Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
For Mark today. Here's Ken Rosatto and good to be
with you right now, eleven forty two on your Thursday morning.
You know, the federal government has been shut down now
for fifteen days, all because a handful of Democrats in
the Senate refused to sign with the near one hundred
percent of Republicans who've already voted to pass the continuing
Resolution in the House, and fifty two of the fifty
(00:21):
three Republican senators voted for it. Yet the left keeps
trying to blame the shutdown on Republicans. Well, joining us
out to talk about the shutdown as New York Congressman
Mike Lawler. He represents the low Hutson Valley, My family
all lives there. Good morning to you, Congressman, Thanks for
having me. Good to have you on. And before we
before we even go into the shutdown, I got to
(00:41):
ask you, so you went face to face with Hakeem Jeffries,
what was that like? Because it looked like he was
a little testy. He wasn't. He wasn't having it, but
neither were you.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
He was. He was angry, he was yelling, he was stuttering,
he was stammering, and he couldn't answer a single question.
And you know, my point going to him was to
call out the hypocrisy of his position. Number one on
shutting the government down under Joe Biden, thirteen times he
and Chuck Schumer voted to keep the government open and
(01:13):
funded passing clean crs. And number two, to point out that, look,
if you're saying healthcare is the issue, I'm on a
bipartisan bill to extend these subsidies by a year. Join us,
get on the bill, champion it with us. And he
wouldn't do it. And in fact, you know, he just
evolved into personal insults and you know, really had no
(01:36):
substance to his position because it's indefensible what he and
Chuck Schumer have done, right, I mean, Chuck Schumer government down.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Congressman. If I A when Chuck Schumer was going into
his news conference two and a half weeks ago, wasn't
he going in to say that he apparently that he
was going to sign on to this, to the Continuing Resolution.
But apparently, I mean, he knows he has AOC on
his backside. So suddenly he goes up there and he says,
I am, I'm not going to sign in to this
no Senator will. It was just so obvious that it's
(02:05):
all politics with them, and the idea that they would
try to blame this on the right. With everybody on
the right, with the exception of what Rand Paul, everybody
on the right is supporting the continuing resolution, How on
earth do you blame Republicans for this?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
It's absurd, And in fact, John Fetterman last night said
that this is entirely the Democrat's fault. The Republicans are
not responsible for this. And so, you know, Chuck Schumer
and Hakeem Jeffries have made a political calculation, and the
political calculation is that they need to show their progressive
(02:39):
left base that they are standing up to Trump, that
they're fighting back against Donald Trump. That's all this is about.
It has nothing to do with healthcare, It has nothing
to do with government spending. It has to do with
them showing their base that they are big and bad
and tough. I mean so much. Show that Chuck Schumer
changed his glasses to look hits. It's absurd, but this
(03:03):
is what we're dealing with. And so you know, AOC
was asked last night on a town hall, are you
going to primary Schumer? And she wouldn't answer the question
because we know the answer right is yes. And that's
what he's afraid of. That's what he's concerned about. He
doesn't want to lose his grip on power in the
Democratic Conference, and he took so much incoming in March
(03:24):
when he voted for a clean cr So their position
is entirely absurd. And that was my point in going
and basically exposing Jeffries for the partisan hack that he is.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Well, you and you did that, and the fact that
the fact that you did that, it was like you
whipped a band aid off a scab. He was so
ticked off the fact that he had no means of
saying anything productive and intelligent back, but to spit and
get angry. When I say spit, I mean spittle. I
don't mean he actually spitted you. You know that. But to
do that just uncovered everything about him. Just remind everybody
(04:00):
you're listening to seven to ten woar the Voice of
New York. This is Ken Rosotto on a Thursday in
for the Great Mark Simone with one of my favorite
Congress members of all time, Mike Lawler, who represents the
Lower Hudson Valley. My family all and friends all living
in that friends and Putnam County family in Westchester County,
and they all voted for you, by the way, just
to put it on record. But so now I love
(04:23):
the fact that the Democrats will never seemingly understand the
Great Donald Trump that when they are playing cheap checkers,
this guy is playing advanced chess and he's already figured
out how to across them. Of course, not only with
the shutdown. So he's getting the military paid, and he's
putting the Democrats in a situation where they have to say, no,
(04:46):
you can't pay the military.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
That's not allowed.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
So that makes them even look more foolish. And on
top of that, now the big Gateway tunnel project, which
was Chuck Schumer's big championing project for twenty years, he said, no,
now it's all over. But bye, it's all on you, Chuck.
