To the Editor:
Congressman Mike Lawler made news lastweek when he insulted legislator Jose Alvarado during a discussion about immigration enforcement practices at a meeting of the Westchester County Board of Legislators.
What has not received attention from the press is Mr. Lawler’s response to a question about the arbitrary and harmful funding cuts to a multitude of federal agencies. When asked specifically about firings at the CDC (Center for Disease Control), Mr. Lawler asserted that “All of these agencies and departments are going under what I would call an extensive forensic audit.” He further shrugged off the de-funding of USAID, as nothing more than a “90 day pause on foreign aid”.
As I witnessed this exchange from the audience, I was stunned by Mr. Lawler’s ability to smoothly gloss over, minimize, and mis-characterize the indiscriminate gutting of the federal government by Elon Musk and his DOGE team.
In one month’s time, Musk’s DOGE team has eviscerated vital governmental services across many agencies from the IRS to Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, the Veterans Administration and many more, with little consideration for the effects of these drastic, sudden cuts. This is reckless, haphazard and opaque – definitely not the “forensic audit” that Lawler describes.
As agency after agency is gutted by Musk’s team, Lawler is either silent or tries valiantly to put the best possible spin on it. Elon Musk contributed over $1.5 million to Lawler’s re-election campaign. I guess we now know whose interests Mike Lawler looks out for.
Celeste Theis
Croton on Hudson
