Press Releases

Today, Congressman Lawler released the following statement after Governor Hochul’s budget showed she removed the Save Harmless clause while increasing aid for illegal immigrants in New York.

“Governor Hochul’s priorities are completely and totally upside down,” said Congressman Mike Lawler. “Instead of proposing legislation to remove New York City’s sanctuary city status, Governor Hochul has doubled down, setting aside billions in the state budget to fund free healthcare, education, housing, and more for illegal immigrants.”

“This comes at the same time as her proposal to end the Save Harmless clause, which ensures school districts receive the same amount of funding as they had the prior year,” continued Congressman Lawler. “Governor Hochul is paying for additional services for illegal immigrants on the backs of rural and suburban students. This is true insanity.”

“At 233 billion dollars, this budget is a bloated mess that does nothing to address the root cause of New Yorkers fleeing - affordability,” concluded Congressman Lawler. “We lost billions of dollars in tax revenue due to people leaving the state and this budget doesn’t do one thing to undo that.”

New York's 17th Congressional District is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties.