In an interview with Jewish Insider in his Capitol Hill office, Lawler tied his work to his “very good relationship” with Jewish voters across the religious spectrum in his district, rising rates of antisemitism in New York in particular and his own personal convictions.

“Nobody should ever be [a] victim to discrimination or hatred or violence because of who they are or what they believe,” Lawler said. “As a practicing Catholic, I believe very strongly in the principle of ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.’ And I think the objective, of course, is to really make sure that as a government that we’re doing right by people and communities, and that we are making laws that protect people.”

Lawler, who said he’s also working to “strengthen the relationship between the United States and Israel,” visited Israel for the first time last month on a trip with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). 

Lawler said that discussions around expanding the Abraham Accords, combating Iran and concerns around the recent Saudi-Iranian detente brokered by China featured prominently in the delegation’s conversations with Israeli leaders. He centered the normalization agreements as a path to addressing a host of issues from security threats to Israel to antisemitism worldwide.

The freshman Republican, who sits on the House Foreign Relations Committee, argued that expanding the circle of normalization will be key to checking Iran’s advances and its nuclear program, in addition to continued military support for Israel.

“With our allies in the region, [we] really need to continue to build relationships to prevent it. That’s why the Saudis are critical, and why the Abraham Accords are so important,” Lawler said. “The more that the relationship between Israel and Arab-majority nations [is] normalized, and there are stronger economic ties and stronger national security ties, I think it really helps isolate Iran in the way that they should be.”

Lawler also predicted that the Abraham Accords will be “pivotal” in moving toward an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

“If the Saudis and other Arab majority nations come to the table on this, I think it really will put the Palestinians in a position where they can choose peace and economic prosperity, or to continue down this path,” he said. “The Palestinian Authority needs to come to the table in a way that is focused on peace and economic prosperity.”

He did not voice support for any specific form of Israeli-Palestinian agreement, including a two-state solution, saying that the specific outcome remains “to be seen” and emphasizing that “it’s been talked about for a long time” without success. Lawler said he’s supportive of continued humanitarian aid to the Palestinians as long as strict oversight and accountability are maintained to ensure it does not support terrorism.

Lawler introduced legislation earlier this year urging the creation of a dedicated ambassador-level envoy for the Abraham Accords, which easily passed the Foreign Affairs Committee. He said that creating such a position would help bring Saudi Arabia to the table with Israel, “forcing the administration to take more direct action when it comes to trying to strengthen the Abraham Accords and grow them.”

Lawler described the Saudi-Iran deal brokered by China as “a message to the United States” and said “the president and the administration would be well-advised to act.” 

Some of the potential American concessions Saudi Arabia has floated as part of normalization negotiations are likely to be problematic among Lawler’s Democratic colleagues.

“You have to take all of these requests into consideration and find areas of compromise,” Lawler said. “Nobody’s gonna get everything they want at any of these negotiations.”

McCarthy’s delegation to the Middle East also made a stop in Jordan — which maintains a complicated relationship with Israel and has been attracting increasing criticism over its reluctance to engage with the Abraham Accords, increasing relations with Syria and harboring of a terrorist wanted by the U.S.

“I think the Jordanian king is very aware of all the challenges and circumstances in the Middle East,” Lawler said. “Jordan has been, and continues to be, an ally in the region. And I think certainly, you know, more can and should be done to strengthen the relationship between Jordan and Israel.”

Lawler emphasized the need for a “coordinated response” across the federal government to antisemitism, although he had not yet seen the administration’s antisemitism strategy, which was released hours before his interview with JI.

Lawler particularly highlighted the need to push back on lawmakers and public figures promoting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel, which “contributes greatly to antisemitism… and frankly incites the hatred that we see.”

“Obviously defining it, confronting it, but also from a governmental standpoint, doing everything we can to effectively combat it, to support the State of Israel, to continue to promote economic investment and cooperation,” are key to stemming the tide of antisemitism, Lawler said. “And again, that goes back to why I think it’s so important for the Abrahamic Accords to flourish and to grow. You need to normalize relations with Israel. And I think in doing that, it effectively helps to mitigate some of the antisemitism that we see around the world, but even here in the United States.”

