During Tuesday's House Republican leadership press briefing, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) discussed the process of codifying President Trump's executive orders in law.
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00:00Good morning, everybody. Great to see you all. It's a great day on the Hill. We're
00:05very encouraged and even excited this morning about where we are and
00:09everything. President Trump, after the inauguration, and Republicans have taken
00:17our job very seriously. We haven't wasted a moment. We all celebrated the first
00:20hundred days of the Trump administration and all the extraordinary things that
00:23have been accomplished in such a short period of time. And we've been
00:27working around the clock to codify so much of what President Trump has been
00:32doing. I think there's a hundred forty-three executive orders that have
00:35been issued thus far and we're we're working around the clock to make sure
00:40that we put these into statutory law so that it can't be reversed and erased by
00:45an upcoming administration. For some reason the media acts like that this
00:48effort is some somehow a negative thing. It's not at all. Anybody who says that
00:53they just fundamentally misunderstand the relationship between congressional
00:57Republicans and President Trump and his administration. We all ran on the same
01:01America first agenda. Secure the border. Cut taxes for working families. Revive
01:07American energy production. Strengthen our standing on the world stage and bring
01:12back common sense. That's the those that sort of the common themes of all these
01:16executive orders and the action the administration has taken. And this agenda
01:20remember was resoundingly endorsed by 77 million Americans who voted in the
01:26popular vote for the president and almost as many for House Republicans. We set a
01:30record for that. It's the most diverse and expansive coalition we've seen in
01:34modern history. A real and true demographic shift. And the reason people voted
01:39that way is that they had this sort of hopeful anticipation that the president and
01:43Republicans in Congress would do exactly what we are doing right now. And we are we are
01:48fulfilling that promise. We already have the formula for prosperity and security and that's
01:53the thing about President Trump. It's not an unknown entity. As we've all
01:56recounted many times he's done it once he'll do it again. We we we plan to work
02:01together to enshrine the agenda in the law and make sure we have a roaring
02:04American economy and stability and security and prosperity and strength again.
02:09From day one President Trump has used his executive authority to reverse also the
02:13devastating policies the last administration. There was a lot of that to be done. But as the previous
02:18administration made it painfully clear executive orders can be undone and
02:22overwritten and that's why we have to move it through the legislative process. And we
02:26are. Here's a few key examples okay of what we've already voted to codify in
02:31terms of the executive orders. The president's election security executive order
02:35through the SAVE Act. That's what we voted on and got that done in the House. His executive order banning men
02:41from women's sports. We did that through the Women and Girls in Sports Act. His sanctions on the ICC. We did that through our illegitimate
02:47court counter action act to support our ally Israel. And his forest management
02:53executive order through fix our forests act. Some of the things we've done so far.
02:57Now this week we'll add another one to the list. We're going to pass Marjorie Taylor
03:03Greene's bill to permanently rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. And then
03:08we're going to codify dozens more of President Trump's budget related executive
03:12orders spending related executive orders through the budget reconciliation process. Let me
03:17give you just a quick word on that and then we'll take some questions. As leader
03:20Scalise just recounted we're really excited. We're very encouraged this
03:24morning. I mean I am I'm so thankful to have such a team that's worked so hard. I
03:29began the House Republican conference meeting this morning with all the
03:32House Republicans by congratulating and thanking all of our committee chairs. I
03:37mean they worked so hard around the clock and we've been doing this for almost a
03:40year as we've said many times in here. And all the committee members who were so
03:44disciplined and getting the work done. I mean they had 10-12 hour hearings and some
03:48of these committees some even longer. And they got the product done and through
03:52the process. So by the end of this week we'll have eight of the 11 committees of
03:56jurisdiction will have done their work. And then next week we will have ways and
04:00means energy and commerce and an AG. And some of you reported or some of your
04:06outlets reported anyway over the weekend that this was somehow a snag in the
04:09process that those three committees were going next week instead of this week. But
04:14as I've explained to a few of you individually I'll just say you're together in
04:18the room. We went last Thursday to the White House as the leader mentioned. Steve Scalise and
04:23I and Chairman Guthrie and Chairman Smith met in the White House with the
04:28President and his and his whole team on point. We had Secretary Besant there from
04:32Treasury. We had Russ Vogt from Office of Management and Budget. We had his whole
04:38Ledge Affairs team and Susie Wiles the Chief of Staff and Stephen Miller and the
04:42whole group. And the intention was to work through some of the final details but
04:46we realized that we were still awaiting some key numbers on calculations on
