City & State New York

By Jeff Coltin

Rep. Mike Lawler was just named the fifth-most vulnerable member in Congress in the country by Roll Call. And the top guy, Rep. George Santos was just arrested on federal charges. But if Santos falsely inserted himself into situations – Goldman Sachs, Spider-Man on Broadway, Congress – Lawler legitimately seems to be in the middle of just about every political story this week. And the Republican is making sure to seize the spotlight. The man who was once a political consultant and Assembly member at the same time seems to have adopted a strategy of getting on TV and talking, talking, talking.

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” Lawler told City & State Wednesday. “The president is coming here. We have a migrant crisis in the city that’s impacting my district. There’s a lot of stuff going on right now, and if given the opportunity I’m going to make sure my voice is heard in my district.”

Sure enough, President Joe Biden is coming to SUNY Westchester Community College Wednesday right by Lawler’s 17th Congressional District, to pressure Republicans to raise the debt limit without major spending cuts. (The college is technically in Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s district, but it’s right on the border.) Biden chose the swingy suburbs for a reason, as he hopes the party can win back Lawler’s seat, and more, in 2024. But instead of ceding ground, Lawler told the White House he’s going to the speech, “maybe to their surprise.” Signal to Dems he’s a team player? “I talk to anybody and everybody, I always have,” he said, touting some votes across the aisle in Albany and Washington, D.C.

And that anybody and everybody means the press too. He’s on Fox Business telling Biden to meet Republicans in the middle. He’s on CNN, after a mass shooting in Texas, talking up his support for red flag laws, despite most of his party’s opposition to them. And he’s on NY1 scolding New York icon Pat Kiernan for his questions about migrants.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Friday that the city would be paying to shelter some asylum-seekers in a Rockland County hotel, which is in Lawler’s district. So the member of Congress seized the opportunity to call Adams a hypocrite for moving migrants to another area.

Lawler is even, as a fellow first-year New York Republican, in the middle of the Santos saga. Lawler got a $2,900 donation from Santos’ PAC in September and hasn’t reported returning the money, but otherwise was a relatively early Republican calling on Santos to resign. Lawler said Wednesday he’d read part of the indictment and “if he had any decency or dignity or humility he would step down,” Lawler said.

Democrats see Lawler as vulnerable in 2024. A nonprofit political arm of the House Democratic caucus is already trying to tie Lawler to unpopular policies like cutting Social Security and Medicare by running ads and pushing polls in the district. But with Lawler in the middle of everything, it’s also fitting that he’s in the middle of the political spectrum in the House, as sharply partisan as that body is. In his district, which Biden won by about 10 points, Lawler is willing to – softly – criticize the Republican presidential front-runner, Donald Trump. “I think the party needs to move in a different direction,” he said, reiterating comments he first made in November.  “I think there needs to be a robust primary … and the former president will have to answer to the voters for his conduct and the things he’s been accused of or found civilly liable for.” But Lawler said he wasn’t supporting any other presidential candidate “at this time.”

After all, he’s got his own race to worry about. With Lawler in the middle of everything, Democrat Liz Gereghty decided that Tuesday was the perfect day to launch her campaign against him. “Today, extreme Republican leaders in Congress – enabled by the current 17th Congressional District Congressman – are threatening our core rights, our safety, and our economic future,” she said in a press release.

Gereghty, who used to own a novelty shop in the district, doesn’t have much of a political record herself, but she’s already gotten national attention, since her sister is Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democratic Party star.

Lawler said he hadn’t even heard of her, until there was speculation about her running. But with former Rep. Mondaire Jones teasing a campaign too, that’s one big news story that Lawler is planning to stay away from, for now. “I’ll leave that to Democrat primary voters to find out who their nominee will be,” he said.

CNN

By Jeremy Diamond

When the slim House Republican majority came into power this year, White House officials said they saw opportunities to work with Biden district Republicans – GOP lawmakers whose districts President Joe Biden carried in 2020.

But nearly four months into the new Congress – and with the debt ceiling showdown now barreling into full crisis mode – many of those Republicans say they’ve received minimal to no engagement from the White House. Other House Republicans with a track record of bipartisanship in the last Congress paint a similar picture.

While the White House’s Office of Legislative Affairs conducted initial outreach to many of those Biden district Republicans earlier this year, the White House has largely been content to tout the bipartisan wins of the previous Congress and use the current class of House Republicans as a foil for the president.

