BY: Keith S. Shikowitz, Editor in Chief/Investigative Reporter
In his continued desire to keep in touch with the constituents in the 17th Congressional District and make himself accessible to them to answer any question and deal with any concerns they have, Congressman Mike Lawler held his 2nd 2026 Town Hall. This time in Yorktown Heights at the Yorktown Stage.
Having been to a number of Lawler’s Town Halls, I must say that this one was not as raucous as others have been. No one had to be asked to leave or get carried out for refusing to, although Effie Phillips, a candidate for the democratic nomination to run against Lawler for the 17th Congressional District seat, came close. There were people calling for this to happen as she interrupted Lawler and had to be reminded by Lawler to act like a person who is running for congress and stop being rude.
There were some anti Lawler protestors, outside about 15 or so when I came into the venue. One had a sign that said, down with King Donny. I overheard a person walking is say that if Trump was really trying to be a king, they would not be out there protesting. They would be in a prison.
Town Supervisor Ed Lackerman welcomed the crowd to the stage and the event. Assemblyman from the 94th District Matt Slater was the moderator.
“The rules that we’re just going to go over to kick this thing off. For those of you who haven’t been with us before, and I know that the congressman’s done several of these. If this is your first time attending just some basic ground rules for us to go over. Questions will only be addressed by the moderator and congressman for the person whose ticket is called at that time. Tickets are right here. (he pointed to the tumble basket) We’ll spin them. I’ll pull the ticket out and I will read the name on the ticket. I will apologize now if I butcher your name by accident. It depends on the handwriting. I will do my very, very best.”
“Second, if your ticket is called, we’re going to have you stand and have you walk to the end of the aisle where a staff member will hold the microphone for you to ask your question. We ask you to limit your question to 1 minute so we can get through as many questions as possible. In order for everyone to be able to see and hear the person asking the question and the congressman’s answer, we ask that you remain in your seat and respect those speaking, both the individuals who are asking the question and of course, the congressman who will be answering.”
Other rules included no flash photography, tripods or camera stands, no signs, no noisemakers of any kind that may be in the audience. Last but not least, unfortunately, these days, politics seems to be bringing out the worst in everybody. He wanted people to just try to be respectful of this night, respectful of everybody here, respectful of our staff and of course, respectful to the congressman. He’s going to be here answering all your questions.
He introduced Congressman Lawler and two Yorktown Police officers who were also army veterans to lead the event in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Lawler took over the stage. “Well, thank you, Assemblyman, and thank you to all of you, for coming out tonight. I look forward to a spirited but hopefully respectful discussion and look forward to answering all of your questions. Over the last 3+ years, I’ve been proud of the work that we’ve been able to do, in Congress, as your representative, your voice down in Washington. A few things that I think are important to know. Number one, when it comes to the work of our office, my staff is second to none. They really do a phenomenal job day in, day out on your behalf, and I want to thank each and every one of them.”
He even took a second to wish his staff member Kenzie a happy birthday.
He went on to explain that they have closed over 8000 cases for constituents, individual cases, and brought back over $40 million in benefits that constituents are due, whether it’s from the IRS, Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits, etc. That is critical work and it’s done every day and his staff works tirelessly to support the residents throughout this district. He has done close to 2000 events in the district over these last 3+ years, from, you know, public events to meetings with thousands of constituents across the political spectrum across the district.
“We have been fully engaged on. The issues that matter to all of you, whether we agree on every issue, whether you agree with my position on an issue, we are very public, very outward facing, and show up everywhere and engage with every constituent group, and I think that is a big part of the job. You have to be willing to engage and it’s why we do these events. This is my 14th town hall meeting in this type of setting. We’ve done over 70 constituent Q&A, style events between town halls and doing in-person events at different municipal buildings.
These types of forums are important and it’s something that we will continue to do. There’s been a lot of coverage of these forums as people get rowdy at times, but I still believe in them, and I believe in the importance of engaging in these topics.”
He is also proud of the fact that we have secured the border. He pointed to the 10 straight months of net zero illegal border crossings after we had over 10 and a half million people flood into the country under Joe Biden.
Adding that we have effectively stopped that as well as seeing folks who have committed crimes along with people who have previous orders of deportation against them being deported. That is vital.