Politically, Lawler is among the most vulnerable members of Congress, hailing from a district that President Joe Biden won by a double-digit margin in 2020, which could turn a deeper blue if New York Democrats are able to draw more favorable maps ahead of the 2024 election.

Lawler — who has become a cable news staple and frequently found himself in the center of the news cycle — has often been a loyal soldier for Republican leadership since taking office, but he has also broken with his party on several prominent occasions. 

He voted against Republican efforts to overturn administrative rules freezing tariffs on the import of solar panels, flipped against a GOP education bill when a provision was added targeting transgender students, and supports red flag gun laws and opposes federal abortion bans. Biden spoke positively about the congressman during a recent visit to his district.

Lawler’s also been considerably cooler about former President Donald Trump than many of his GOP colleagues, calling shortly after the midterms for his party to move on from the former president. Lawler spoke positively at the time about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Speaking to JI the day after DeSantis announced his presidential campaign, Lawler did not offer specific thoughts on either candidate.

“There needs to be a robust primary and discussion about the future and the party and where we want to go as a party, but the focus should be on the challenges we’re facing, and the future and the American people,” Lawler said. “And ultimately, Republican primary voters will decide who will be the nominee. So we’ll see how this process plays out.”

MSNBC

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-NY, joins Morning Joe to discuss the House’s passing of the Biden-McCarthy debt ceiling deal and why he voted yes.

The Putnam County News & Recorder

By Eric Gross

Putnam County Congressman Mike Lawler commended House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden for hammering out a tentative deal that addresses the nation’s debt ceiling. While in Carmel on Sunday attending a Memorial Day observance at the Carmel Veterans Hall, Lawler said in an exclusive interview that capping spending at 1 percent for the next six years has resulted…

Click here to read more

Spectrum News

By Susan Arbetter

Congressional Republicans and President Biden are in a high-stakes showdown over raising the debt ceiling.

In a letter to Congress, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said “it is highly likely” the government will be unable to pay all the nation’s bills after June 1, one week away.

According to Democrats, Republicans are threatening to blow up the economy unless Biden agrees to shrink the social safety net. According to Republicans, Democrats are already tanking the economy by spending recklessly. 

The latest, according to the Associated Press, is that President Biden has agreed to hold spending flat at 2023 levels; Republicans say that’s not enough; they are insisting that next year’s spending be less than current levels.

Freshman Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents the 17th Congressional District, which includes all or parts of Rockland, Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties, spoke with Capital Tonight about the debt ceiling debate.

“I have long said that I have three parameters in the debt ceiling that must be met: One, the president and Sen. Schumer must negotiate with Speaker McCarthy in good faith; two, we must enact long-term spending reforms and reduce overall spending; and three, we must not default,” Lawler stated.

According to Reuters, if the U.S. stops cutting checks that fund 25% of the economy, Americans who have retirement accounts would suffer as the stock market “swoons,” and within days, a lack of federal payments would hurt veterans, hike mortgage rates and add to inflation.

When asked if the fight was worth it, Lawler said that House Republicans are the only ones in Washington who have actually voted to lift the debt ceiling.

“Democrats voted against the ‘Limit, Save & Grow Act,’ so they voted against lifting the debt ceiling. The Senate, Sen. Schumer, cannot pass a bill – he has not introduced a bill to be passed in the Senate because he doesn’t have the votes necessary to do it,” Lawler said.

The “Limit, Save & Grow Act,” which is the House Republicans’ debt ceiling proposal, would allow federal discretionary spending to increase just 1% per year, which is below the rate of inflation.  

Discretionary spending includes weapons programs, servicemember pay, grants for schools that serve low-income students, rental assistance to house millions of poor and disabled, and money to fund research on cancer and other life-threatening diseases.  

Meanwhile, all 213 Democrats in the House on Wednesday agreed to pass a “discharge petition” which is a bill raising the debt limit with no strings attached. The bill would need five Republican votes to pass.

When asked what would have to happen for him to consider signing the discharge petition, Lawler said “a clean debt ceiling bill with no spending cuts cannot pass the U.S. Senate.”

“What Democrats need to come to the realization about is that you need to compromise,” he continued.

