Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., warned Tuesday on Newsmax that Democrats are committing an “absolutely unforced error” by pushing the government toward a shutdown that would hand significant authority to the executive branch.
Speaking on “Wake Up America,” Lawler said Democrats are playing politics at the expense of sound governing.
At issue is that the Trump administration is warning of mass federal layoffs and signaling it may use the funding lapse to shrink government if Democrats shut down the government.
“Look, I don’t want to see permanent layoffs within the government,” Lawler said. “Obviously, there’s no question we have a lot of bureaucracy, and we need to be going through those department by department, agency by agency. But that’s what the appropriations process is for.”
Lawler argued that by refusing to pass a short-term continuing resolution, Senate Democrats are doing the very thing they have long criticized: empowering the executive branch.
“This is an absolutely unforced error by Democrats to create a situation where you shut the government down; at a time when they’re decrying executive authority, they’re literally going to give the executive all the authority they need to make changes within the federal bureaucracy,” he said.
Lawler added, “If Democrats are serious about this and not just wanting to play politics, there’s a very simple solution: Pass the CR that is sitting in the Senate, keep the government funded and open through Nov. 21, and negotiate in good faith.”
Lawler pointed to a major sticking point in the talks: the extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies. While Republicans oppose making them permanent, he said there is room for compromise.
“I and a number of my colleagues in the Republican conference are willing to engage in a negotiation on extending [ACA subsidies] for a year or so,” he explained. “We don’t want, obviously, people getting unnecessarily harmed with high health insurance premiums. But that was obviously a provision that was put in place during COVID. There is a lot of disagreement about extending it in perpetuity, which the Democrats want to do in addition to providing healthcare for illegal immigrants.”
The New York Republican accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., of political hypocrisy, pointing to their past calls to keep the government open.
“Just last year [they were] lecturing Republicans about the need to keep the government open and funded and pass a clean CR while Joe Biden was president,” Lawler said. “The only thing that seems to have changed in their mind is that Donald Trump is president, and they’re petrified of [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], Zohran Mamdani, and the radical left, and that’s why they are willing to plunge us into a government shutdown.”
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