“If we are going to have an immigration system that works, you need to actually enforce the law. In addition, I’ve been a co-lead on the Dignity Act because I fundamentally believe we need comprehensive immigration reform. You need an immigration system that works. My wife is an immigrant. I’ve been through this system.
It is a fundamentally broken system, and it has been that way for over 40 years. We need to have a bipartisan immigration bill that comes through Congress that the president can sign. That is something that I have been leading on and will continue to engage on.”
Another committee he serves on is the Financial Services Committee, and one of the biggest issues that he’s been focused on is housing. “We are over 8 million units underbuilt nationwide. We have been putting together a bipartisan housing package that passed through the House just a few weeks ago. This past week, the Senate passed their version with 89 votes. It’s not easy getting 89 senators to agree on hardly anything, but they agreed on a bipartisan housing package. I am focused on getting this across the finish line. There’s some back and forth and some negotiations still to be had, but the fundamental point is we need more housing. It is a basic supply and demand issue.”
“We have seen in our area, in particular, housing prices skyrocketing. Now, if you’re going to sell and you’re considering moving to Florida or North Carolina or somewhere else, it’s good on you because the value of your home has increased dramatically. But if you’re trying to buy a home. If you’re a young family just starting out, It’s cost prohibitive. The fact is that today, the average age of the first-time homebuyer is 40 years old. That’s insane. People cannot afford to live here. When you look at our seniors, many of them can’t afford to sell their home because of the low capital gains on the sale of the home. We want to raise that. We want to lift that so that people can be able to sell their home and downsize and be able to afford retirement. There’s a lot that we’re focused on in housing.”
He also spoke of the need to be focused on energy and permitting reform. That is one of the biggest issues that we can tackle in a bipartisan way in Congress. It’s something that has been talked about for years. Whether you believe in renewables, nuclear, natural gas, one of the reasons that we have not been able to build these energy projects is because of how long it takes to permit it and to actually build it. My view truly is all of the above. We need every source of energy if we’re going to bring down our utility costs. Solar and wind are part of the solution. That’s why I pushed back against the president, the administration on their efforts to stop offshore wind. We need to have a comprehensive energy policy in this country, but it also includes nuclear, and that’s why last week I was proud to stand with Secretary Wright at Indian Point and call for it to be rebuilt and reopened.”
The final two things he discussed in his opening statement were Healthcare and Foreign Affairs.
The crowd seemed to be split about 60% of the people there who were against Lawler and 40% on Lawler’s side. The questions were along those lines with a number that were neutral on their face.
Slater spun the basket and pulled the first red ticket. Helen K, as a reminder, if you’re going to ask your question, please go to the end of your row and a member of the staff will be holding the mic. You will have one minute to ask your question to the congressman.
“Thank you. Congressman, with escalating tensions in the Middle East and many, many Americans currently in Israel. How is your office working with the State Department to help Americans safely return home or receive assistance if they need it?”
“Well, thank you, Helen. Thanks for being here. This is, obviously if you don’t happen to be in the Middle East or know somebody in the Middle East, it’s not something you might be focused on, but this is something that our office has been dealing with extensively over the past two weeks, but also throughout my time in Congress, whether it was last year during the twelve-day war, the aftermath of October 7th, obviously, we have a lot of constituents who live in Israel and others who spend a significant amount of time in Israel, but also throughout the Middle East and especially with New York being the financial capital of the world, there’s a lot of people that live in Westchester, for instance, who work in the financial services industry who travel to the Middle East, for business often.”
He said that they have tried extensively in dealing with the State Department and with Secretary Rubio directly and his staff to make sure that they are able to facilitate the extraction of American citizens both living in my district but also in neighboring districts. They have worked with other offices to help them. Rafi on his staff does a phenomenal job, interfacing with both the State Department and the Israeli government. In particular, because his district has the largest concentration of Jews of any congressional district in the country.
“There are a lot of people who do spend significant time in Israel. We work very closely with the State Department to get them out. We’ve been able to get dozens of people out in the last two weeks. The biggest issue is airspace. Given the situation right now, there is a lot of conflict across the entirety of the Middle East, which obviously makes it very difficult in terms of getting planes in and out. There’s concern, for instance, during the twelve-day war, we were able to use cruise ships to get people to Cyprus. There is concern about, the potential of a targeted strike on that. There’s been limitations, and obviously the main focus is trying to get people quickly to the airport and out, as quick as possible. So, we continue to work on this. Just when I was in the back, I had somebody reach out and, about this specific issue, and we already connected them with the State Department and working through that.
