ReportWire

Tag: Mike Lawler

  • Republicans defy Johnson to force House vote on extending health insurance subsidies

    [ad_1]

    WASHINGTON — Four House Republicans broke with party leadership on Wednesday to join Democrats in overriding the GOP majority and forcing a vote on extending healthcare tax credits — a defection that underscores the party’s growing vulnerability on economic issues ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

    The healthcare tax credits, which were central to the fight that led to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, are set to expire at the end of the year unless Congress takes action.

    Democrats, and a small but increasingly vocal group of Republicans, warned that allowing the tax credits to lapse would lead to sharp healthcare premium increases for millions of Americans, which could prove a politically perilous outcome in competitive districts.

    House Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), have resisted extending the tax credits, arguing instead for an alternative approach to lowering healthcare costs. But that stance on Wednesday showed that they were at odds with members who say the issue would hurt constituents.

    “I’m pissed for the American people,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) told reporters.

    His remarks came after he joined Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Robert Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie, all from Pennsylvania, in signing a Democrat-led petition that needed 218 signatures to force a floor vote on a bill to extend the healthcare subsidies for three years. The four Republicans were the final votes needed.

    California Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin), who represents a swing district, was not among the Republicans to sign the petition, but he told reporters it is important for leadership to take up the matter sooner than later. Otherwise, he said, it would be a “failure of leadership.”

    “We have members on both sides who believe this is an urgent issue and it is for all of our members in terms of what their constituents are going to have to deal with at the end of the year,” Kiley said. “So, what is wrong with having a vote?”

    Californians are bracing for monthly premiums on the Covered California exchange — a state portal for Obamacare coverage — to soar by 97% on average for 2026. Open enrollment for the coming year runs until Jan. 31.

    Even if the subsidies remained intact, premiums for plans offered by Covered California were set to rise by roughly 10% for 2026, due to spikes in drug prices and other medical services, experts said. But a failure to address the lapsing credits is expected to result in sticker shock across the state and the country. Nearly six in 10 Americans who use the ACA marketplace live in Republican districts.

    A vote on the House measure is expected in January, after the subsidies have already expired. Even if the House effort succeeds, its prospects remain dim in the Senate, where Republicans last week blocked a three-year extension.

    Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has argued against the Democratic extension as “an attempt to disguise the real impact of Obamacare’s spiraling healthcare costs.”

    On Wednesday, after the petition gained enough votes in the House, Thune told reporters the chamber will “cross that bridge when it comes to it.”

    The push in the House underscored a breakdown in Johnson’s control of the chamber as well as the deep divisions among GOP lawmakers on how to address healthcare costs, which polling consistently ranks as a top concern among voters.

    The small rebellion against Johnson came after tensions emerged on healthcare talks in the chamber.

    Johnson had discussed allowing more politically vulnerable GOP lawmakers a chance to vote on bills that would temporarily extend the subsidies while also adding changes such as income caps for beneficiaries.

    But after days of discussions, the leadership sided with the more conservative wing of the party’s conference, which has assailed the subsidies as propping up a failed marketplace through the ACA, which is widely known as Obamacare.

    House Republicans pushed forward Wednesday a 100-plus-page healthcare package without the subsidies, instead focusing on long-sought GOP proposals designed to expand insurance coverage options for small businesses and the self-employed.

    Fitzpatrick and Lawler tried to add a temporary extension of the subsidies to the bill, but were denied.

    “Our only request was a floor vote on this compromise, so that the American People’s voice could be heard on this issue. That request was rejected. Then, at the request of House leadership I, along with my colleagues, filed multiple amendments, and testified at length to those amendments,” Fitzpatrick said. “House leadership then decided to reject every single one of these amendments.”

    After the four Republicans broke with him on Wednesday, Johnson pushed back against the notion that the episode shows he is losing influence over the chamber.

    “I have not lost control of the House,” Johnson said. He instead pointed to a “razor thin margin” in the chamber, which he says allows a few defectors to circumvent leadership.

    “These are not normal times,” he added.

    This article includes reporting from the Associated Press.

    [ad_2]

    Ana Ceballos, Michael Wilner

    Source link

  • Face the Nation: Lawler, Whelan

    [ad_1]

    Missed the second half of the show? The latest on…Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, who represents a district heavily targeted by Democrats, tells “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that “all of the rhetoric needs to stop”, and Paul Whelan, a Marine veteran who was imprisoned in a Russian labor camp for nearly six years until being released after a prisoner swap this summer, tells “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” in his first interview since being freed about the first moments he realized he was free.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • N.Y. Court of Appeals sides with Democrats, orders redrawing of congressional maps

    N.Y. Court of Appeals sides with Democrats, orders redrawing of congressional maps

    [ad_1]

    New York’s highest court throws out state’s congressional map


    New York’s highest court throws out state’s congressional map

    02:33

    NEW YORK — The state Court of Appeals has ordered an independent redistricting commission to redraw New York’s congressional districts.

    It’s a move that has national implications and could affect which party controls the House of Representatives.

    New York has a law that says you can’t gerrymander, or make congressional maps essentially for political gain. The Constitution calls for a bipartisan commission to draw the maps, but then Democrats controlling the statehouse get final approval and only slight changes in current maps could likely end with lines favorable to Democrats.

