House Republican leaders hold their weekly press briefing.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I got the air turned down so we all stay awake.
00:30Well, good morning everybody, and let me begin with this first.
00:34My thoughts and prayers go out and are with the victims of the anti-Semitic terrorist attack
00:41in Boulder, Colorado recently.
00:44The Jewish people should absolutely not have to face this violence anywhere, let alone
00:52in the United States of America.
00:54Recently, two young people were shot and killed in our nation's capital in an anti-Semitic
01:01attack.
01:02And if that wasn't enough, Holocaust survivors are now actually being burned alive.
01:09This is the outcome of everyone not condemning anti-Semitism everywhere, especially on our
01:19college campuses, which have become a breeding ground for vile hatred.
01:24And failing to condemn these acts are the same as enabling these acts.
01:31And the lack of consequences for those failing to condemn these acts has resulted in Jewish
01:39people dying.
01:40Let me be clear on that.
01:42Things have got to change.
01:45Otherwise, I hate to say it, buckle up because that's not the last attack that we've seen.
01:51And we haven't seen the last attack on college campuses, synagogues, or communities coming
01:58to a place in your community.
02:01This type of anti-Semitic behavior needs to be dealt with, and it needs to be dealt with
02:06swiftly.
02:07And everyone, I'm going to repeat, needs to condemn this.
02:11And what makes the attack in Boulder even worse is that it was committed by an illegal alien.
02:19Wow.
02:20That's a shocker.
02:22Who could have predicted that?
02:24And I hate to say it, he might not be the only one plotting an attack.
02:29Why?
02:30Because under Biden, he let in tens of millions of illegal aliens.
02:35So the risk is even greater.
02:37Folks, this is a serious situation that we need to begin to deal with and deal with it swiftly.
02:45And that's why the Senate must pass the one big, beautiful bill.
02:50Congress must give our law enforcement officers the resource they need to detain and deport violent,
03:00illegal criminals.
03:02Given this shocking news, Democrats spent Memorial Day in El Salvador honoring and remembering
03:12MS-13 instead of here in our country honoring Americans who actually paid the ultimate sacrifice.
03:21I mean, honestly, what's next?
03:23Is a Democrat going to fly to Boulder to visit the illegal who burned Jews alive?
03:30Is that what's next for the Democratic Party?
03:34The contrast between Republicans and Democrats couldn't be more clear.
03:40Democrats stand with the legals.
03:42House Republicans stand with the American people.
03:47Democrats voted to raise taxes on hardworking Americans when not one Democrat voted for the
03:55big, beautiful bill.
03:56House Republicans, on the other hand, voted to avoid the largest tax increase in history.
04:05Democrats want your small businesses to close and for you to lose your jobs.
04:11House Republicans want Main Street to thrive and survive and flourish.
04:19When we passed the one big, beautiful act, we kept our promises.
04:25Despite constant doubt, now we urge our colleagues in the Senate to pass this transformational legislation.
04:33The American people can't wait any longer.
04:37This is a critical piece of history that we must get done.
04:41Now, I want to turn it over to Rep. Mark Mesmer of Indiana, a member of the House Education
04:47and Workforce Committee, Armed Services and Agriculture Committee.
04:54Thank you to House leadership for inviting me here to speak on the incredible success of
05:01the one big, beautiful bill.
05:03House Republicans are committed to delivering the golden age President Trump promised the
05:07American people when he ran for office.
05:10The reality is, because of the great investigatory work of Doge and the Trump administration that
05:15made public and our Agriculture Committee work in the House, there is actually far more
05:20fraud, waste and abuse present in federal spending than anyone imagined.
05:25What has been uncovered is appalling.
05:28One big, beautiful bill controls the growth of federal spending on SNAP and restores integrity
05:33to the bipartisan work requirements passed decades ago protecting the SNAP program for those
05:39who truly need it.
05:41For the first time ever, the bill holds states accountable for inaccurate benefit payments.
05:46I believe our work marks a new era of efficiency and fairness by encouraging modest state contributions.
05:54I'm proud to say that the language passed on the House floor also includes historic investments
05:58in conservation to support the best stewards of our land, the American farmer.
06:05The bill refuses to neglect rural America.
06:08With incredible improvements to the farm safety net, our farmers will be supported as they
06:12bring healthy, safe and affordable food to the kitchen tables of Americans.
06:17What we passed in the House is both a lifeline to those who need it most and a promise to the
06:22American farmer that we cannot and will not take lightly the importance of their hard-earned
06:27contributions to our nation.
06:32Thanks, Mark.
06:36On Sunday afternoon, we witnessed yet another horrific anti-Semitic terrorist attack on U.S.
06:42soil.
06:43While a peaceful group marched to call for the release of innocent hostages held by Hamas,
06:50an evil man launched a well-thought-out, deliberate attack intending to kill, quote,
06:57all Zionist people, end quote.
07:00As he threw Molotov cocktails into the crowd, he shouted, free Palestine.
07:07As you've already heard, we need to be clear about this.
07:11The violence we are seeing against the Jewish community here in America is a direct result
07:16of the left's refusal to condemn and combat anti-Semitism.
07:21Sadly, this evil ideology has not only been tolerated by the left, it has been encouraged
07:29and enabled.