Next, we will have Nicole R. “I wanted to know what you and your office are doing regarding the asylum seekers from Afghan. The current administration has made it very difficult for them to pursue their asylum. Some of them have been detained and they are not criminals and they are wearing ankle monitors I’d like to know what you’re doing to accelerate their asylum papers.”
“Yeah,, it’s a great question. It’s also somewhat of a complicated one and let me give you a little detail here.
First and foremost, this is an area where I have pushed back extensively on the administration in part because I fundamentally believe if somebody was helping us in Afghanistan, for instance, during a twenty-year war, and they put their lives on the line to support our efforts, our military, our CIA, they put their family’s life on the line, it is imperative that we do everything we can to protect them. A lot of people have come over the past 20 years, but in particular, post the end of the war in Afghanistan, seeking asylum here in the United States, and many of those cases have been approved over the years, many have not.”
Now, there does need to be a thorough vetting process. We have seen, including just recently, in Michigan, you know, somebody can be vetted and approved and then commit an act of terror. We don’t want to be flippant or haphazard about this process. It does need to be a thorough process, but I fundamentally believe that if somebody is going to risk their lives in support of our efforts, that is something that we have to take seriously and we have to support. He says he has pushed back legislatively and in dealing with the Department of State and the White House on this issue, because he doesn’t believe there should just be a blanket pause and that there should be a blanket denial on asylum. He explained.
“The challenge with asylum, and I will tell you this was one of the one of the big problems under the Biden administration regardless of who as people were being detained at the border. What they were doing was they were processing them within 36 hours, and they were basically giving them an asylum claim. The challenge with asylum is, it’s not easy to actually get asylum. In fact, 70% of asylum cases, even under the Biden administration, were denied. I think it’s upwards of 80 at this point in terms of percentage breakdown of these cases. Most of these cases, broadly speaking, in our immigration system do not qualify for asylum. I do believe in the case of many of the Afghan refugees and people, especially who helped us during that war. They would qualify after a thorough vetting. That is something that I continue to advocate for.”
Showing how he is working on this he told of a case earlier last year in the Hudson Valley of an Afghan refugee who helped us during the war seeking asylum. He worked with Pat Ryan directly and we pushed and pushed to get him released pending his, you know, case being heard. Unfortunately, they would not agree to it and you know, ultimately he thinks his case was rejected, but he has continued to advocate for him and push back because he doesn’t think that’s right. He will continue to focus on this issue.
“I’ve worked with a lot of our veterans who were in Afghanistan, who are advocating for these folks to get asylum because they worked closely with them and they were critical to their survival and success.”
The next ticket drawn was for Roland C. His question had to do with energy and the closing of the Indian Point Nuclear Plant. “Can you Speak of is something very near and dear to my heart. I’m a retiree from Indian Point Energy Center. I retired when energy was there. I highly encourage you and all the legislative staff that you can gather to get this plant back up online. It delivered 2000 megawatts of clean, efficient and safe power 24 hours a day. 7 days a week, 365 days a year. That significant power would equate to what you’d see feeding all of Westchester, the Bronx, and the top end of Manhattan. Last but not least, I would say you’re going to get a 50% decrease in electric rates when you bring that back up online. Thank you.
He continued with the situation and problems with the pipelines in NY. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t be building more pipelines to transport gas. By the way, Blocking of pipelines has created a crisis in New England.
This is not just about policy decisions that impact us. It impacts across the region and across the country. Energy is a national issue, not just a local issue. That’s why we are focused on permitting reform. That’s why Republicans and Democrats are working together in a bipartisan way on the issue of permitting reform. If we can actually get that done, it will benefit everybody in this country and it will start to bring down utility costs.”
