Mike Lawler, the House member for New York's 17th District, voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a tax law that also takes $102.2 billion in federal Medicaid money from New York over ten years, by KFF's estimate, while giving the top tenth of households about $13,600 a year, by the Congressional Budget Office's.
Lawler cast deciding votes for the House version in May 2025 and for the April 2025 budget resolution that let tax writers add up to $4.5 trillion to deficits. In April 2026 he voted for H.Res. 1156, which claims the law cuts taxes 15 percent for Americans in the bottom 40 percent of incomes, a figure that leaves out its Medicaid and SNAP cuts.
Mike Lawler's Votes on the Tax Law and the Deficit
- The Poorest Lose $1,200 a Year While the Top Tenth Gains $13,600 Under the Tax Law Lawler Voted For in July 2025. Mike Lawler's yes on May 22, 2025 was one of 215 that carried the bill's House version past 214 opponents, with one member voting present, so any single yes vote flipping would have sunk it. He was a yes again on July 3, 2025, when the final One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed 218 to 214. Thomson Reuters Checkpoint, reporting the Congressional Budget Office's figures, says the top tenth of households comes out about $13,600 a year ahead under the law, while households at the very bottom give up $1,200 a year on average in resources, in large part because of the law's Medicaid and SNAP cuts.
- Lawler's Deciding Vote Let Tax Writers Add Up to $4.5 Trillion to Deficits, in April 2025. On April 10, 2025, Lawler voted for the final budget resolution, H.Con.Res. 14, adopted 216 to 214, so his switch alone would have produced a tie, and a tie fails. It allowed the Ways and Means Committee to write tax changes that "increase the deficit by not more than $4,500,000,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2025 through 2034". The Senate's version of the bill, the one Lawler cast his July 3, 2025 vote for and the one that became law, adds more to deficits over ten years than the House version did, the Yale Budget Lab found.
- Lawler Supplied a Vote for a 2026 Resolution Claiming a 15 Percent Tax Cut for Americans in the Bottom 40 Percent of Incomes. Lawler's April 16, 2026 vote went to H.Res. 1156, adopted 219 to 207, which calls the law the "Working Families Tax Cuts" and says it "will result in a 15 percent tax cut for Americans whose income is in the bottom 40 percent," a number that counts tax changes alone and ignores the law's Medicaid and SNAP cuts. An Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy analysis concludes that "For the poorest fifth of Americans, the average tax change from OBBBA is a small tax increase."
What Mike Lawler's Tax Law Vote Costs New York in Medicaid and Coverage
- New York loses $102.2 billion in federal Medicaid money over ten years. KFF's allocation of the Congressional Budget Office estimate puts New York's ten-year loss of federal Medicaid funding under the law at $102.2 billion, 16% of what the state would otherwise receive, within a range of $76.7 billion to $127.8 billion; that money pays for hospital care, nursing-home beds and doctor visits for New Yorkers.
- The law leaves 860,000 more New Yorkers uninsured in 2034. By KFF's projection, the law alone will add 860,000 New Yorkers to the uninsured in 2034, a rise of 4 percentage points in the state's uninsured rate.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mike Lawler on Taxes and the deficit
What is Mike Lawler's record on taxes and deficits under Trump?
Under Trump, Mike Lawler's deciding votes carried the spring 2025 budget plan that opened room for $4.5 trillion in deficit-financed tax cuts and the bill's House version, and he then voted for the final One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Congressional Budget Office finds it gives the top tenth of households $13,600 a year while the lowest-income households lose $1,200. In April 2026 he voted for a resolution praising the law as a tax cut for working families.
How much will the law Mike Lawler voted for add to interest on the national debt?
Mike Lawler voted for a law that adds over $700 billion in interest costs from fiscal 2025 through 2034 under the Congressional Budget Office's conventional score, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget reports. CBO's dynamic estimate finds the law also pushes interest rates up, raising interest costs by a further $405 billion over those years, or roughly $475 billion from 2026 through 2035.
Do the richest households come out ahead under the tax law Mike Lawler voted for?
Yes: under the law Mike Lawler voted for, the richest 1 percent of Americans get an average tax cut of more than $70,000 in 2026, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found.
Last updated: 2026-10-27