So do you think that that'll be permanent or do
you think that's something that could be renegotiated now when
we come back.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Well, this is the stupidity of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem
Jeffrey's position, and they're starting to hurt New Yorkers, and
you know they should stop playing games. They should stop
putzing around. They should do their jobs. Go vote today
to open the government back up. There is no benefit
to a government shutdown. You are hurting the American people,
(05:33):
You're hurting those serving in the military. You're hurting those
who are reliant on programs like Wick and SNAP, and
you're hurting New Yorkers and moreover, they're costing US about
fifteen billion dollars a day in GDP because of the
stupidity of all of this. You know, at a time
when Donald Trump is securing Middle East peace and getting
(05:55):
a ceasefire and getting the hostages released, these idiots are
holding the American people hostage for nothing, for no gain
or reason other than their own political self interest and
trying to appease a radical left base.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
And for what it's worth. And for those who don't understand,
we're talking about passing a continuing resolution, which means the
existing spending plan for which the Democrats voted in lockstep
a year ago, they would continue it for another few
weeks while you could all get together and negotiate a
brand new spending plan for next year. Do I have
that right, Congressman, You got it spot on. So that's
(06:33):
all it is. How is it that the Democrats when
Biden was president, they were all for this, and now
the Trump, the orange man bad is president. Oh, we
can't support this. It is such pure hypocrisy. And the
fact that in this day and age, this era of
the Internet, that CHUCKI, Chuck Schumer can think that people
are not going to look it up and see what's
really going on is laughable. I think this is going
(06:55):
to backfire on them, big ten.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
And no question. You know, Chuck Schumer last week was
quoted as saying, every day gets better for us. Who's us?
Us is the Democratic Party. They don't care about the
American people. They don't care about the impact on the
American people. This is about protecting their own hide within
the base of their party and trying to stave off
any primaries or plays on leadership. That's all this, that's
(07:22):
all this is about. And so you look at it
and you know, to me, this isn't about polls. It's
not about who's winning or losing. The only people being
hurt here are the American people. And it is shameful,
it is wrong. I pushed back against it when Republicans
wanted to do it. Under Joe Biden because of his
open border policies. While I agreed with them on the
(07:43):
merits of Biden's policies being disastrous, that's not the way
to fix it. You don't shut the government down as
a means of trying to fix it. And Democrats all said,
you can't do that, you can't do that, you can't
try to exert policy changes at the barrel of a gun.
And yet that's precisely what they are doing right now.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Congressman, if you were a betting man, how long would
you say this might last?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I think it's going to go on for quite a while.
There seems to be no willingness on their part. I mean,
you had a Democratic staffer say we'll keep it shut
down until a plane pulls out of the sky. I mean, forbids.
That's how foolish these people are. It's totally unnecessary. It
needs to stop. Unfortunately, you know, I think we're in
(08:31):
this for quite a while.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Well, let's hope that maybe more calm minds and hearts
will prevail and we get this taken care of sooner
rather than later. It is so good to have you on.
He represents New York's seventeenth Congressional district, including the Lower
Hudson Valley. Congressman Mike Lawler, thank you so much for
fighting the good fight and coming on the Mark Simone
Show today.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I appreciate it. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
You bet beautiful sunny day to day. By the way,
highs in the upper fifties. This is ken Risotto win
for Mark on your Thursday Day. We will take more
of your calls next, so please dial up one eight
hundred three two one zero seven ten one eight hundred
three two one zero seven ten for seven ten. Wir