The following is a transcript of an interview with Rep. Mike Lawler, Republican of New York, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Oct. 20, 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face The Nation. We go now to Republican Congressman Mike Lawler of New York, good morning and welcome to the show.
REP. MIKE LAWLER: Good morning, Margaret, thanks for having me.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Sure, you are in a competitive race in your Hudson Valley area. We know two years ago, Republicans flipped four seats in the state of New York and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it was New York that cost Democrats the majority. Your seat was one of them. So given all of the infighting within the Republican Party right now, what is your affirmative argument to your voters potentially here that Republicans should retain control?
REP. LAWLER: Well, look, we’re in a deeply divided government. Obviously, Democrats control the Senate and the White House right now, Republicans control the House. Regardless of the outcome in November, we’re still going to have very tight margins, whether it’s in the House or the Senate, and I’ve proven myself to be a bipartisan legislator. I’ve been rated the fourth most bipartisan member of Congress. I’ve passed 10 bills, five of which have been signed into law by President Biden. The voters in my district understand that I will work tirelessly to get things done on their behalf, working with Republicans and Democrats and in this Congress, you know, in the House, we’ve actually gotten a lot done. We reined in federal spending, saving taxpayers 2.1 trillion over the next decade, capping federal spending at 1%. The reckless spending we saw in the first two years of the Biden administration is why we dealt with record inflation, why grocery prices, energy prices, housing costs have gone up astronomically. In my district, Margaret, the average mortgage cost is up $1,000 a month over the last year because of high interest rates trying to contain inflation. This has been a challenge for folks, and when I’m out in the district, what folks are most concerned about is the affordability crisis, the crisis at our southern border and the international crises around the globe.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, there are a lot of contributing factors to inflation, fiscal spending, certainly, potentially one of them. But I want to follow up on something you just said because you are perceived, certainly here in Washington, as a moderate Republican who is willing to reach across the aisle in a Fox town hall this past week, Donald Trump said the enemy inside the United States is more dangerous than China, Russia and other countries. Take a listen.
[START SOUND ON TAPE]FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It is the enemy from within, and they’re very dangerous. They’re Marxists and communists and fascists, and they’re sick. I use a guy like Adam Schiff because they made up the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. We have China, we have Russia. We have all these countries- if you have a smart president, they can all be handled. The more difficult are, you know, the Pelosis, these people, they’re so sick and they’re so evil.
[END SOUND ON TAPE]MARGARET BRENNAN: The leader of your party and potentially the next president of the United States, says that Democrats are more dangerous than nuclear Russia, than China. If you were reelected how is it possible that you would be able to reach across the aisle and work with Democrats?
REP. LAWLER: Well, I’ve done it. You know, I’ve been praised by President Biden as somebody who he can work with, somebody who can reach across the aisle and address the challenges that we’re facing as a country, but I am a member of the problem solvers–
MARGARET BRENNAN: — but in a Trump administration?–
REP. LAWLER: — Some of my closest colleagues in Washington have been Josh Gottheimer, Ritchie Torres, Jared Moskowitz. Look at the end of the day, the American people are going to decide in 16 days who the next President is going to be and who controls Congress. I have proven in this Congress, in a divided government, that I can work across the aisle to get things done. And I will say this, when you look around at the challenges facing the United States, the greatest threat is the unholy alliance between China, Russia and Iran, and the work they are doing to undermine and destabilize the United States, Israel, Europe and the free world. That is the threat that I have been focused on in Congress. It’s why I passed the Special Envoy for the Abraham Accords Act. Why I passed the SHIP Act and the Iran-China Energy Sanctions Act to take on that illicit oil trade between China and Iran that is funding terrorism, that is funding Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other terrorist networks in the region, and why Israel is under constant threat.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, but you would then, I assume, in your answer, be disputing the idea that Democrats are so sick and so evil that they’re worse than Russia and China. That seems to be what you’re saying. But doesn’t–
REP. LAWLER: — Look I- we- we- I think, the rhetoric- the rhetoric–
MARGARET BRENNAN: – And doesn’t rhetoric like that, rhetoric divisions that our adversaries are exploiting?
REP. LAWLER: Well, there’s no question that our adversaries exploit our divisions. When Democrats say that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, that Republicans are part of a fascist movement that undermines us as well, all of the rhetoric needs to stop. We need to focus on the threats that are actually facing the United States, which are from China, Russia and Iran, the crisis at our southern border, in which drug cartels are trafficking women, children, drugs, fentanyl, pouring into our country. These are the challenges we need to focus on as an American people and as government officials, and that’s my commitment, regardless of the outcome of this election in November.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Before I let you go, you have worked on a bill to try to prevent rogue states from taking Americans hostage. We’ll hear shortly from Paul Whelan, a freed American hostage. How do you stop countries from doing this?
REP. LAWLER: Look, we need to be very firm and resolute. Obviously, Russia has engaged in this for years. You see seven Americans still being held hostage by Hamas in this conflict. Currently, Iran, over the years, has taken Americans hostage. We need to implement sanctions on these regimes, and we need to get our allies to recognize these are not folks we can work with. And so we’ve introduced legislation to combat it directly.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we’ll hear from Paul Whelan up next. We’ll be right back.
