Rep. Mike Lawler says being “rational, reasonable and pragmatic” is the key to bipartisan lawmaking, especially as Congress faces heated partisan battles over health care subsidies.
“I’m not as much interested in just doing partisan party-line votes,” Lawler told NOTUS’ Reese Gorman on the latest episode of the On NOTUS podcast. “I think it’s important. If you want lasting change, you need that broad, bipartisan consensus.”
“If you watched the floor, you could see I spend probably more time on the Democratic side talking to members across the aisle than I do on my side,” he added.
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Lawler, a Republican, represents a swing district just above New York City that voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. He’s been a constant target for Democrats despite pushing against his own party on issues like housing and health care.
Lawler was one of 17 Republicans to join all House Democrats in voting in early January to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies for three years. The subsidy extensions face an uphill battle in the Senate, where progress has been stalled by shutdown negotiations and fights over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
Lawler said working across the aisle was necessary to pass the ACA funding bill in the House.
“It was a challenge,” he said. “But ultimately, my feeling, and I felt very strongly about this, doing nothing was not an answer.”
Despite voting to advance the bill, Lawler said he believes the ACA requires reform.
“Something’s got to give here,” he said. “We have to actually reform the larger system, and there’s so many bills pending that we can tackle.”
As a father to a 3-year-old and 15-month-old, Lawler represents a growing faction of young parents in the House, which he said makes a difference on which topics receive more legislative attention.
“Issues like child care or paid family leave are more of a focal point than 20 years ago,” he said. “So I think there’s a lot of positive to the turnover and the fact that we have younger voices in Congress.”
On NOTUS is a weekly podcast in which host Reese Gorman talks to lawmakers about how they got to Washington and what motivates them. You can download or listen here.
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