President Joe Biden hoping to win over Rep. Mike Lawler, other moderate Republicans to prevent debt default
NEW YORK -- President Joe Biden was in New York on Wednesday, trying to convince moderate Republicans that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is pushing the United States towards catastrophic debt default.
CBS2 political reporter Marcia Kramer says one of the congressmen he hopes to win over is Hudson Valley's Mike Lawler.
Truth be told, Biden and House Democrats would like nothing better to defeat the Republican congressman next year, but right now, he needs him to prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its debt for the first time in history.
"Mike's on the other team, but you know what? Mike is the kind of guy that, when I was in the Congress, they were the kind of Republican I was used to dealing with," Biden said.
So on a trip to the Hudson Valley to insist it's up to House Republicans to raise the debt ceiling, he said nice things about Lawler.
"He's not one of these MAGA Republicans, which I'm gonna talk a little bit about," Biden said.
At the same time, he made it clear to local voters that bad things will happen if Lawler and the other Hudson Valley and Long Island congressmen who won upset victories last November side with McCarthy and other conservatives.
"According to estimates, the Republican bill would put 21 million people at risk of losing Medicaid, including 2.3 million people here in New York state and 78,000 people right here in Westchester County. It's devastating. It's not right," Biden said.
The president offered a laundry list of bad things that would happen if the nation defaults on its debt, from cutting veterans' health care visits to Meals on Wheels for seniors.
"They're doing, to the best of my knowledge, what no other political party has done in the nation's history; they're literally, not figuratively, holding the economy hostage by threatening to default on our nation's debt," Biden said.
Lawler gave no indication that he was willing to side with Biden, but newly indicted Rep. George Santos made it clear on CBS2's political talk show "The Point with Marcia Kramer" that he'll side with McCarthy against the president if McCarthy helps him pass a SALT bill on the deductibility of state and local taxes.
"Are you really saying you're holding hostage your vote on the debt limit?" Kramer asked.
"And that's my vote to hold hostage, and my district supports me for it," Santos said.
Democrats are hoping to take back at least six seats in Long Island and Westchester.
