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Welcome back to a special edition of Power in Politics. I'm Tara Rosenblum. Continuing our conversation now with Speaker Johnson and Congressman Lawler this time on some of the most important issues impacting us here in the tri-state. Let's talk about what is without a doubt, I think it's a safe argument. To say affordability is the main campaign plank for every Democrat and Republican running for public office and vote 2026 across the tri-state. So what can you point to? What can you tell local families, Mr. Speaker, and make the argument in that. In terms of financially that they're better off today with Republicans in control of Washington. Yeah, look, that's a very important issue of affordability and the cost of living is always the number one issue in every election. It's always about the economy, stupid, as we were told back in the Clinton years. It's, it's about kitchen table issues. What we're proud to tout is the record that we've. Had of achievement. Remember we inherited from Biden Harris after 4 years the highest inflation in 40 years. You don't just flip a switch and fix that. So we went to work on day one, the beginning of this Congress, to, you know, January before last, begin to adjust public policy to bring down the cost and help hardworking families. Every single thing we've done. Has been with the interest of hardworking families in mind. So, uh, 800 pieces of legislation codifying 125 executive orders. We've cut wasteful government spending to the tune of almost now $2 trillion. But the big achievement of this Congress so far was the working families tax cut. You know, the average New Yorker has $4,079 more in their bank account right now that they did not have to send to Washington because it gave them the largest tax cut in US history. So if you look at all the core economic indicators, they are moving in the right direction. The employment numbers are are on the increase. We have wages going up. We have challenges because of the conflict in Iran. We had to ensure that the largest state sponsor of terrorism did not have a nuclear weapon. Now we're in the process, the last phases of winding that down. As soon as we do, you'll you'll have gas prices back down to a reasonable, sustainable level. Because when the Strait of Hormuz is not open for commerce, that affects the price worldwide, and that bleeds over into the price of groceries, for example, because the transport costs it takes to get things to market, those things will be coming down and you keep, well, as soon as we get this resolved with Iran, the 60 day deadline for a deal is passed without an agreement. What should the president be doing now to bring this to a quicker resolution? Well, I can tell you he's working on it around the clock. I talk to him sometimes multiple times a day, and, and it's in almost every conversation. I think we're going to enter a new phase of this very soon, and that will involve our allies around the world and Arab states in the Gulf region over there. We did the heavy lifting. The US made sure we took the head off the snake, so to speak, right? We made sure this largest sponsor of terrorism doesn't have a nuclear weapon. Now we've got to get to the. Next phase of it and I think this is going to involve directly many of our allied countries and if we put the conditions in place and we stabilize the commerce in the region, we're very hopeful that the people can have an opportunity for freedom. It would change the whole region and the whole world. Speaking of the region, the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner recently met face to face with Hamas. Do you believe that America should be negotiating face to face with Hamas? At this point I think the president has said in his own words we'll do whatever it takes. The challenge in the negotiation is you have people on the other side of the table that are not, they're not good on their word. I mean it is some of them see it as part of their religious requirement and it's OK to lie to the people that you're negotiating with. So it's, it's, it makes it a challenge when you're dealing with, you know, avowed jihadis, and that's what you have there. So, um, it's, it's a challenge. The president acknowledges it, everybody's involved from the vice president, the State Department, the president himself. And bringing it back home, it all ties into the surge we're seeing in anti-Semitism, and it's across the tri-state, but especially I was just looking at the numbers for New York City. Sadly we've seen a spike this summer and more than half of all the hate crimes reported have targeted Jewish people. Of course, and it's a very sad and alarming development. I, I was reminded when you were talking about that at the height of the Columbia University debacle when they had all the student protests. This guy and I, Mike Lawler and I and a couple of colleagues went right into the center of that protest and called out with moral clarity why that was wrong and why it was a dangerous trend. You had Jewish students who were being told not to come to class for fear of their lives. Um, a, a lot of accountability has been brought to the Ivy Leagues and to these schools because of it, but there's much more left to do, and I'll tell you what I'm afraid of is the Democratic Party is changing before our very eyes. Our, our father's Democratic Party doesn't exist anymore, and I'm, I'm, I'm afraid that their next platform will be published and it will be openly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. I think that's where they're headed. And so again, a contrast election, common sense versus crazy, you