Rockland Reporter

Rep. Lawler released the following statement following the New York Times front-page article regarding President Biden's visit to his district last week. During the visit, President Biden thanked Rep. Lawler for his reasonableness and for attending the event.

“Republican Congressman Mike Lawler is here, as well. Mike's on the other team, but you know what? Mike is the kinda guy that when I was in the Congress — he's the kind of Republican I was used to dealing with,” President Biden said. “He's not one of these MAGA Republicans, which I'm going to talk a little bit about. I don't want to get him in trouble by saying anything nice about him or negative about him but I, thanks for coming Mike, thanks for being here. This is the way we used to do it all the time."

"The comments from the president praising Rep. Lawler as a centrist severely contradict one of two main lines of attack against Rep. Lawler from national and New York Democrats, leaving them only with their bogus Social Security and Medicare attacks," said Lawler spokesperson Nate Soule. "Unfortunately for them, that was debunked last week, too."

The front-page New York Times article last Friday made reference to attack ads from a major House Democratic political group this week that “falsely accused him (Rep. Lawler) of trying to force cuts to Medicare and Social Security.”

“The New York Times has admitted the accusations that I am seeking to cut Social Security or Medicare are completely false,” Rep. Lawler said regarding the Times' article. “Not only have I said repeatedly that cuts to these programs are off the table, I have co-sponsored legislation to this effect as well as additional legislation aimed at repealing provisions that reduce Social Security benefits for individuals who receive pensions or disability benefits from other employers."

"I expect other media outlets to also call out the lies being propagated by PACs like House Majority Forward, who do nothing but sow misinformation," concluded Rep. Lawler. "It is incumbent on journalists to seek the truth, and I hope they will seriously weigh this group's history of pushing misinformation and propaganda before engaging with them in the future."

New York's 17th Congressional District is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester County.

Original source can be found here.