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NewsTranscript
00:00Good morning, everyone.
00:24Hope everyone's doing well this morning.
00:27Let's be real on a couple things.
00:29Donald Trump could have the cure for cancer, and the Democrats would still be upset.
00:37Democrats are personality-based, not policy-based.
00:40They never talk about the policies.
00:43It's only the person.
00:45Look no further than their latest liberal lunacy.
00:50A year ago, the left loved the electric vehicle.
00:55Remember?
00:56We're going to get rid of all ice engines, you've got to have an electric vehicle, right?
01:02Now what are they doing?
01:04They're vandalizing the electric vehicle.
01:06Now what I find is very interesting, though, is some of these very same cars are owned
01:12and driven by the Democrats.
01:16People in their own party.
01:17I mean, that is Democrat-on-Democrat crime if I've ever seen it.
01:21Now this shows their playbook and, unfortunately, their values.
01:27Attack the person, not the policy.
01:30Which brings me to this.
01:33Before Democrats begin their next fear-mongering campaign, let me set the record straight.
01:40Last week, President Trump signed an executive order to improve our country's education.
01:48Americans want the best outcomes for students, and so does President Trump.
01:55The President simply asked the Secretary to work with Congress to come up with a plan.
02:01A plan to put students first, not the bloated bureaucracy, teachers unions, or Randy Weingart.
02:10Like the rest of the federal government, the U.S. Department of Education needs to be run
02:15efficiently and effectively.
02:19We should focus the dollars on the students, not the administrators.
02:23I mean, despite billions of dollars being spent, year after year, and every year we
02:30spend more, what happens to our outcomes?
02:33The test scores have not improved.
02:36They've gone the opposite direction.
02:38The Department of Education has received more funding every year, despite lower outcomes.
02:46The American people are paying more and getting less.
02:50We can't keep dumping more money into a broken system.
02:56Our goal is to make the education system better, and better for students.
03:03Democrats are telling more lies.
03:05Their lies about Medicaid have already been debunked, and these education talking points
03:11should be debunked, too.
03:14Now, shifting gears to what else happened during recess, I don't know if you noticed,
03:21but Democrats had held a Medicaid Day of Action, right?
03:26All got together, big day of action.
03:29But unfortunately, they missed the real day of action when they voted to shut the government
03:35down.
03:36They voted against Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security recipients.
03:41They voted against paying our service members, and they voted against funding WIC.
03:49They also voted against the American people.
03:53This led to a complete meltdown by the Democratic Party, and when asked repeatedly whether he
03:59has confidence in Senator Schumer, House Minority Leader, took days to decide.
04:06Others have publicly ridiculed Senator Schumer.
04:09Listen to some of their own comments.
04:12Quote, Schumer is supposed to be the leader of the opposition, not a rank and file member
04:16of the GOP.
04:19Another one, and I quote, I think it's a huge slap in the face, and I think there's a wide
04:23sense of betrayal.
04:25And some even called for Senator Schumer's resignation.
04:29Again, Democrats don't have a clear leader, and recent polls prove this.
04:35When asked who best reflects the core values of the Democratic Party, there was no clear
04:43answer.
04:44Ten percent said AOC.
04:46She got the highest number of votes.
04:49Nine percent said Kamala Harris.
04:51Eight percent said Bernie Sanders.
04:54And Rep Crockett, a Chosen Your Fighter participant, tied former President Obama with four percent.
05:03During recess, I expected to see Schumer and Jeffreys proving to the country that they
05:08are the leaders of the party.
05:10But do you know who filled the void for them?
05:13Governor Walz, Rep AOC, and Senator Bernie Sanders.
05:18It seems that the extreme socialists are the leaders of the Democratic Party.
05:25And they took their message nationwide.
05:29Socialists are defining the Democrats' identity amidst the leadership void.
05:34I bet this leads to more Democratic infighting, fear-mongering, of course, and advocacy for
05:42even more an extreme agenda.
05:45The Democrats will do this while their party's favorability rating is at an all-time low.
05:52Gee, I wonder why.
05:54Meanwhile, Republicans are united behind President Trump and the American people's agenda.
05:59And I'll say that again.
06:01We are united around President Trump and the American people's agenda.
06:06Americans are optimistic.
06:08Americans believe the country is headed in the right direction.