“I said before and I’ll say it again, I support solar. I have solar panels on my house. I support wind. Offshore wind is good. I don’t have a problem with it. But we have to have a coherent energy policy at a federal level and at a state level, and New York State needs to reverse course. The CLCPA (Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act) has been destructive. The governor now is coming out and saying, oh, we should delay this a few years. Tom DiNapoli (NYS Comptroller) came out with a report two years ago and said that the CLCPA was a disaster and that we were nowhere near meeting the goals, but nobody wanted to hear it until they started getting the utility bills and everybody was screaming and now every one of the Democrats in Albany are saying, oh gee, we got to fix this. You think? It’s ridiculous. We need the CHPE (Champlain Hudson Power Express) project that is coming down the Hudson. We need all of the above.”
One thing that people say about our young people between 18 and 26 is that they are not politically involved. Mason D is proof that this is not completely accurate. “Hi, congressman, I’m 18. I’m in high school, in my senior year, and when you were my age, what was going on. At first we were winning and then the outcome was a tragedy. I think we can all agree that Saddam Hussein and the Ayatollah are figures who do not deserve power.
But that said, we don’t want to lose a war where we’ll lose troops and troops will die. I understand that our military is much more advanced than 20 years ago. A great example is what happened last June in Venezuela.
I’m wondering what conditions would need to be met before the United States. What conditions would need to be met before you believe for the US to scale back the war?”
“Thank you for the question and thank you for being here. I appreciate the fact that at 18 years old, you’re engaged on these issues. I was on my 5th day of freshman year of high school on September 11th. When 2004 came around in the election, I was one of the few people in my class that was 18 years old and able to vote in the 2004 election. The Iraq War, Afghanistan War were very much a focal point in that election. I appreciate the fact that you are engaged on these issues and that’s a very thoughtful question.”
“From my vantage point, a few things. Warfare certainly has changed in the 22 years since the 2004 election. We see it every day. Obviously this conflict or the strikes on the nuclear facilities or the removal of Maduro. We saw it during President Obama’s administration. We saw it under President Biden. Obviously, the use of drone technology is something that was certainly not as prevalent, but was very nascent throughout those conflicts, and has steadily increased, and technology has, has changed dramatically. Frankly, our capabilities have increased dramatically and our weapons systems, as well. From my vantage point, and, and I’m not going to get too deep in the weeds because some of the information was obtained during classified meetings.” He stated.
Continuing he said, “The fact is that This objective of the administration is specific to a few things. Number one, eliminating the threat posed by their ballistic missiles program. Which means not only destroying their ballistic missiles, but destroying their, the sites in which they’re manufacturing the ballistic missiles. Number 2 is to have complete air superiority, which is to ensure that their air defense system is obliterated. Number 3 is to destroy their naval capabilities, and we have seen that over these two weeks, the strikes that the US is engaged in is very much targeted to their military capabilities. We have been very strategic on that front.”
There were a number of questions dealing with the Epstein files. One lady Katherine M. accused Lawler of needing permission from President Trump to vote for the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
“Despite the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which I know you voted for once Trump gave you permission. As a mother of daughters, so far has been is absolutely disgusting. When are you doing to demand compliance with the Act you voted for and that our DOJ has chosen to ignore?
Lawler was stern with the first part of his response. “First, I DON’T NEED permission from anyone to vote one way or another. Second, OK, this legislation, which was put forward by Thomas Massey and Ro Khanna and was flawed in a few ways. Number one, It gave a 30-day time frame to review MILLIONS of documents. Now, to comply with that, to make sure that victims information is not being released, to make sure that pictures of victims are not being released, you have to painstakingly go through that. I would think everybody in this room would want to make sure that victims are not subjected to that type of release against their wishes.”
He was emphatic about his feelings on this issue. “Anybody who committed a crime, anybody who acted in furtherance of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, anybody who sexually exploited a child or a woman or was somehow involved should be prosecuted. I’ve said that for years. What was unfortunate to me was many of my Democratic colleagues never said a word about any of this for 5 years. Never said a word about it during Joe Biden’s Presidency. They never called for these documents to be released during Biden’s Presidency. Never Demanded justice for the victims when Joe Biden was president for 5 years. For 5 years, nobody in the Biden DOJ did anything to prosecute additional people, and they should have, and they should have, but they didn’t.”
“What I did was vote in favor of the act. It passed. There was only one person who voted against it. The information has been released. And so, you have, you have folks, you have, (someone in the audience yelled out “YOU’RE LYING) I’m not lying. You have millions of files, (another person started interrupting his answer) sir.”
