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GOP Rep. Turns on Trump Over ‘Affordability Hoax’ Issue

Representative Mike Lawler of New York rejected the president’s characterization of the economy.

A Republican lawmaker publicly rejected President Donald Trump’s characterization of affordability concerns as a “hoax,” pushing back as new federal data showed uneven job growth and a rising unemployment rate.

The comments underscored a growing gap between the White House’s upbeat economic rhetoric and on-the-ground concerns about prices, housing, and health care.

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The exchange came during a television interview when Morning Joe’s Sam Stein asked Rep. Mike Lawler of New York whether he agreed with the president’s assessments that affordability is a hoax issue and that the economy deserves an “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus” rating, the grade POTUS gave himself during a sit-down with Politico’s Dasha Burns.

“No, it’s not a hoax issue,” Lawler said. He described affordability as central to his campaigns and legislative agenda, pointing to tax changes he said would benefit working families and seniors, including lifting the cap on state and local tax deductions and expanding the child tax credit.

Lawler said the measures would result in an average four-thousand-dollar tax cut for New Yorkers, with seniors receiving a six-thousand-dollar deduction. He said those changes would begin to take effect in April and could improve economic conditions, while acknowledging ongoing challenges.

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“Prices have come down from the highs of the Biden administration, but there are still challenges,” he said, citing housing shortages, healthcare costs, energy, and food prices.

On healthcare, Lawler criticized insurance company consolidation, saying, “You cannot have insurance companies owning providers.” He argued that the structure of the Affordable Care Act contributed to rising premiums and pointed to what he said was a two-thousand percent increase in insurance profits. “Healthcare premiums continue to rise,” he said.

It comes as four House Republicans, including Lawler, broke with their party to back a discharge petition that will compel a vote on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.

Fresh data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics has added context to the debate. Nonfarm payrolls grew by a seasonally adjusted sixty-four thousand in November, exceeding estimates but following a slump in October.

The unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent, its highest level in four years. A broader measure that includes discouraged workers and those working part-time for economic reasons climbed to eight point seven percent, the highest since August 2021. The figures were released after a delay caused by the government shutdown.

Trump has repeatedly dismissed affordability as a political talking point. Speaking earlier this month at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Pennsylvania, he called affordability a “hoax” twice while telling voters that prices were coming down. In a separate interview with Politico, he graded his economic performance as “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.”

Lawler declined to adopt that framing. “We have a lot of work ahead,” he said. “That’s my focus.”

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