Ahead of the new session in January, administration officials told CNN that the unique political incentives and pressures those Biden district Republicans would face could translate into policy alignment and bipartisan legislation.

At the time, White House aides discussed a series of carrots and sticks they could use with those 18 Biden district Republicans to forge compromise or, perhaps more importantly, peel off moderate Republicans to sink the prospects of GOP leadership initiatives.

The carrots – social invitations to the White House, Air Force One rides and Oval Office sit-downs – have been sparse to non-existent. Meanwhile, the sticks have abounded in recent days as the White House, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and outside progressive groups begin to hammer those swing-district Republicans for supporting the House Republican bill to slash spending while raising the debt ceiling into next year. Several outside groups have already launched ad campaigns targeting those Republicans with ads accusing them of cutting health care funding and seeking to repeal clean energy tax breaks creating jobs in their districts.

Absent, as of yet, has been a strategy to drive a wedge between those Republicans and GOP leadership to woo them into supporting a no-strings-attached proposal to raise the debt ceiling. Instead, all 18 Biden-district Republicans voted with the majority of the party to pass the leadership bill that would cut spending and slash key planks of Biden’s domestic agenda alongside a debt ceiling increase.

The White House has repeatedly said it will not negotiate with Republicans over raising the debt ceiling, but beyond public pressure, the White House doesn’t appear to have made a concerted effort to woo those Biden district Republicans to abandon McCarthy and support a clean debt ceiling increase instead.

Rep. Mike Lawler, a freshman Republican from New York, said he came into office assuming the White House would want to engage substantively with members like him whose districts Biden carried in 2020. Instead, he said outreach from the White House has been “minimal.”

“To me, knowing that you have 18 members in districts you carried, I would think you would be trying to do a full court press,” said Lawler, whose district voted for Biden by a 10-point margin. “I haven’t seen any significant outreach on their part to really find pathways forward.”

At Biden’s direction, the White House’s legislative affairs team conducted initial outreach to all of the newly elected House Republicans from Biden districts, establishing a point of contact for each office.

“As I have throughout my career, I’m going to continue to work across the aisle to deliver for the American people. And it’s not always easy, but we did it the first term,” Biden said in his post-midterm election news conference in November, declaring that “the American people want us to work together.”

But many of the Republican lawmakers in question said the engagement did not advance beyond that initial outreach.

“Aside from an initial outreach earlier this year to inquire about Rep. (David) Valadao’s priorities, there’s been no substantive outreach on their part as far as policy or debt ceiling goes,” Valadao spokeswoman Faith Mabry said in an email.

Lawler said his White House liaison has “been great” – engaging on issues like addressing state and local tax deductions, immigration and fentanyl – but he said the conversations have not led anywhere, including to any conversations with senior White House officials.

In a statement, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said the White House has had “frequent engagements” with Republicans in Congress, but declined to further detail those engagements or make White House legislative affairs director Louisa Terrell available for an interview.

“The President’s historic record bears out what his team has made clear to every Republican in Congress in our frequent engagements: he’s eager to keep working across the aisle to deliver more progress for American families,” Bates said. “That eagerness and outreach is why infrastructure week is no longer a joke and the country’s being rebuilt,” he added, citing a meeting with Lawler last month as an example.

Lawler said the April meeting came at his request.

The office of Rep. David Schweikert, a Biden-district Republican from Arizona, said he “has not heard from the White House this Congress.”

Rep. Don Bacon, a four-term moderate with a track record of bipartisanship whose Nebraska district Biden won by 6 points, has met with Biden’s Labor secretary and attorney general, but has had limited engagement with the White House.

“We have not received any communications regarding the debt ceiling,” Bacon spokeswoman Danielle Jensen said. “In fact, it has been crickets from the White House on this issue.”

Other House Republicans who supported Biden’s infrastructure bill but don’t hail from districts Biden won in 2020, including New York Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, painted a similar picture. A spokeswoman for her office said the White House “has not engaged with our office on any substantive policy issues since January.”

Only one GOP congressman contacted by CNN touted regular contact with the White House. A spokeswoman for Rep. Brandon Williams, whose district will be home to a $20 billion Micron semiconductor factor facilitated by the CHIPS & Science Act, said Williams’ office has “weekly communication with the White House, finding bipartisan solutions for the betterment of Central New York and the Mohawk Valley,” including on the Micron investment.

