Lawler, a Republican who is considering a run for governor in 2026, has been hosting combative town halls across the 17th District in recent months. Sunday’s event at Mahopac High School largely focused on Trump’s tax and budget policy bill, which some Democrats have alternately coined the “Big Ugly.” It would extend and expand tax cuts enacted by Trump in his first term, slash spending on programs like SNAP and Medicaid, and boost spending for defense and deportation efforts. It’s now in the Senate, after passing the House in May.
Lawler says he voted for the bill largely for its tax provisions, including a no-tax rule on tips and overtime, an expansion of the child tax credit, and a lift on the cap for state and local tax deductions, or SALT. Under the bill, the SALT cap would raise from $10,000 to $40,000.
"The $40,000 cap will make it so that roughly 90 percent of the district will be able to fully deduct their state and local taxes on their federal income tax return," says Lawler.
Some Democrats have dismissed the tax provisions as favoring wealthier Americans and corporations.
While Sunday’s town hall was heated, Lawler appeared to have more supporters in the audience than at previous events. Mixed in with the boos was a fair amount of applause, especially when Lawler talked about taxes, his approval of Trump’s antagonism of college campuses, and his support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"He was voted the fourth most bipartisan Congressman in Congress," says Carmel Town Councilman Robert Kearns, who was among Lawler's supporters Sunday. "And I truly believe that he does a fantastic job of working across the aisle. I was very disappointed tonight to see a group of grown adults act like children."
Despite rules aimed at restricting participants from protesting, shouting, or even standing at the event, a large portion of the crowd was there to express their objections to Lawler and the current administration. Lawler maintains the “Big, Beautiful Bill” does not actually decrease the federal government’s share toward base Medicaid costs — but it would add new work requirements, which would inevitably cause some people to lose coverage.
Veteran Joe Mayhew says he remembers being on Medicaid 40 years ago after he was honorably discharged from the Air Force and struggling to find work. He says, if these kinds of work restrictions were in place then, he would have been down on his luck.
“Now, I have relatives that are also on Medicaid, and they work. But some of them are seasonal work, some of it is independent contractor work. So, what happens? The weather is bad one day, so the job shuts down. Or, they get sick," he says. "They could literally lose their medical benefits because one month they couldn’t make that 80 hours [working requirement]. That’s, like, evil.”
Mayhew was one of the dozen or so attendees who got to pose their thoughts to Lawler. Lawler says, like other programs, the work requirements would be waived for anyone who can prove they are ill or actively seeking work.
“The people who Medicaid is intended long term are those within the IDD community. Nothing on traditional Medicaid is touched in this bill," Lawler adds. "The bottom line is, of the 3 million people who are able-bodied and not working, the objective is to get them into the workforce. The objective is to get them into school, to volunteer in an organization.”
"Just one thing," rebuts Mayhew. “There isn’t a system that works. It does not work. And I implore you, because I have relatives going through it now. Vote 'no' until the system works.”
Some of the more heated moments of the night came when Lawler touted his ability to work with Democratic lawmakers, saying what they do is “not personal.”
At one point, a constituent asked Lawler where he stood on the ongoing protests against ICE in Los Angeles. Trump has deployed the National Guard to confront protesters, against Governor Gavin Newsom’s wishes. Lawler says he agrees with the decision, just as he agrees with the deployment of the Guard during the Capitol attack on January 6.
He alleges the two are not so different.
"How many of you, by show of hands, would like the protesters to spit in the face of ICE agents? How many of you are OK with them throwing rocks at the cars? How many of you are OK with them barricading law enforcement and trying to block them from doing their job?" asks Lawler. Anywhere from a quarter to a third of the crowd raised their hands, amid a chorus of applause and boos.
"Here’s the difference," Lawler continues. "I opposed January 6th, and those who physically assaulted law enforcement officers should have been prosecuted and should not have been pardoned. The difference is you all just said you don’t agree with that with respect to these protesters.”
Lawler has not hesitated to goad the audience back at his events. At one point Sunday he called a constituent a “five-year old” for shouting from the crowd.
Speaking with WAMC, Rockland County resident Lily Chapin says she was disappointed, but not surprised by how the night went down.
"He says, 'It's not personal.' It is personal for a lot of people when they're losing their healthcare," she says. "And it is personal when young children are sobbing because their parents have been taken away in an unmarked vehicle, and they're scared, and people are saying, 'Please stop,' and they're being called 'thugs' and tear-gassed. It's personal when my 14-year-old niece accidentally got tear-gassed today in Los Angeles, because she and her dad just wanted to go watch what was happening downtown. That's personal."