Slater interjected, “Let’s, let the Congressman answer the question, please.
Unfazed and undeterred Lawler responded, “All right. Children act better than that. Calm yourself.”
“The fact is that millions of files have been released. It is going through…” The anti-Lawler people in the audience continued showing their inability to respect the Congressman and to hear the answer to their questions. Another person yelled out “You’re a pedophile” and got up and left the meeting.
Most people would have responded angrily at a statement like that. Again, calmly Lawler said, “That’s pathetic.”
And as the person was leaving he added, “Enjoy your evening.”
Without hesitating or pausing, he continued, “The fact is, millions of files have been released to the public. This has never happened in the history of the Department of Justice. It’s the first time ever and these files are being released to the public to review. Anybody that is found to have done anything in furtherance of a crime should be prosecuted, period. I don’t care who they are.
There are people who say that the reason the Democrats didn’t do anything about the Epstein files during the Biden Presidency is that they were waiting to use it against Trump. They always claimed that Trump was involved and guilty of exploiting women and having sex with children. There are a number of problems with this, first, if they had anything on Trump, they would have used it in 2016, 2020 or 2024. The other problem is that a number of people including the Clintons have said there is nothing implicating Trump and that he did nothing wrong. The one thing that people don’t think the Democrats took into account was that releasing the files would back fire on them exposing a number of Democrats and supporters of being involved with Epstein.
Slater had to remind the audience that when the congressman speaking let’s do our best just to keep our emotions in check so he can get through his answer.
War in Iran, Gaza, 18-year-olds getting drafted, money sent to Trump family entities from Abu Dhabi which secretly bought nearly half of the Trump cryptocurrency company sending about $170 million directly to Trump family entities. As has happened at other town halls, anti – Lawler people were talking over him and he had to respond, “Can you all let me actually answer? You might learn something. You might actually learn something if you listen.”
The person asking the next question listed a bunch of things that Lawler voted and acted on that he disagreed with. Lawler listed a number of things he Idone to oppose or stand up to the president or the administration on decisions that they make, to answer his accusations.
“I’m going to read you A running list of everything that because you just recited some things where you think I didn’t stand up to them. I’m going to recite a bunch of things to you. I’ll get into the war powers and explain why I don’t. Haitian travel ban. I’ve been opposed to the president’s policy on a travel ban from Haiti. Syria sanctions. I was opposed to lifting sanctions on the Syrian government. Ukraine, I’ve been fully supportive of Ukraine. I’ve also been supportive of TPS protections for Ukraine. I’ve been opposed to the F-35 sale to Turkey. On immigration, I’ve been one of the leading voices when it comes to extending Haitian TPS. I signed; I introduced legislation to do that. I signed a discharge petition to force a vote on that. H-1B visa fees. I’ve been opposed to that. I’ve pushed for a waiver with respect to that.”
Additional things he fought the administration on is numerous ICE detainee cases and gotten numerous people in our community released from the detainer with respect to marijuana rescheduling. “I’ve been opposed to the president’s position on that. With respect to the gateway tunnel, I’ve been opposed to the withholding of funds and supported the effort to get those funds reinstated. We’re going to go through all of it so that you actually fully understand. I’ve been opposed to the administration’s efforts to do that. With respect to the World Trade Center health fund. I’ve opposed the withholding of funds on that. With respect to the MCO tax and the administration’s efforts to cut that off from New York, I fought and won and got the MCO tax extended to the.
$2 billion with respect to FEMA funding that was being withheld. I fought and got over $2 billion released to our hospital system. So I can go on and go through the whole litany of things, but the bottom line is I don’t think you’d be happy unless I said orange man bad and vote to impeach. (to which the anti – Trump people cheered loudly). Many of you are not actually interested in solving problems, you just want to scream. I’m actually interested getting results for our district, which is why I engaged fundamentally.”
Robert S. was concerned about voter fraud. He claimed that the Heritage Foundation on their official website and in an online database lists a total of 1,382 convictions of voter fraud across the federal and state elections from 1982 to 2025. That’s 44 years, and that considering only presidential elections between the same time span had 1.4 billion votes cast that’s a total of 0.000001, 1 half of a billion incident of voter fraud and that there are approximately 57,000 women of voting age with birth certificates that do not match their birth name.