06:13Republicans are getting the country back on track.
06:16This is thanks to President Trump and Republicans' efforts to restore common sense.
06:23And it's not a coincidence that President Trump's approval rating is reaching all-time
06:28highs.
06:29And approval of House representatives is moving upwards as well.
06:33House Republicans are securing the border.
06:36We are protecting women.
06:37And we are passing legislation to lower costs for American families.
06:42We kept the government open.
06:43And our day of action was voting to protect Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security recipients.
06:51And House Republicans passed our House budget resolution, and the Senate should pass it
06:57too.
06:58And I'll share with you, we are just getting started, so buckle up.
07:03And because we have a long way to go and a lot more wins on the horizon.
07:09And here to speak about the House Republicans' work is freshman representative Pat Harrington
07:14from North Carolina.
07:16He's a combat veteran and a small business entrepreneur, and he's going to give his perspective
07:21on working in the unified House GOP.
07:24Welcome, Pat.
07:26Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
07:27You don't probably need that box, do you?
07:28No.
07:29We can put it underneath the podium.
07:30Yeah.
07:31You don't need it.
07:32No.
07:33Hey, good morning, everybody.
07:34I want to talk about the Democrat disconnect, and this should be a proper term at this point.
07:42But I want to share that when I came to Congress just a few months ago, from day one, it's
07:46been clear to me that we House Republicans are both unified and focused.
07:53We know who we are, we know what we stand for, and we know what the American people
07:58sent us here to do.
08:00The same cannot be said for the Democratic Party.
08:04Right now, their party is in complete disarray.
08:08Their coalition is fractured, their leadership has vanished, and their message is completely
08:15disconnected from the lives of ordinary Americans.
08:20One year ago, 75% of Democrats approved of their party's performance in Washington.
08:27Just this last week, that number has collapsed to just 40%.
08:32Their base is abandoning them, and it's pretty darn easy to see why.
08:37While Americans are struggling with the cost of groceries, gas, and rent, Democrats are
08:43putting on a nationwide socialist roadshow with Bernie Sanders and AOC.
08:51That's their response to getting rejected at the ballot box.
08:56Just going even further to the fringe.
08:59AOC is literally sharing tips on how illegal immigrants can evade ICE.
09:05At the same time, Bernie Sanders is on national television claiming that no Democrat supports
09:11open borders and illegal immigration.
09:13The left hand doesn't know what the far left hand is actually doing.
09:18Democrats are too busy fighting each other and staging a coup against Chuck Schumer to
09:23offer any kind of real substantive leadership.
09:27There is a complete disconnect between Democratic leaders and the American people.
09:32They aren't listening, they aren't leading, and they are not even pretending to care about
09:37the kitchen table issues any longer.
09:41Instead, they're doubling and tripling down on the same radical policies that voters overwhelmingly
09:47rejected in November, and I think that that is an incredibly important point.
09:53They voted against protecting women's sports.
09:56They've blocked efforts to close our southern border.
09:59They've refused to deport violent criminals, sex offenders, gang members, and murderers.
10:06They've tried to decriminalize illegal border crossings and fought against voter ID laws.
10:12They've backed letting biological men participate in girls' sports, turning their backs on parents,
10:19and most importantly, basic common sense.
10:24This is not a party that is looking to course correct.
10:28It's a party moving even further to the left at the exact moment voters are telling them
10:33to turn around.
10:35Meanwhile, House Republicans, all of us up here, are moving with genuine purpose and
10:41clarity.
10:42We're working to secure the border, lower costs, strengthen our economy, and protect
10:47our communities for the benefit of the American people.
10:51The contrast could not be clearer.
10:53One party is delivering.
10:56The other is falling apart.
10:59For four years, the Biden administration allowed millions of illegal aliens into the United
11:12States, including the murderers of Lake and Riley, of Jocelyn and Gary, and Kayla Hamilton.
11:20Only 12 days ago, a Georgia mother of five was brutally murdered by a monster who was
11:26caught and released by the Biden administration in 2021.
11:31The need to get dangerous, illegal aliens out of our communities is urgent.
11:37Under the Biden administration, our nation's adversaries became emboldened by the weak
11:41and incompetent leadership displayed in the Oval Office.
11:45The mission to restore America's military dominance and strength on the world stage
11:51has never been more urgent.