Yonkers Times

Westchester Congressman Mike Lawler recently wrote about his trip to Taiwan. Rep, Lawler writes, “In combating communism and promoting democracy, Ronald Reagan employed the doctrine of “peace through strength” — a policy that helped end the Cold War, bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall, and put America on the path to global superiority.

“Today, with military and economic threats emanating from the unholy alliance of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, America must once again lead to preserve peace, ensure prosperity, and advance democracy.

“When Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, he did not anticipate the unified economic and military response of the United States and our NATO allies or the resolved determination of the Ukrainian people. The consequences for this unjust war have been severe, with crippling economic sanctions and a depleted and demoralized Russian military.

“But Russian aggression didn’t begin in 2022 and the invasion was hardly a surprise. Had America and our allies acted sooner to arm Ukraine and firmly pushed back against Russia, Vladimir Putin would have thought twice about such an invasion.

“We cannot allow history to repeat itself, especially in dealing with the threats and challenges emerging out of the Indo-Pacific. China continues to ramp up global economic coercion, aggression in the Strait of Taiwan, and espionage efforts against the U.S. and our allies. Meanwhile, North Korea threatens U.S. and international security by engaging in arms deals with bad actors and testing missiles within range of nearby countries. These provocations create a unique opportunity for America to strengthen our relationship with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Thailand, India, and Taiwan — an opportunity we cannot afford to squander.

“That is why I, along with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and a bipartisan group of colleagues, recently traveled to the Indo-Pacific on a 10-day tour of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hawaii, and Guam.

“After meeting with heads of state, foreign ministers, defense officials, and legislators, as well as our own military leaders in the Indo-Pacific Command, the 7th Fleet, and the DMZ, it is abundantly clear that the United States and our allies in the region must implement a clear strategy of deterrence against China and North Korea and create stronger economic and trade relations amongst ourselves — in other words we must implement a policy of peace through strength.

“In recent months, Japan announced plans to double the size of its military and increase defense spending to over 2% of GDP; South Korea increased defense capabilities and announced an expanded role in the Indo-Pacific region; the Philippines signed a maritime framework; and Australia agreed to expand defense cooperation with the United States.

“These actions by our allies are no accident, and they must be the beginning of greater cooperation and hopefully the framework for a NATO-like military alliance in the Indo-Pacific. It’s the only way to effectively deter North Korea’s and China’s blatant military aggression.

“As with Ukraine, some Americans may wonder why it is important for the United States to be involved in these conflicts. The answer is simple: Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Make no mistake, freedom and democracy are worth fighting for and a prosperous America requires it.

“With over 60% of global trade navigating through the Strait of Taiwan and over 90% of the world’s semiconductors being manufactured in Taiwan, any military invasion or blockade in the region would grind America’s economy to a halt and have severe ramifications worldwide. It is in our national interest to ensure that never happens.

“During our meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, which came two days after her historic meeting with Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a bipartisan congressional delegation in California, she outlined a clear course of action — increased defense training and cooperation, delivery of critical weapons systems, and a unified coalition in the Indo-Pacific to deliver a clear and unambiguous message to China and any other would-be bad actors: don’t even think about it.

“China is our greatest geopolitical adversary and is the single most unifying issue across America. In the 118th Congress we have already seen the passage of significant bipartisan legislation on China, with more to come.

“The time to act is now. America must lead with strength, boldness, and courage. With an eye towards peace and prosperity for all, our Indo-Pacific allies are ready and willing to unite,” writes Rep. Lawler.

NPR

By Scott Simon

NPR’s Scott Simon talks with Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer and Republican Congressman Mike Lawler about a plan from the House Problem Solvers Caucus to address raising the debt ceiling.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Pressure is growing for President Biden to negotiate to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KEVIN MCCARTHY: The longer President Biden waits to be sensible, to find an agreement, the more likely it becomes that this administration will bumble into the first default in our nation’s history.

SIMON: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaking this week. And next week, he plans to introduce a bill that would raise the debt limit to $1.5 trillion, but it would cut spending on some of the president’s priorities, including COVID relief, green energy programs and student debt cancellation. The president wants the debt ceiling raised with no conditions. Meanwhile, the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus is offering its own plan. We’re joined now by co-chair Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat and caucus member who happens to be traveling in Ghana now. Representative Gottheimer, thanks for being with us.

JOSH GOTTHEIMER: Thanks for having me.

SIMON: And Mike Lawler, a New York Republican who joins us now. Representative Lawler, thank you for being with us.

