GOP Representative Lawler Declares: I’m Committed to Avoiding Government Shutdown

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-NY., blasted the divide inside the Republican caucus on funding the government, making his comments on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show.

Hewitt asked: “Congressman, what is going on? Everybody knows about Matt Gaetz, Matt Rosendale and Dan Bishop who listen to this show. They’re the knucklehead caucus, and they’re stopping everything. What is your response?”

Lawler replied: “I think obviously, I understand their concerns about spending. It’s part of the reason I ran for Congress. You know, I voted against New York’s disastrous budgets as a member of the state legislature. We absolutely need to rein in spending. But we only control one half of one-third of the government.

“And when you don’t control the Senate, and you don’t control the White House, there’s a reality that we have to deal with. We still have to govern. The American people did elect us to serve as a check and balance on the Biden agenda, the $5 trillion in new spending, and we want to rein that in.

“But we can’t rein that in if we can’t pass legislation through the House. And every day that passes, we are giving [Democrat Senate Majority Leader from New York] Chuck Schumer and [President] Joe Biden a stronger hand. This is a disastrous economy. Obviously, the southern border is a complete mess. We’re feeling the impacts of that in New York. And Chuck Schumer has a real crisis. And so [GOP House Speaker from California] Kevin McCarthy brought to the conference with the help of [Reps.] Byron Donalds and Chip Roy and Scott Perry and Dusty Johnson, Stephanie Bice, and Kelly Armstrong a conservative CR [continuing resolution] that would extend government funding for 30 days while reducing it by 8% and pass HR 2 again, and move it over to the Senate so that we could negotiate on something to actually attack the border while reducing spending.

“These [Republican] folks said no. They refused, because in some bizarro land that they live in, no, we don’t need to fund the government in the short term. We can shut it down, and that’ll strengthen our hand, even though we only control one-half of one-third. So it really makes no sense.

“They now are demanding that we pass four appropriations bills at once, and then maybe start handling a few others, and then maybe handle a few others after that, and then maybe they would consider a CR. I didn’t come here to shut the government down or play stupid games so we could raise $5 dollar donations by claiming we’re doing something and sticking it to the administration, when in fact all they would be doing is screwing the American people. You’re not saving money in a shutdown. In fact, it’s going to cost more money in a shutdown. And at the end of the day, they’re weakening our hand and the Speaker’s hand to negotiate.”

The looming U.S. government shutdown that some hardline Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, are cheering for could slow one of their other priorities: the recently launched impeachment inquiry of Biden.

McCarthy launched the inquiry on Sept. 12, an escalation after months of probes into Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, with the first hearing set for Thursday — just two days before the shutdown deadline.