11:53Since 2017, Americans have enjoyed historic tax cuts implemented during President Trump's
11:59first term, which grew real wages by nearly 5 percent.
12:04The call to keep those cuts in place and prevent a tax hike of historic proportions is also
12:09urgent.
12:10The mandate to enact President Donald Trump's agenda is even more urgent.
12:16In November, 77 million Americans had a fire underneath them when they went to the polls
12:22and voted for real change.
12:25Now Congress ought to light our own match and get moving.
12:29Dragging our feet on reconciliation is not an option.
12:32Failure is not an option.
12:35for border security, not for national security, and not for the prosperity of everyday Americans.
12:42The Republican trifecta must continue to move in lockstep with urgency for the American
12:47people as we've already done in historic ways.
12:51The work ahead will not be easy, but we will get it done and we will deliver on our America
12:57first agenda.
13:00Thank you, Whip.
13:05While the Democrat Party continues to show the country that they're a leaderless, rudderless
13:10ship, Republicans have been uniting to lead this country out of the doldrums from the
13:17Biden administration.
13:19You can just look at the actions we've taken in the House, working with the Senate and
13:24with President Trump to start getting our country back on track.
13:28And that hard work is already paying off for American families.
13:31You're seeing gas prices start to come down, egg prices are starting to come down.
13:36And what's really important for long-term growth, billions and now trillions of dollars
13:42of private investment are coming back home to America to create really good, high-paying
13:48jobs for American workers.
13:51The Speaker and I were proud to attend a White House ceremony yesterday with our governor
13:55and other leaders, where Hyundai announced a multi-billion-dollar plant that they're
13:59building in the United States of America, going to create about 1,400 jobs in Louisiana.
14:07This is just one of many examples that we're seeing that we call the Trump effect, where
14:12we're seeing so many companies invest heavily in Louisiana and other states.
14:18In our state alone, we've had probably over $40 billion of private investment announced
14:24since President Trump took office again.
14:27And that's not only really good jobs, it's things like energy security, building more
14:33car manufacturing plants, and the resources that go along with it.
14:37We'll no longer have to source those materials from other countries, hostile countries in
14:42many cases.
14:43We'll now be able to refine those materials here in the United States as well with American
14:49workers.
14:50That would not have happened without the leadership of President Trump.
14:55We've totaled up, when you look at all the private investment that's come into the United
14:59States, just in the two months since Donald Trump has taken office, it's nearly $4 trillion
15:07in new jobs and investment in the United States of America.
15:11That's historic, it's unprecedented, and we're just getting started.
15:16We've been talking to President Trump, I talked to him twice over the weekend about budget
15:20reconciliation.
15:21Now that we got government funding out of the way, and the Speaker did a phenomenal
15:24job of uniting Republicans, imagine a CR to fund government passed exclusively by Republicans.
15:32One Democrat came along after we had the votes to pass it in the House, and then the Senate
15:38ultimately had to finally take that bill up and pass it themselves, which is what caused
15:44the Democrats to go into yet another tailspin because Democrats wanted to shut the government
15:50down.
15:51Almost every Democrat voted against that bill, which also, by the way, had a 40-year largest
15:57increase pay raise for our military, our men and women in uniform who deserved that massive
16:02pay raise.
16:04Almost every Democrat voted no on that as well as trying to shut the government down.
16:09So they still don't want to be serious, they're not going to be taken seriously by the American
16:13people, but we're going to keep doing our job, and the next job is budget reconciliation.
16:18That is number one on President Trump's priority list now, to get Congress to work together
16:24with him to pass that one big beautiful bill that we've been talking about, a bill that
16:28not only locks in tax rates, creates more investment in the United States, but also
16:34allows us to produce more energy in America, lowering costs for families, creates more
16:39border security for America, allow President Trump to continue the great work he's done.
16:45We've seen over a 95% drop in illegal crossings.
16:49We need to build out the wall.
16:50We need to give more technology to our Border Patrol agents that President Trump has asked
16:56for, strengthening our national defense and bringing common sense back into the rule and
17:01regulatory process in Washington.
17:04These are just the first few months of what's going to be an historic majority working for
17:09the American people, delivering results for the American people, and the man who's leading
17:13this cause and uniting Republicans, even with just a two-seat majority, hopefully not for
17:19much longer, we're going to grow that number.