MIKE LAWLER: Thanks for having me.

SIMON: And, Mr. Lawler, let me address this first question to you. If that Republican plan comes up for a vote next week, will you vote for it?

LAWLER: Yes. You know, my three parameters throughout this debt ceiling negotiation have been very simple. The president must negotiate with the speaker. We have to cut spending over the long term, and we must not default. And I think the plan outlined by Speaker McCarthy certainly creates an opportunity to start the negotiations. The president thus far has refused to do so. And so I think, you know, this is an opportunity to put our cards on the table and move the conversation because at the end of the day, we have an obligation to find compromise and to advance forward a solution here to not only lift our nation’s debt limit, but ultimately get us on the right fiscal path.

SIMON: Congressman Gottheimer, what do you hope the president will do?

GOTTHEIMER: First and foremost, the key here is that we not default. So we have to put the whole question of the debt ceiling and raising the debt ceiling aside. And then we also can, at the same time, address our longer-term fiscal health issues. And that’s acceptable to do both, and it’s a false choice to say that we can’t do both. And what we want is our leadership and the president to sit at the table and work this through. Listen. The proposal that Kevin McCarthy put up, you know, I think even if it passes out of the House, will not go anywhere in the Senate. So whenever they pass that, if they do, it’ll be dead on arrival, and we’ll be back to the same spot. And how do we make sure that we keep sitting down, which is what our caucus believes in, sitting down at the table and getting a solution that achieves both objectives, making sure the debt ceiling is not an issue and also dealing with our long-term fiscal health issues? And that’s what our proposal is really about.

SIMON: What about the call, Congressman Gottheimer, for the creation of a separate fiscal commission? Hasn’t that been tried before and hasn’t worked out?

GOTTHEIMER: I think in this case it’s different. And what we’ve recommended is actually putting a fiscal commission to set that up and suspend the debt ceiling – in other words, take that off the table while this commission does its work, experts, economists come back and make a set of recommendations to us. We must address some of these long-term fiscal health issues. And so I think the commission is a great way to take some of the politics out of this. And let’s be honest. What’s happened here is you’re seeing both sides volley back and forth and play political games with the fiscal future of our country, including playing around with the debt ceiling, which would literally put the full faith and credit of the United States at risk. Only the government of China will win if we send our economy off the cliff and downgrade our credit and put everyone’s 401(k)s and savings on the line.

SIMON: How serious is any discussion about the nation’s debt if Social Security and Medicare, biggest sources of spending, are apparently off the table? Congressman Lawler, do you want to take that?

LAWLER: Sure. I mean, look. I’ve said from the very beginning that we need to protect Social Security and Medicare. As it stands right now, both programs are going to have serious challenges over the next decade. And I think part of what Josh is alluding to with the creation of a fiscal commission is to look at what we need to do long-term in a serious, sober and bipartisan way to address the challenges to both of those programs. I think in the immediate, we cannot default. We have to pay our previous debts incurred.

SIMON: Do both of you worry that given today’s fractious political environment, even as you say default can’t occur, in fact, it can and will occur if a majority of people in Congress decide that they want to vote in accord with their own best political interests? Won’t they?

LAWLER: In all of my conversations, I’ve not spoken to one person who thinks default would be a good idea. So I do not think at the end of the day that we are going to be in a situation where we default. I think, unfortunately, the politics sometimes drags this out in a way that is unnecessary and unhelpful. But I think we will certainly get to a solution. And as, you know, I think we’re showing here in this conversation, people like Josh and I are very focused on finding solutions and common ground and solving problems.

SIMON: Representative Gottheimer?

GOTTHEIMER: Mike is spot on, and – you know, which is why you want reasonable voices on the table. Am I concerned? Deeply concerned. Do I believe we’ve got enough people who are reasonable, who understand the gravity? Yes. But that doesn’t mean, to your point, that we can just hope that it happens. We’ve got to actually work to make it happen, which is what we’re doing. And my hope and confidence is that in these next weeks, given how this could be a summer – early summer issue, like, a June issue, that everybody sits at the table until we figure this out because we can’t afford not to.

SIMON: Representative Josh Gottheimer, Democrat, and Republican Congressman Mike Lawler, both members of the Problem Solvers Caucus. Thanks so much for being with us.

GOTTHEIMER: Thanks for having us.

LAWLER: Thank you.