Unspent COVID money may be on the negotiating the table. 

“We are coming to the deadline, but I think we are making progress,” Lawler said.

NPR

By Scott Simon

NPR’s Scott Simon talks with Rep. Mike Lawler about debt ceiling negotiations. This week, President Biden pressed his case in a speech in the moderate Republican’s New York district.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

* President Biden spoke to voters about the debt ceiling in Westchester County, N.Y., this week. And in the audience was the district’s congressman, a freshman Republican.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Mike is the kind of guy that when I was in the Congress, he was the kind of Republican I was used to dealing with.

SIMON: That Mike is with us. Congressman Mike Lawler, thanks so much for being with us, Representative.

MIKE LAWLER: Good morning. Thanks for having me.

SIMON: We spoke just a couple of weeks ago. Debt ceiling negotiations have been going on. Any closer to an agreement?

LAWLER: Look, I think we obviously saw a little bit of progress this week with the president and the speaker meeting. I know they are scheduled to meet again this coming week. The staffs of both have met. And, you know, there’s been a little bit of a thawing. But, you know, obviously, when I met with the president on Wednesday, I took the opportunity to encourage him to really find some common ground here. I think all of us have a responsibility to avoid default. And as I said to the president, for me, throughout this entire process, I’ve had three parameters – the president and the speaker must negotiate, we must cut long-term spending and we cannot default. And I think if everybody’s willing to give a little, we’ll be able to get where we need to be.

SIMON: May I ask what was the effect of Donald Trump saying in his CNN town hall appearance, and I quote, “maybe we have to do a default”? He has a lot of influence in your party.

LAWLER: I don’t think it has any effect. I think all of my colleagues understand a default would be cataclysmic for our economy. And frankly, I heard nobody in our conference after those remarks agree with them.

SIMON: Do you think a short-term deal might be needed to buy more time for a longer agreement?

LAWLER: You know, if it comes to that, maybe. But again, the objective here needs to be for everybody to get in the room, do what they need to do and negotiate. This is – you know, we’ve all known this is coming, so this should not be a surprise to anybody. The president took 97 days to meet with the speaker after their first meeting. We need to accelerate the conversations here. I don’t think kicking the can down the road, you know, is going to solve anything here. So the objective needs to be to find a solution as quickly as possible.

SIMON: Representative Lawler, what – I know you don’t want to negotiate in public, but what would you tell fellow Republicans they might have to give up if they’re going to get an agreement?

LAWLER: Look, obviously, we passed the Limit, Save and Grow Act, which would save taxpayers $4.8 trillion over 10 years. The president, you know, has voiced his opposition to that. But I think, you know, there are certainly areas of agreement that we can find within it. The president previously supported work requirements. I don’t see why he would be opposed to that. You know, obviously, unspent and unallocated COVID funds shouldn’t be an issue. So I think there’s areas within the Limit, Save and Grow Act that the president could find agreement with. And the objective, of course, would be, you know, for everybody to give a little bit because that’s the only way you find compromise. So, you know, obviously, Republicans aren’t going to get everything they want out of a final deal, but neither is the president. So I think there’s got to be a little give and take and find some area of agreement.

SIMON: Final quick question – your fellow Congressman, George Santos, pleaded not guilty to 13 felony charges. Does his insistence on not resigning complicate the work of a small Republican majority?

LAWLER: Look, ultimately, he’s not going to be long for this world – we all know that – in terms of elected office. So I’ve called for him to resign. If he had any dignity or decency, he would, but seemingly he does not. And so, you know, the process will play itself out. And, you know, I suspect sooner rather than later, he will no longer be a member of Congress.

SIMON: Congressman Mike Lawler, Republican of New York, thanks so much for being with us.

LAWLER: Thank you.

U.S. News

By Susan Milligan

The president visited the moderate Republican’s district as he make his case for a clean increase in the debt ceiling before an unprecedented default on the nation’s debt.

They’re in different parties, and each wants the other to lose in 2024. But President Joe Biden and freshman GOP Rep. Mike Lawler had a friendly competition Wednesday for a rarely sought title in modern Washington politics: Reasonable Guy.