    The decision, which came down Tuesday afternoon, throws a monkey wrench into the 2024 congressional races in New York, where the six freshman Republicans who won last time could have to run in new district lines that are less favorable, and it could give Democrats a leg up in taking back control of the House, where only a handful of votes separate the two parties.

    The New York Congressional Delegation currently has 15 Democrats and 11 Republicans. If all six freshmen lose and everything else stays the same next November, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries could become speaker.

    Depending on how the independent redistricting commission redraws the maps, the most vulnerable New York congressmen could be Mike Lawler of Rockland County, Anthony D’Esposito of Long Island, and Marc Molinaro of Dutchess County.

    Former congressman Tom Suozzi, a Democrat running to replace the expelled George Santos, could also see his district redrawn to add more likely Democrat voters.

    Watch Marcia Kramer’s report


    N.Y. Court of Appeals sides with Democrats, orders redrawing of congressional maps

    01:30

    Needless to say, the Republicans are furious and the Democrats are thrilled.

    “I think it’s corruption at its finest. We had a ruling last year that overturned the Democrats’ attempts to gerrymander New York’s maps and violate the Constitution. And because they didn’t like the outcome, they decided that they would do it once more,” Lawler said.

    The high court ruled last year that Democrats had “unconstitutionally gerrymandered districts.” A neutral court-appointed special master drew new lines that helped Republicans flip four seats last November, but judges Tuesday said those maps were only supposed to be temporary and in a 4-3 vote, the Court of Appeals upheld a challenge and tossed out the current maps.

    “This is what the court should have said last year. If they thought the process was incomplete, they should have just ordered the commission to finish the job, not take it completely away and draw the lines themselves through a special master from another state. That was just an absurd outcome to begin with. I’m glad now that things are being made right,” said state Sen. Michael Gianaris, a Democrat representing Queens.

    Republicans hold a razor-thin three-seat majority in Congress, and this could potentially help flip anywhere from two to six seats.

    “This is an enormous ruling not only because it can swing so many suburban New York area congressional districts, but the entire balance of power in Congress could hinge just on Upstate New York and Long Island — Hudson Valley, Syracuse area, Nassau and Suffolk County,” said CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane.

    New York GOP Chair Ed Cox and House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik from upstate New York have hinted at more court action, saying they “will not give up the fight against gerrymandering.”

    The 4-3 ruling was written by the new Chief Justice Rowan Wilson.

    The commission has until Feb. 28 to finish its work, then it goes to the Democratic-controlled legislature for approval. Lawler says there could be many lawsuits filed.

    Marcia Kramer


    marcia-kramer-small-2020.png

    Marcia Kramer joined CBS2 in 1990 as an investigative and political reporter. Prior to CBS2, she was the City Hall bureau chief at the New York Daily News.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • NY Republican eyes voting with Democrats to avert government shutdown

    NY Republican eyes voting with Democrats to avert government shutdown

    [ad_1]

    New York Rep. Mike Lawler has joined a group of fellow moderate Republicans who say they may vote with Democrats to avert a government shutdown if House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is unable to pass a stopgap spending bill.

    With a possible shutdown looming this weekend, Lawler is one of four Republicans who says he would consider working across the aisle with Democrats if that is the only feasible way to keep the government open.

    Lawler, who faces a tricky reelection fight in his Democratic-leaning district in Westchester County, says he could vote with Democrats to bring a short-term funding bill to the House floor if the only alternative is a shutdown.

    Rep. Marc Molinaro, a fellow first-term Republican who represents a swing district stretching from the Catskills further upstate, also says it is “absolutely an option” to team up with Democrats to keep the government open.

    Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) and Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania) also expressed openness to the tactic after enduring two weeks of fruitless negotiations with GOP hardliners.

    No few than five Republicans would likely need to break ranks with the party to pass the discharge petition in the nearly evenly divided House.

    The crucial fifth GOP vote could be Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, another first-term Republican from a Long Island district President Biden won in 2020.

    D’Esposito has said he was “very frustrated” with Republicans who have so far blocked passage of a stopgap spending bill. He did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday on whether he would consider voting with Democrats.

    Lawler last week derided members of the far right-wing Freedom Caucus as “lunatics” and a “clown show” who don’t really want to pass any government spending bill.

    Bacon, who is also facing a tough fight to hold onto his blue-leaning Omaha district, said some far right Republicans would “vote against the Bible because there’s not enough Jesus in it.”

    McCarthy says he still believes he can push through a spending bill with only the support of Republicans.

    AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

    House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., talks to reporters as Congress returns to work in crisis with a few days to go before a government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023. McCarthy faces an insurgency from hard-right Republicans eager to slash spending even if it means closing federal offices to millions of Americans.

    Such a bill would need to include deep spending cuts and a grab bag of MAGA priorities to make it acceptable to almost all the far right-wing members of his caucus.

    If McCarthy succeeds in jamming such a measure through the House, it would likely hit a brick wall in the Senate where Democrats and Republicans mostly agree on the need for a so-called clean continuing resolution that would keep spending levels flat.

    The two sides would then try to hash out a compromise that could avert a shutdown before Sunday.

    Lawler portrays himself as a can-do bipartisan dealmaker. Analysts say burnishing that image is essential if he is to turn away a challenge from either Democratic ex-Rep. Mondaire Jones or Katonah school board member Elizabeth Geraghty, the sister of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

    [ad_2]

    Dave Goldiner

    Source link