04:51some of the provisions with tax and some of the other details. And it just made
04:54sense for us to push pause for a week to make sure that we do this right. We
04:59didn't want to move this quickly speed for the sake of speed. We want to get it
05:02right. And so everybody in the in the room agreed that it made sense for us to do
05:06that. And so we push those those three committees that are going next week just
05:10off another week so we can make sure that we have the right equilibrium point
05:14on all the key issues. And I'm absolutely convinced we're going to do that and I'm
05:18excited about it. So we'll stay on track. They'll they'll do that next week and by
05:22the end of the week as as Steve said, Leader Scalise said, we'll have our 11
05:27committees. We'll send them to by the end of next week to the Budget Committee and
05:32Chairman Arrington then and his team will take that and merge it all together
05:36and we'll have the one big beautiful bill ready to go. We can pass that by
05:39Memorial Day. That was our original time frame and some of some of the people in
05:43this room balked and thought that would be impossible. But stop doubting us. We're
05:47gonna get this job done. Okay. I'll just make this point. I made it on TV over the
05:51weekend and I want to say it again. The House and Senate Republicans are
05:54utilizing the budget reconciliation process primarily because Leader Schumer in
06:00the Senate, Leader Jeffries in the House and their Democrat colleagues refuse to
06:04engage in anything no matter how meritorious even to improve the lives of
06:09their constituents if it means that President Trump will somehow be
06:12credited with a win. I mean it's really sad but that's the fact. They'd rather
06:16put up put on performative stunts and host these activist town halls and all
06:20this other nonsense then just work with us to bring costs down and make
06:24communities safer for their constituents. Just think about how the
06:28American people feel about these issues. Consider this. Secure the border, right?
06:32Securing the border is an 80-20 issue in America. Deporting illegal aliens, more
06:37than 50% of American American people believe that every single illegal alien
06:42should be deported. Okay. And yet Democrats, much less the violent criminals, which
06:46the administration has taken on in earnest. But in spite of those numbers, okay, the
06:51Democrats are taking trips to Central America to bring back violent illegal aliens
06:56because back to the country. It's, it's, it's, it's madness. Strengthening Medicaid for
07:02Americans who need it by eliminating things like fraud, waste, and abuse, which is a huge
07:06problem in the program, including removing illegal aliens. If you add all that
07:10together, 66% of the American people think that that's a very important idea. We need to
07:15improve and shore up and strengthen the program so that it can be there for the
07:20people who desperately need and deserve it. And, and Democrats, what are they doing? They're lying about what we're
07:25doing with Medicaid. Um, so much so that we, we've gotten them to pull down their
07:30advertising because they were literally breaking the law. We sent cease and desist
07:33letters and they had to take it down. Cutting taxes for working families and small
07:37businesses. What American doesn't want to pay fewer taxes to the government? There may
07:41be a few, but I haven't found them. Uh, especially on, on, uh, matters like the
07:46overtime that they work, um, their, their, uh, tipped wages and social security. Big promises for the
07:52president. We're going to deliver that. But it turns out congressional Democrats
07:55apparently want Americans to pay more. Uh, they're, they're adamantly against all
07:59those things I just named. They're against keeping taxes low. And, and when they
08:03oppose the reconciliation bill, when they oppose the, the, uh, the solution to this,
08:07to extending the tax cuts, they are actually advocating for the largest tax
08:10increase in U.S. history. End of, end of sentence. Unleashing American energy,
08:14lowering input costs, creating new jobs. Democrats want a radical Green New Deal policy
08:19extension. They don't want these common sense solutions and all the above
08:23policies, uh, like we are bringing and that the American people demand and
08:27deserve. I could go on and on and on. You get the point. This is what we're
08:30endeavoring to do through our budget reconciliation process. And these are
08:33the policies we're fighting every day to deliver because these are the ones the
08:36American people support and they need and they deserve. When Democrats had a
08:41trifecta in 2021, they use a budget reconciliation process, but you know what
08:45they did? They used it to stimulate the economy. What did that mean? Well, trillions in new
08:49spending and tax hikes and the, the Green New Deal giveaways. We can't do that. It's
08:54not sustainable. So we're going to reverse it. And guess what happened when
08:57they did that? We had runaway inflation making the cost of living for everyday
09:00Americans unbearable. Contrast that with what we're doing. What Republicans are
09:05working on right now, what we're delivering through the committees and
09:08soon through the whole house, lower taxes, decreased regulation, safer streets,
09:13keeping money, more of your money that you earn in your own pocket. We'll take that to the
09:19people every single day and they'll be for us. And as the house works to finish
09:22budget reconciliation over the next few weeks, we'll continue to shine a light
09:25on the do-nothing Democrats who would rather oppose President Trump's popular
09:29agenda than work for the needs of their own constituents. And I just, I just think
09:33it's shameful. With that I'll take a few questions.
09:36Thank you, Mr. Johnson.
09:37Olivia.