Biden, in Lawler’s home district to make his case for a clean increase in the debt ceiling, offered a tutorial to voters on why his idea was responsible and the House Republicans’ plan was in bad faith and damaging to Americans.

So-called “MAGA Republicans” are “holding the economy hostage” by insisting on deep budget cuts in exchange for not allowing the country, for the first time, to default on debt the nation has already run up, Biden told a crowd at Westchester Community College in the Hudson Valley.

“They’ve taken control of the House. … They have a speaker who has his job because he yielded to, quote, MAGA elements of the party,” Biden said, referring to the 15 ballots Rep. Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, had to endure to win enough votes to become speaker.

One of the Republicans who voted for the House bill was Lawler, a moderate Republican who shocked national and New York Democrats by defeating former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney – who was also chairman of the committee to elect more Democrats to the House before he was defeated.

The House bill, Biden explained, did not offer detailed cuts in the text but would take spending back to fiscal 2022 levels, exempting defense, and limit future spending to a below-inflation rate of 1% a year. That would result in a 22% cut in veterans assistance, renewable energy, Pell Grants for college students and other popular programs, the president warned.

But he had kind words for Lawler, who showed up for the event.

“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,” Biden said, referring to extremists aligned with former President Donald Trump who are often identified using his campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

Joking that he didn’t want to get Lawler into trouble with his own GOP constituents or colleagues by saying “something nice” or something negative about the lawmaker, Biden added, “Thanks for coming, Mike, thanks for being here – this is the way we used to do it.”

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is less accommodating, blasting the vulnerable Republican with critical press releases. Ahead of a Lawler visit to a fundraiser in Nashville last month, the DCCC accused Lawler of colluding with “a host of extreme MAGA Republicans … including twice-impeached, indicted former president Donald Trump; Sen. Rick Scott, who has proposed cutting Social Security and Medicare for America’s seniors; and Mike Pence, a fervently anti-choice extremist who applauded a recent federal court decision to suspend FDA approval of mifepristone.”

Biden, however, needs Republicans like Lawler as he endeavors to get the debt ceiling increased before an unprecedented default on the nation’s debt. Raising the debt ceiling does not authorize any increased spending but assures that the federal government – which routinely borrows money – pays its debts for money it has already appropriated and spent.

Republicans are using the debt ceiling bill – historically considered a “must-pass” piece of legislation, since no member of Congress in the past has wanted the economy to implode, possibly kicking off a global recession – to achieve cuts in future spending.

The GOP argues that if it doesn’t force the hand of the White House (and those of Congress itself, which appropriates money for programs), politicians will have no real limits and will continue to increase the deficit (the shortfall in a single year’s budget) and the debt, which is long term. Biden noted that he has already made historic reductions in the debt. However, it is still high.

But Lawler needs Biden – or at least he needs some of Biden’s supporters. The Westchester Republican is one of just 18 Republicans who serve “crossover” districts – places where the GOP candidate won the House seat but Biden took a majority of the vote in the 2020 election.

Even more daunting for Lawler, a top target for Democrats next year, is that he is one of just five Republicans in districts Biden won by double-digit percentages. Lawler won the seat by fewer than 2,000 votes in 2022, beating Maloney with 50.3% of the vote to Maloney’s 49.7%.

That’s not a lot of room for error in a district Biden won by 10 percentage points. And Democrats need to flip just five seats to reclaim the majority in the 2024 elections.

Lawler made morning appearances on CNN, MSNBC and Fox, saying in Reasonable Guy tones that he merely wanted Biden to sit down and negotiate with Republicans, as Biden did when he was vice president.

“I welcome President Biden to my district and am willing to listen to what he has to say today, but we have to engage in a good faith negotiation,” Lawler tweeted ahead of Biden’s visit.

“He told me he wasn’t here to put any pressure on me,” Lawler told reporters after Biden delivered a speech slamming Lawler’s colleagues. “Look, I showed up because I believe very strongly that we all have an obligation to work together,” Lawler added.

Biden said he chatted briefly with Lawler about the debt ceiling and negotiations with McCarthy.

“I thanked him for the courtesy of showing up,” Biden told reporters on the tarmac in Westchester. Then, he headed to a Democratic fundraiser.