17:22But even with that, our Speaker's been keeping us together, moving our agenda.
17:26Speaker Mike Johnson.
17:27Thank you, Leader Scalise and these other members.
17:33It's a great day, but I've got to address a couple of things with you, and I need to
17:36start with something that's pretty serious.
17:39Chuck Schumer engaged in a lot of unusual activity last week, but among the most concerning
17:46was his invitation to activists nationwide.
17:49I want to quote to you what he said on PBS and I think in other venues, but this is what
17:53he said on that particular program.
17:55Quote, we are mobilizing in New York.
17:58We have people going to the Republican districts and going after these Republicans who are
18:03voting for this, and forcing them to either change their vote or face the consequences,
18:09unquote.
18:10It was reminiscent of the threats he made to Supreme Court justices a year and a half
18:13ago or so on the steps of the Supreme Court.
18:16It's dangerous rhetoric, and that message was received.
18:20So we had far-left activists go into some of these events.
18:23They engaged in a physical altercation, and at least one of them, Representative Lawler
18:27in New York, just hours after he made that call to action.
18:32This isn't just a problem in that state, it's a problem across the country, and we
18:36had members who are rightfully concerned about threats of physical violence at their events
18:40and in their districts.
18:41Some, in some cases, they even went to events for their children at school.
18:47It's gotten out of hand.
18:48That behavior cannot be tolerated.
18:50It's an enhanced threat environment for a lot of reasons, and we see Tesla dealerships
18:55being firebombed and all these things happening.
18:58It cannot be encouraged by leaders in Congress.
19:01So I am calling on Leader Schumer and Leader Jeffries in the House to put an end to this,
19:07to explain that threats of violence and intimidation like that is not an acceptable form of political
19:14protest.
19:15We all believe in free speech.
19:16I used to defend it in courts, but this is something very different, and it's a very
19:20serious situation, and they need to get control of that.
19:24Chuck Schumer and congressional Democrats are feeling the heat, and they're lashing
19:27out because of it.
19:28We saw all sorts of unusual activity over the last week.
19:32It's well chronicled.
19:33The Democrats have no vision, no message, no leader.
19:35You heard about it here today.
19:37The American people have taken note.
19:39CNN found that just 29 percent of the people view the Democratic Party favorably now.
19:44NBC found the number at 27 percent.
19:48Quinnipiac poll over the weekend was an interesting one.
19:51Since they've been taking the poll, which goes back many years, decades, congressional
19:56Democrats are at their lowest approval rating with their own base ever.
20:01They're nine points underwater.
20:02What was really interesting about that, Politico did a piece on this, and they contrasted where
20:07the Democrats stand and where we stand.
20:09While they're at their lowest number of all time, and they're nine points underwater
20:12with their own base, congressional Republicans are at our highest mark ever, and we're
20:17at plus 69 points with our own base.
20:20That's a pretty stark contrast, and I think we all know why.
20:23Maxios reported yesterday that Democrats are, quote, in their deepest hole in nearly
20:2850 years.
20:29This is not a mystery.
20:31Everyone understands what's happening and why.
20:34In their haste to oppose President Trump in our efforts to make government more efficient,
20:39Democrats are cutting off their noses despite their own face.
20:41Look, I've made a list of this.
20:42They're cheering the decline of an American company which employs over 100,000 workers.
20:48They refuse to celebrate the return of stranded American astronauts because SpaceX facilitated
20:53their return.
20:54Without a hint of irony, they're trading in their electric vehicles for SUVs, as was noted
20:59earlier.
21:00All right?
21:01They publicly refuse to stand for a childhood cancer survivor, victims of violent crimes
21:06during President Trump's joint address.
21:09Their message has gone from, it's more than just anti-Trump now.
21:12It's anti-American, and everyone sees that, and the polling reflects it.
21:17The American people are not stupid.
21:19They understand what's happening here.
21:21We have a word of advice to our Democrat colleagues.
21:23If you want to pull yourselves out of the wilderness and the doldrums that you're in,
21:27get on board with the American people who support our common-sense agenda.
21:32It is common sense to keep men out of women's sports.
21:34It is common sense to secure the border and deport dangerous illegal aliens, as you talked
21:39about earlier.
