Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) argued the United States needs to deal with the “reality” of its future, making an argument to fix the nation’s “broken” immigration system.

The topic of immigration, specifically concerning H-1B visas, has increased in debate dramatically over the last week since Department of Government Efficiency co-heads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy spoke favorably about them, with President-elect Donald Trump siding with the two. In providing his take on the matter, Lawler contended that the U.S. needs to acknowledge that the country will face “a population decline” by the end of the century.

“Our birthrate in the last 15 years has dropped from two children per woman to 1.66 per woman, so the reality is we have a long-term population decline,” Lawler said on ABC News This Week. “We have a work force shortage of doctors, nurses, engineers, home health aids, construction workers, hospitality workers. We need immigration. We need an immigration system that works, that is legal, and I fundamentally believe that you need to have a system that is focused on our economic needs as a country and a more merit-based immigration system than anything else.”

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The congressman added that the visas given to immigrants have been “critical” to the nation’s economy, citing how Trump has also made use of it for his business ventures. He also said the nation has been “built on immigration,” and this is important for the nation’s growing economy.

Lawler also noted how India is producing “a significant number more” engineers than the U.S. and suggested this also means the U.S. needs to improve its educational system. 

During his appearance, Lawler also addressed whether or not House Republicans should replace House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), warning his fellow lawmakers they are “playing with fire” over the possibility of replacing Johnson. He added that people hoping to replace Johnson with a more conservative candidate are “kidding themselves.”

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Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has stated on X that he will not vote to confirm Johnson as speaker in January, which could pose danger to the speaker given the party’s thin majority. Lawler, however, suggested Republicans can still earn enough votes even without Massie’s vote.

I will vote for someone other than Mike Johnson. I’m not persuaded by the “hurry up and elect him so we can certify the election on J6” argument. A weak legislative branch, beholden to the swamp, will not be able to achieve the mandate voters gave Trump and Congress in November. pic.twitter.com/vrD3l45XDX

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 27, 2024

The vote to confirm the House’s 119th speaker will take place on Friday.