By Solace Church–
Blending the traditional constituent services session used by most elected officials with his re-election effort, 17th District Congressman Mike Lawler, the Republican incumbent, came to Tarrytown Village Hall on Friday, where he answered questions at what he calls his “Mobile Office Hours.” He said that in addition to seven so-called “town hall” events, he has held more than 30 such sessions throughout the district, including one in Briarcliff the morning before the Tarrytown meeting.
Only half a dozen community members were present, asking Lawler questions ranging from bipartisanship to immigration, same-sex marriage, the fentanyl crisis and presidential immunity, keeping the Congressman on his feet for more than an hour. Among the issues covered:
Bipartisanship: “All of my bills that have passed have had two-thirds support within the House, every single one of them, which means they had broad bipartisan support,” said Lawler. He cited the Undetectable Firearms Act, which requires every legal gun to have enough metal to be detectable. He said he was one of only two Republicans to sign a bill to protect a woman’s right to In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). “My party score,” he said, “is 68, which means that 32 percent of the time I voted against my party.” By contrast, he claimed, almost every Democrat in Congress has a party score higher than 90. Lawler is ranked as the fourth most bipartisan House member, according to Georgetown University’s Lugar Center – McCourt School of Bipartisan Index. His opponent Mondaire Jones, he said, was 391st out of 435. “That tells you how he votes,” said Lawler.
Immigration: Lawler said he would not have supported the bipartisan Senate immigration bill earlier this year, had it not been tabled, as it codified the Biden “catch and release” policy he finds “absurd.” He also said that the proposed threshold for shutting down the border (5,000 crossings per day over seven days) was too high. On the other hand, he cited his co-sponsorship of the Dignity Act, which aims to help undocumented immigrants already in the country gain a legal pathway to asylum. U.S. policy, he said “should be much more focused on a merit-based system that addresses the needs of the country—more doctors, nurses, healthcare workers.”
Fentanyl Crisis: When a retired Tarrytown police officer asked for Lawler’s help in following up on investigations into his son’s death last year ago from a fentanyl overdose, Lawler agreed to look into it but went on to claim, “I have introduced legislation that would make it so that anyone who manufactures, traffics or deals fentanyl or fentanyl-laced products would immediately be charged with attempted murder,.” Drug cartels, he said, should be treated as “terrorist organizations.”
Gay Rights: Lawler said he is in full support of the Marriage Equality Act, which was signed into law before he won his seat. “Had I been a member,” he assured a questioner, “I would have voted in favor of it.”
Trump’s Legal Woes: Though not a lawyer, the Congressman called Trump’s recent “hush money” trial in New York City “flawed in many respects”—notably in what he described as its convoluted attempt to turn a state misdemeanor into a federal felony charge. “That case in particular is destructive in that it undermines our judicial system,” he said. “Our election should be decided by the people, not the courts.”
Presidential Immunity: When asked about the Supreme Court’s recent decision granting the President some degree of immunity for official acts, Lawler asserted that all officials hold a certain level of immunity. He expressed the view that the courts will eventually work out the distinction between official and unofficial acts and downplayed the concerns raised about the decision.
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