21:40It is common sense to make government more efficient and cut fraud, waste, and abuse,
21:46and do right by the taxpayer.
21:48We are not doing these things because they're Republican priorities.
21:52They are priorities because it's the right thing to do, and the American people want
21:56the right thing to be done, and the Democrats are opposing it, and they see it very clearly.
22:02Republicans in Congress enjoy record-high levels of approval because we're engaging
22:07in what we understand to be simple truths, and we're delivering on them.
22:11We got a small majority.
22:12That's true.
22:13But this House GOP conference has stayed together and stayed laser-focused on passing common-sense
22:19legislation and executing the Trump agenda as quickly as possible.
22:24When we stay united, we do right by the people.
22:26We look forward to working with Leader Thune and our Senate counterparts to move that budget
22:30reconciliation bill.
22:32It will be the largest, most consequential piece of legislation in decades, maybe one
22:37of the most in all of the history of Congress.
22:39We're excited to deliver that for the people, and we have no time to waste.
22:44We've got almost 80 million people that supported President Trump and House Republicans.
22:47We all had our largest totals ever.
22:49We are going to do what they asked us to do, and we are not going to keep them waiting.
22:53And so you're going to see us moving aggressively here and across the country to make sure that
22:57happens.
22:58I'll yield to some of your questions.
22:59You just mentioned the Senate.
23:00Obviously, y'all released a statement yesterday about this.
23:01Do you think that the Senate is dragging their feet on reconciliation?
23:02Do you think they need to speed things up and hurry up?
23:03Well, look, I'm going to say this, and I've been saying this consistently, and I believe
23:12it.
23:13There is no daylight between House and Senate Republicans.
23:15We are one team.
23:16I speak with Leader Thune about this constantly and with individual members of the Senate
23:22over there.
23:23We're all united on the mission, and there's been different ideas about how to complete
23:27the mission, but I think it's all coming together now.
23:29This week will be pivotal.
23:30We have a big meeting at the White House later today with the leaders in both chambers, Republican
23:34leaders, to unite and get this thing done.
23:37I don't fault the Senate.
23:39They've had a lot on their plates.
23:40They had to get all the confirmations done for the administration, and it takes a lot
23:44of floor time.
23:45Leader Thune's kept them in five days a week, just working around the clock, getting their
23:48job done, but we began in the House.
23:51We have a bit of an advantage over the Senate because we began this a long time ago.
23:55In fact, it was a year ago in March that we first got the committee chairs together and
24:00said start working on your reconciliation bill priorities.
24:03We knew that we would come to unified government.
24:05We were convinced that President Trump would win and that we would have the Senate and
24:07the House, and we wanted to be prepared to lead.
24:10We put together the playbook, as you've all heard me talk about so many times, and we
24:14did all that work.
24:15It took a lot of time, many, many months to get us to where we are.
24:19The Senate is a little bit behind pace, not because they weren't working hard, but because
24:23they were just engaging in other things, and so what we're trying to do now is fast-forward
24:27their process so they can get the cliff notes of basically what we did for the last year
24:31and skip through some of those steps because we'll all get to the same point, and I think
24:35that's very important.
24:36I have been pressing very hard, very aggressively, to get the reconciliation bill done by late
24:42spring.
24:43You've all heard me say that.
24:44I mean, I'm trying to get this to the President's desk for signature at least by Memorial Day.
24:48I think it's very important.
24:49I think the timing is very important because we have to bring stability to the markets.
24:53We've got to make sure everybody's tax rates are locked in, and they know that, so people
24:58can make decisions about expanding their businesses and jobs and other things.
25:01We've got to – it'll settle the bond markets.
25:04It will secure the border.
25:05It will help us to restore and maintain peace through strength, and of course, it'll prevent
25:09the largest tax increase in U.S. history.
25:11All those things are very important to get done quickly so that the American people can
25:14feel the results of it.
25:15This is going to be a great, great piece of legislation, historic, and we're anxious
25:19to get it done.
25:20Second row.
25:39So I addressed this in conference this morning.
25:42That's okay.
25:44You good?
25:46All right, we're good.
25:49All right, good.
25:51We addressed this in conference this morning.
25:53A couple of our – a handful of our colleagues have gotten behind the effort, and look, I
25:58am a – I'm a father.