Mid Hudson News

WASHINGTON – Following a meeting in Moscow on Monday described by China as a peacemaking effort between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Congressman Mike Lawler (R, NY-17) issued a statement about his concerns surrounding the visit. The meeting was Xi Japing’s first trip to Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.

“I am deeply concerned about Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow today,” said Congressman Lawler. “The fact that Xi would give Vladimir Putin the international diplomatic recognition he so desperately craves indicates how bad of an actor China is on the global stage.”

Lawler called Xi and Putin “a pernicious pair who are busy plotting dominance of Eurasia. The United States and our allies must continue to apply diplomatic pressure to ensure that the entire Eurasian region does not fall under their control and influence.”

In a letter published in the Chinese state media that turned heads around the globe, Putin welcomed Xi to Moscow calling Xi his “good old friend.”

The Journal News

By Peter D. Kramer

Local officials gathered with the congressman to raise concerns about the governor’s Housing Compact

After more than an hour behind closed doors on Tuesday, Republican Congressman Mike Lawler and a bipartisan group of elected officials from the Lower Hudson Valley spilled out onto the front lawn of North Castle Town Hall and did two things together.

They shivered in the cold. And they declared Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Housing Compact was bad for local control, bad for the environment and bad for their communities.

Speakers derided Hochul’s call to rezone a half-mile-radius area around MTA train stations to permit high-density housing while softening environmental review. The impact of such housing could further strain infrastructure, schools and public safety, they said. And the governor’s $250 million for infrastructure improvements was woefully short of what is needed, they said.

Lawler, a freshman congressman tailed for the day by a film crew from the Showtime series “The Circus,” said each leader acknowledged the need for housing, but not at the expense of local control.

Here are 6 quotes from the press conference that represent the hurdle Hochul faces when trying to sell her housing plan here:

Congressman Mike Lawler: ‘Local control is a bedrock’

“Local control is a bedrock in New York state,” Lawler said. “Our supervisors and town boards, our mayors, our village trustees, along with the planning boards and the zoning boards, they make decisions on development and what is in the best interests of their communities with input from the residents. This plan would basically upend that. It would upend the constitutional rights of our local municipalities and force a one-size-fits-all approach to housing. It’s unsustainable. It’s wrong and it violates the rights of these municipalities.“

Assemblyman Matt Slater: ‘Local control, not Hochul control’

“We know the $250 million in infrastructure investment being proposed by Gov. Hochul is a joke,” said Matt Slater, a new Assemblyman and former Yorktown supervisor. “It’s almost insulting. But nothing’s more insulting than a one-size-fits-all approach. I said it before. I’ll keep saying it. We want local control, not Hochul control.”

State Sen. Bill Weber: ‘Bad for our local municipalities’

Rockland Republican State Sen. Bill Weber said: “We’re going to work as hard as we can in Albany to make sure that we galvanize the support of our senators and assemblymen to really come out against this entire proposal because it’s bad for our local municipalities.”

Ossining Supervisor Elizabeth Feldman: ‘Sit down with each municipality’

Ossining Supervisor Elizabeth Feldman, a Democrat, said: “The state needs to have a task force to sit down with each municipality, understanding where their challenges are, and work with them to achieve the affordable housing that all of us want. It’s irresponsible just to say ‘You have to do it, and we’re not giving you any tools.’ To sit with us and develop the tools is what we really need and to respect our environment and protect it. And especially our watershed, which is irreplaceable.”

Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann: Solve local problems at the local level

Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann, a Republican, said: “Our local land-use boards are our own neighbors, they’re our own residents. They live within the community. They judge and they listen to the community. They’re appointed for longer terms than the elected officials, and that’s for a reason: So that they’re not subject to the political whims of whoever’s in power. … This proposal by the governor works completely against that. So we oppose it. I look forward to working with the congressman and with all the other electeds here to make sure that whatever is done in New York is done to protect our environment, protect our community, and to bring about the right results.”

North Castle Supervisor Michael J. Schiliro: ‘Think about the impact’

North Castle Supervisor Michael Schiliro, a Democrat, said: “(Near) the North White Plains train station, there are neighborhoods in that community that, already dense, would allow 6,000 more units to be built, 50 units per acre. … Think about the impact on infrastructure, the environment, our schools that are already bursting at the seams, our fire departments, our police departments. Our sewer plant downtown, if we had to increase the capacity, (would cost) $20 million. … We want to work with the governor because we share a lot of goals, but one size can’t fit all. And to have New York State have oversight on local zoning and all of our communities is a disservice to the people that have built these towns and the residents that put us here.”