gotta stand with people who understand that you can't target our fellow citizens because of their, uh, their, their, their genetics or their background and sadly in New York, home to the largest Jewish population anywhere outside the state of Israel, uh, this is becoming more and more prevalent and more of a problem, and too many of my Democratic colleagues are OK with it. It is wrong and so the rhetoric does matter. Zoran Mamdani has contributed mightily to the increase in anti-Semitic hate. His rhetoric, his approach, not marching in the Israel Day parade, continually talking about arresting the Prime Minister of Israel for genocide. These things contribute, Mr. Speaker, your party's Senate campaign arm is privately warning about the backlash to AI data centers and that it could potentially hurt Republicans in November, I believe they called it a sleeper issue this election. Are you giving House candidates any similar warnings? Uh, we don't have to because our candidates are are very thoughtful. And how they approach this, I mean, we've seen this issue arising for some time now. Uh, look, it is a certain fact, and it's an objective fact that we're in a race with China, uh, to be AI dominant. If they leapfrog us, it could be a very dangerous thing for everybody around the world and for our national security to the data centers are important to maintain our edge in that technology. That said, you've got to take account. Of local concerns and that has to drive it and so what's happening in different parts around the country, different communities are handling it differently, but we have said that before a data center's built, you've got to build trust with the local community. It's not automatic it's gotta be earned and for example in Richland Parish, Louisiana, which is just outside my district northeast part of the state, one of the largest data centers in the world is being built by Meta. They went in just a. A Couple of weeks ago and they gave $50,000 bonuses to every public school teacher in the community. It's equivalent to their annual salary. Um, they're, they're, they're trying to sew into these communities and they are providing jobs and more economic opportunity in areas that didn't have it before. Those are good things, but you gotta make sure you balance that, make sure your community has their interest heard. Still ahead, the other side of this race, we'll hear from Lawler's Democratic challenger Kate Conley when we come back.

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Welcome back. Let's get right to the final part of my exclusive conversation with Speaker Johnson and Congressman Lawler. I'm happy to report, Congressman, that you and your Democratic challenger Kate Conley have each agreed to your first televised debate, and it'll be right here on News 12. I'll be moderating that exchange. What are the differences that you hope are Viewers see when you're both up there on the debate stage, I think first and foremost I've delivered for this district. I fight for this district every day. I show up in every community. I've been rated among the most bipartisan and effective members of Congress consistently. I commend my opponent for her service. I thank her for it, her military service. But the fact is she agrees with a lot of the policies being proposed by the DSA, by the extreme radical progressives, uh, whether it is increasing taxes by $4 trillion whether it is sanctuary state policies that release criminals back out onto the streets that are here illegally, these are policies that she supports, and no amount of. Glossing over that is going to change it. So I think when we have the debate, and I look forward to it. Thank you, Congressman. And finally, Mr. Speaker, we know that more than 80 members of the House and Senate are not running this November. So what should Americans overall make of the fact that so many lawmakers are walking away from Congress? Well, let me address this debate first and just say that we're looking forward to the debate as well, because not only Is he one of the most effective members of Congress in generations. He's also one of the brightest minds and best debaters that's ever served in the body. So look, I'm a supporter of the concept of term limits, the idea that you should have citizen legislators to come and serve for a season of life, and then they go back to their regular occupations, their, their farms, their law practices and their families. That's how the founders intended it to work, um, so it's not bad to have new talents. through. And of course there's another voice in this race. I also caught up with Lawler's Democratic challenger Kate Conley, who sees the stakes here very differently. I am absolutely looking forward to the opportunity to hold Mike Lawler accountable for his decisions, for his votes, and for the impact that's had on Hudson Valley families. Now he has voted to support the Trump agenda 100% of the time. That is his voting record. And we are feeling the pain from that, whether it has been his 8 times voting to support tariffs to voting 5 times for this reckless war of choice in Iran that has cost brave American service members their lives and is now costing American families at the pump. And so at the end of the day, I believe voters deserve to see the real Mike Lawler. Now one thing is clear, buckle up. The race to November is going to be quite a ride. I'm Tara Rosenblum. Thanks for joining us.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson and New York Rep. Mike Lawler spoke exclusively with News 12 about why they are confident Republicans can maintain control of the House.

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