26:00I'm pro-family.
26:01The Republican Party is pro-family.
26:03We want to make it as easy as possible for young parents to be able to participate in
26:08the process.
26:09But proxy voting, in my view, is unconstitutional.
26:11In fact, I feel so strongly about it, I helped present a brief to the United States Supreme
26:16Court just about two years ago when – or longer now.
26:20All my days run together, years run together.
26:21But when Nancy Pelosi invented proxy voting, okay, using COVID as the excuse for that,
26:28it took us down a trail that I thought violated the very document that organized us.
26:32I don't think it's constitutional.
26:33I think the founders intended that you have a – in present – you have a presence of
26:41the members there in person, not just for quorum calls, but for votes itself.
26:46This is a deliberative body.
26:47You cannot deliberate with your colleagues if you're out somewhere else.
26:50Now, there are family circumstances that make it difficult for people to attend votes.
26:54I understand that.
26:55I've had them myself.
26:56Many of us have.
26:57The leader was almost assassinated.
27:01He was out for months and missed a lot of votes.
27:04But his constituents understood that, and we did, and we carried forward.
27:09Here's the problem.
27:10If you create a proxy vote opportunity just for young parents, mothers and the fathers
27:17of those situations, then where is the limiting principle?
27:20People have colleagues who feel equally convicted about this.
27:23Look, what if someone is ill, or what if their spouse is ill?
27:29What if their child, you know, contracts some sort of disease or cancer, heaven forbid,
27:34and they need prolonged treatment?
27:36Can they be out for that?
27:38You know, there's no limiting principle that would stop that, I think, if we go down
27:42that road.
27:43And so I believe it's unconstitutional.
27:45I believe it violates more than two centuries of tradition in the institution, and I think
27:49that it opens a Pandora's box where ultimately maybe no one is here, and we're all voting
27:53remotely by AI or something.
27:54I don't know.
27:55I don't think that's what Congress is supposed to be.
27:57So I addressed it, you know, in the room with all the House Republicans this morning.
28:01I take – I'm not angry at anybody for doing this.
28:05I understand.
28:06The motives are pure.
28:07Anna Paulina Luna has brought it forward.
28:08She has pure motives, and I talked with her about it last night.
28:11But I just can't – as the leader of this institution and the one who's supposed to
28:14protect it, I don't feel like I can get on board with that, and I think I have an
28:19opportunity to speak out about it.
28:20So, yeah.
28:21Probably.
28:22I'm curious if the Biden administration would have been found out that they were discussing
28:46national security attacks on other countries over Signal.
28:47I wonder how you would react to that.
28:48Well, look, the White House came out with a statement I think within the last hour.
28:49Somebody handed me what they said.
28:51They clarified there were no war plans discussed, there was no classified material sent on that
28:58thread.
28:59The White House counsel is looking into the matter, looking into how this other number
29:03was inadvertently added.
29:04Obviously, that was a mistake and a serious one.
29:07But I just want to say, I mean, thanks to President Trump and his strong leadership
29:11and all the – everybody on that group chat, the leaders on that group chat are extraordinary
29:15people.
29:16I know them all personally.
29:17They're patriots.
29:18They're doing a great job for the country.
29:20And that was a successful mission.
29:21I mean, we're taking out Houthi terrorists.
29:23That's what the American people expect the administration to do, to restore peace through
29:28strength and to act decisively.
29:30So look, they've acknowledged that there was an error and they're correcting it.
29:35And I would have asked the same thing of the Biden administration.
29:37I don't think anyone should have lost their job over that because an errant number found
29:42its way onto a dialogue between leaders.
29:45It's a mistake, but we've got to correct it going forward, and they will.
29:46Was the mistake adding the reporter or was the mistake adding the White House?
29:47I don't – look, I don't use Signal.
29:48I'm not – I don't know all the parameters of it, so it's not my – I'm not in position
29:49to determine whether that's appropriate or not.
29:50You have to leave that to others.
29:51But I would just say, obviously, we've got to be careful with these things, and I know
29:52that they will.
29:53I mean, Mike Waltz is a colleague of mine, former colleague, and he was born for the
29:54job.
29:55He is highly qualified.
29:56The President said he has total confidence in him, and we do as well.
29:57So, yeah.