Republican officials who attended but did not speak included: North Salem Supervisor Warren Lucas, Somers Supervisor Robert Scorrano, Yorktown Supervisor Tom Diana, Carmel Supervisor Michael Cazzari, and Mount Pleasant Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi.

Elected Democrats who attended but did not speak included Haverstraw Supervisor Howard Phillips, Tarrytown Mayor Karen Brown, and West Haverstraw Mayor Robert D’Amelio.

News 12 Connecticut

By Lee Danuff and Nadia Galindo

A plan to increase housing in the suburbs is being met with pushback from some Hudson Valley leaders.

A roundtable discussion was attended by over a dozen local leaders at North Castle Town Hall on Tuesday. They agree there is a critical need for additional housing but say they oppose Gov. Kathy Hochul’s New York Housing Compact plan to solve that issue.

It would require municipalities in counties that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority serves to increase housing by 3% in the next three years.

Rep. Mike Lawler organized the gathering and said the plan requires a significant investment in infrastructure to support new residents and takes away local control.

“It would upend the constitutional rights of our local municipalities and force a one-size-fits-all approach to housing,” says Lawler. 

Hochul is proposing in her budget to include $250 million to fund housing infrastructure and $20 million for planning assistance. She promised to deliver more funding if necessary.

The state also recently met with Westchester municipal officials about the proposal.

The Stock Dork

By Byron Dovey

According to US Representative Michael Lawler (R-N.Y.), President Joe Biden’s secret trip to Ukraine on February 20 sent a clear message to Russia and China.

The message was that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine must be stopped. If not, it could encourage Russia to do the same with other Soviet satellite states.

Why was Biden’s visit important?

“I think it is critically important that Vladimir Putin not be successful in this mission. If he is allowed to succeed, he will not stop there,” Lawler said in an interview. “And I am confident that if he succeeds in Ukraine, he will go into Moldova and other former Soviet satellite countries.”

Lawler emphasized that the visit was significant because it coincided with the first anniversary of the Ukraine invasion. He stated that it was essential to show Putin there was united opposition to his invasion of Ukraine and for violating its sovereignty.

Lawler added that it is “important that we speak with one voice that the United States and our allies around the world continue to oppose Russia and provide Ukraine with the support that they need, militarily and financially, to win this war,” Lawler continued.

Lawler also discussed Putin’s recent announcement that Russia will withdraw from the new START treaty with the United States. This was “just one more example of the irrational behavior that we’ve seen by Putin over the last year plus.”

The START treaty was signed in 2010 between President Barack Obama and his Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and it was the last intact nuclear arms control pact with the United States.

Could there be a new ‘Axis of evil”?

Lawler also stated that the outcome of the Ukraine crisis would have a direct impact on communist China, which he described as America’s “greatest geopolitical foe.”

“What President Xi would do with respect to Taiwan if Russia is to succeed here!” Lawler said.

Lawler believes that China has long been in cahoots with Russia and that they, along with Iran and North Korea, formulate the new “axis of evil.”

“We need to ensure that the actions that we are taking continue to put the United States in a strong position economically, militarily, and from a national security perspective and that we are holding these bad actors accountable for what they are doing around the world to frankly undermine democracy and freedom across the globe,” Lawler said.

Fox News

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., responds to President Biden and Vladimir Putin’s speeches ahead of the one-year milestone of the war in Ukraine and discusses Mayor Eric Adams’ attack on Gov. Ron DeSantis over pro-police tour.

Westchester County Association

By Martin Wilbur

Congressman Mike Lawler (R-Pearl River) blasted Gov. Kathy Hochul for preparing to press forward with her proposed housing plan that he and other officials have charged would irreparably damage many of the region’s communities.

Joined by state and local elected officials from Westchester and Rockland counties at a Friday press conference at the Hawthorne Metro-North station, Lawler lambasted the governor, particularly for the transited-oriented development segment of her New York Housing Compact along with the proposed MTA payroll tax hike and proposing the largest spending plan in state history at $227 billion.

Under the current proposal, land within a half-mile radius of every MTA-operated train station in the region would be rezoned to allow for multifamily housing.