To the applause of many people he finished, “In a recent vote in favor of the Save Act, voting for an unnecessary and disenfranchising poll tax for your constituents.”
“The SAVE Act focuses on two key areas. One is voter ID, and two is citizenship requirements.
A few years ago, New York City tried to pass a law to allow non-citizens and illegal immigrants the ability to vote in New York City elections.” Again, people tried to interrupt by saying that’s not true.
Lawler responded, “Yes, it is, folks. Yes, it is. They did pass it and we went to court. We sued and we won.
Even in New York, the Court of Appeals ruled that you have to be a citizen to vote in our elections. We Put forth legislation that the vast majority of Americans agree with, voter ID and citizenship.”
Continuing, he explained that the bill would allow each state the ability to promulgate the rules and promulgate which documents are necessary to be able to prove your citizenship and to be able to prove that you are who you say you are and get a voter ID and that the federal government is more than happy to help fund and pay for and make sure that everybody who wants a form of voter ID has it. It’s not hard to get. People get photo ID every day. We require photo ID to do a lot of things including purchase alcohol, including going to a federal building, including flying on a plane and that there’s no reason that we wouldn’t have photo ID to require when you go to vote.
During the questioning, there were some people who had left before their ticket was drawn and another few who passed on their opportunity to ask theirs.
Christopher O began by praising Lawler for his staff’s work on his and his wife’s behalf. “Congressman, before my question, I want to sincerely thank you and your district staff. My wife has been navigating a very difficult immigration situation. Your team’s advocacy and communication have been a lifeline for our family. We truly appreciate that.”
My question’s not related to me, it breaks down the societal foundations, but we’ve seen a massive surge in legalized gambling and mainstream of the streaming of adult content platforms like OnlyFans over the last several years, trends that many of us feel are predatory towards young people and destructive of families. While the GOP often campaigns on our family values, these industries have flourished. What is the party doing to address the vice economy that has draining the bank accounts of young Americans, and where do we draw the line between personal liberty and protecting the social fabric of our communities?
One of the final questions dealt with the Indian Point nuclear power plant from the don’t rebuild and restart it side, The person pointed to the dangers of nuclear power and didn’t want his child to have to deal with the drills we all had to do in the days of the Cold War and with the first-generation nuclear power plants. Lawler explained again that he had been on a tour of the facility with Dr. Singh from Holtec and Secretary of Energy Wright and that it is perfectly safe, especially with the new technologies and safety Features these plants have today.
Everyone, understandably, is worried about a nuclear meltdown and an accident that will spread radiation around the area, like Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979 and Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986 and the need for an escape plan. One thing that people don’t consider is all of our sailors who are living on nuclear submarines and other nuclear-powered ships. No one protested about building those and the dangers of nuclear power in a contained space. What is their escape plan if something goes wrong?
Marissa R. had the honor of the final question. “I guess, now that you have AIPAC support for those, I mean this with the obvious respect, that don’t know what AIPAC stands for, that stands for America Israel Public Affairs Committee, and by support I mean receiving $2.2 million. How can you in good conscience say that you have Americans, New Yorkers, best interests at heart? All of your decisions are now compromised now that you work for Israel.
“AIPAC is an organization that advocates for policies that strengthen the US-Israel relationship. AIPAC is comprised of American citizens. These are American citizens exercising their right in the political process just the way you do. Whether it’s organizations like the Working Families Party or other groups that band together in favor of specific policy proposals, they are American citizens. They’re not Israelis. They’re American citizens.
Everybody who has donated to me is an American citizen. So, they are exercising their right to advocate for policies, and many of these policies, yeah, I happen to agree with. I believe Israel is our strongest ally. I believe that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. It is a beacon of hope and opportunity and freedom, and it is not an apartheid state.”
“The only oppressors of the Palestinian people is Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. I’m sorry if I upset you and I’m sorry if you don’t agree with my position on that. That is your right, but the fact is that a strong U.S. – Israel relationship is critical to peace and stability in the Middle East, and I will continue to support it.”
We’re wrapping up but I appreciate all of you coming out tonight, and, offering your perspective, and I appreciate this was a, generally respectful dialogue and appreciate, the engagement on these issues, and look forward to continuing to do these as we have throughout my time in Congress, and I look forward to continuing to serve and represent all of you in Washington.”