Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) on Sunday argued the government shutdown is being caused by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) “being petrified of their left flank.”
“This shutdown is a direct result of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries being petrified of their left flank and wanting to show AOC and [New York City mayoral candidate] Zohran Mamdani and every other radical leftist that they are fighting back against President Trump,” Lawler told NewsNation’s Chris Stirewalt on “The Hill Sunday.”
“That’s all this is about, Chris. This has nothing to do with health care. If you want to talk about health care and fixing health care in America, then we have a lot of work to do,” he added.
On Wednesday, Jeffries called Lawler a “malignant clown” in the wake of a confrontation in a House hallway.
“So, we conclude this press conference, and I hear that Mike Lawler, who’s a complete and total fraud, is waiting outside to step to me, apparently, right, about the Affordable Care Act,” Jeffries said on a Wednesday episode of “The Siren Podcast.”
“And I’m like, ‘This guy?’ So, you know, I think some on my team would have probably preferred that I just ignore him,” he added. “But I’m like, ‘You know what? I’m not the one. Don’t come for me unless I send for you.’ And I did not send for this malignant clown.”
Jeffries and Lawler on Wednesday traded pointed barbs in the halls of the Capitol when Lawler confronted Jeffries on his objection to a short-term extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.
Lawler came up to Jeffries when he got out of the House Democratic leadership press conference and repeatedly pushed him to back a proposal that would extend the ACA subsidies by one year, which Jeffries had dismissed as a “nonstarter.”
The Hill has reached out to Jeffries’s office, Schumer’s office, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) office and Mamdani’s campaign for comment.