The congressman said it would not only trample on home rule but there isn’t the infrastructure, such as water and sewer, in many communities to sustain that level of development. Schools could also be overrun. Lawler estimated that there could be more than 10,000 new housing units in the 17th Congressional District alone.

“It’s not that we’re against housing. We all recognize the need for it,” Lawler said. “But we respect the rule of law. We respect the fact that local control of zoning is a bedrock principle in the state of New York. It is a constitutional right and the governor is proposing to eliminate it. It’s simply unconscionable.”

Lawler said the proposed $250 million the state would make available for infrastructure upgrades associated with the plan is a pittance that could be used up by a small number of municipalities because building sewer infrastructure and improving roads are so expensive.

Hochul’s plan has been met with widespread bipartisan condemnation from local officials, perhaps most strongly throughout the lower Hudson Valley and Long Island. The Housing Compact calls for every downstate municipality to increase its housing stock by 3 percent every three years to help reach the plan’s goal of building 800,000 new units statewide within the next decade.

That would mean about 300 new housing units in the Village of Ossining, 270 additional units in Somers and 410 in Yorktown, according to Lawler.

Assemblyman Matt Slater (R-Yorktown) said having the state dictate zoning to municipalities should be appalling to everyone as many towns have been taking steps to increase housing where it’s sustainable. He said one housing plan on Route 118 in Yorktown can’t move forward because the town needs help from the state to make improvements to the state road.

Slater said Yorktown, where he served as supervisor for three years, has recognized the need for diversified housing stock. The town has aggressively updated its zoning to try and meet the need, but that must remain a local government decision, he said.

“We want local control, not Hochul control,” Slater said. “It’s absurd that we are going to actually lose control of our own decision-making process, that the numbers that the congressman was talking about, where are you going to put these housing pieces, these housing complexes?

North Castle Supervisor Michael Schiliro has been one of the most outspoken local officials against Hochul’s housing plans since early last year when she proposed having as-of-right accessory dwelling unit for every home. He said the Housing Compact fails to recognize that a town such as North Castle has had accessory dwelling unit legislation on the books for nearly 40 years and started its Middle-Income Unit program in the 1990s, he said. North Castle has also had an affordable housing ordinance in effect for close to a decade.

Schiliro called the governor’s proposal a one-size-fits-all approach that “is the most egregious form of government overreach” that he’s ever seen. Despite his criticisms, he applauded her efforts, but not the proposed method.

“What she’s trying to do to try and achieve some of these (housing) goals, we’ve all been doing already,” Schiliro said. “But the governor is stripping local governments of the ability to have a say.”

Somers Supervisor Robert Scorrano said his town has done its fair share developing housing that is more moderately priced.

“To strip that (decision-making) away from us, to strip the ability to be able to know what’s in the best interests for your town is irresponsible,” he said. “Leaders lead at the highest levels. I urge the governor to listen to what is going on in the surrounding areas, in Putnam County, in Westchester County, Rockland County and Long Island.”

Lawler contended that there should be incentives where the local and state governments can work together to come up with a workable plan to increase the housing supply.

“A lot of the local municipalities have state routes that run right through them, and so the state’s unwilling to invest in critical infrastructure, the state’s unwilling to partner with the municipalities,” he said.

Despite the pushback from local governments, housing advocates have largely supported Hochul’s proposals. Marlene Zarfes, executive director of the non-profit Westchester Residential Opportunities, said her organization is “broadly supportive” of Hochul’s plan to create more housing and some compromise will need to be retained regarding home rule. But too little has been done for too long, she said.

“Some local control of siting and environmental impacts is and will continue to be important, but historically home rule has been used as a tool to exclude lower income and minority households from access to higher opportunity areas,” Zarfes said. “The result is the housing crisis we have today. The governor’s policies reflect the sad reality that localities don’t have the will to solve this on their own.”

The Westchester County Association, the county’s preeminent independent business organization, said it has also supported Hochul’s proposal because the biggest impediment to attracting and retaining talent is the housing issue, said its President and CEO Michael Romita.

He said it will be interesting to see if the governor refines any of her proposals, including the Housing Compact, but Romita doesn’t expect any widescale revisions on her part.

“Our local communities have to understand that in many cases there’s a NIMBYism that’s a tremendous barrier to get the housing that we need,” Romita said. “We need to find the ways to break the logjams. But where the governor’s proposal starts out, it’s not the zombie apocalypse that a lot of people make it out to be. It’s not telling local communities what to do; it’s telling them to please do something.”