07:29When rampant anti-Semitic behavior exploded on college campuses in the wake of October 7th,
07:38Joe Biden and the Democrats refused to hold these universities accountable.
07:42Even sitting Democrat members of Congress regurgitated talking points from Hamas terrorists and normalized
07:51riots that do the same.
07:53It's unacceptable.
07:55To add insult to injury, the Colorado terrorist was, again, an illegal alien who was allowed
08:02in the United States by the Biden administration.
08:04For four years, Joe Biden and the Democrats failed open border policies, welcomed unknown members
08:11of potential terrorists into our nation, setting the stage for scenarios like the one that we
08:17saw this week.
08:19By letting millions of unvetted illegal aliens into our communities, the Biden administration
08:25left a national security mess.
08:28And the Trump administration is racing to clean it up.
08:31Border security and deportation efforts are urgent.
08:35Lives are at stake.
08:37Our one big, beautiful bill strengthens these efforts by providing additional funding for
08:42more deportations, more border patrol agents, and more border wall.
08:48We're going to continue to work with the Senate to get this done for the American people.
08:52And as we've said every week since we started this March, failure is not an option.
08:57The safety of our communities depends on it.
09:00With that, I turn it over to our leader.
09:06Thank you, Whip.
09:08We all mourn those who were the victims of these attacks here in Washington, D.C., as well
09:14as in Boulder, Colorado.
09:15And it just unfortunately highlights this continued anti-Semitism we've seen around the country.
09:22Last week, I met with Jewish leaders, and they're understandably concerned about this trend
09:28that keeps going on.
09:29It's been going on for years.
09:31You know, you go back to October 7th.
09:34And ever since then, it's been a growing equivocation between almost trying to equivocate what the people
09:43who attacked and murdered Jews in Israel and Americans and kept hostages, with those in Gaza, who we've seen what Gaza's become.
09:57And all of those who want to clean up Gaza.
10:00President Trump's made it clear.
10:01Prime Minister Netanyahu's made it clear they want to turn Gaza back into a place where you don't have to fear for your life that it's going to be a terrorist hotbed.
10:13And yet there are people that want to sympathize with the very terrorists who want to continue to not only carry out evil against Israelis,
10:23but against people here in America and all across the globe.
10:27It's got to stop.
10:28We're going to continue to bring legislation on the House floor to address it.
10:32Now, I do want to talk about the one big, beautiful bill.
10:37This House came together in a way that maybe surprised some people here in Washington.
10:42We've defied the odds every step of the way, from the first vote on the budget to the second vote on the budget to final passage.
10:50But there's a reason for that.
10:52And, you know, as the whip just said, we've said all along, failure's not an option.
10:56I've been asked by some in the press, what's plan B when there were reports that the bill was going to fail?
11:02And we were very clear.
11:04And it wasn't just a talking point.
11:05We said there is no plan B.
11:07The American economy, the voters of this country demanded that Congress deliver on the promises that President Trump made to get this country turned around.
11:18And what we do in this bill delivers on so many different fronts to help grow America's economy,
11:24to create jobs, to put more money in the pockets of hardworking families.
11:29That's been the focus of this bill from the very beginning.
11:32And I think there are some people that start reading too many Congressional Budget Office reports and ignore the lessons of history.
11:40And there's an old saying that if you ignore the lessons of history, you're doomed to repeat it.
11:44But I think it's important to go down that road of history and go back to 2017.
11:49You don't need to go back that far to see how wrong the CBO has been when it comes time to make prognostications on economic growth.
11:59They've always been wrong and they've always ignored what tax cuts will do to grow the American economy.
12:05In 2017, when we started this process, when President Trump came in and said, we're going to make America competitive again,
12:11we were at a 35% corporate rate and we were losing jobs all across the globe.
12:17Every month you'd see a great American company move to a foreign country and they would take the jobs along with them.
12:25Millions of jobs were leaving America.
12:27They were called inversions.
12:29You don't maybe know that term as well anymore because we haven't had an inversion since we passed TCJA in 2017.
12:37But if you go back, look at what CBO said about that bill.
12:40They said it would cost a decrease in revenue to the tune of one and a half trillion dollars.
12:48One and a half trillion.
12:49Now you go look at the numbers.
12:51They were off by more than one and a half trillion dollars because what they left out of that report,
12:57just like they're leaving it out again, CBO's making the same mistakes.
13:00They ignore economic growth.
13:03What we saw in 2017 when we cut taxes is that businesses started growing.
13:08They started giving pay raises to their workers.
13:11They hired millions more people.
13:14Unemployment went virtually to zero.
13:17Inflation dropped dramatically.
13:18People had more money in their pockets because wages were up.
13:22And all of those things produce more money for the American Treasury.
13:25It all happened and yet CBO failed to recognize that.
13:32And they're making the same mistake again.
13:34And anybody who repeats CBO's analysis is also making those same mistakes.
13:39If you ignore the growth that will come with keeping tax rates low, with helping businesses invest more in their workers,
13:48giving pay raises, putting more money in the pockets of waiters and waitresses,
13:53overtime workers not having to pay taxes on overtime, bonus depreciation, immediate expensing,
13:59all the things that will generate economic growth and ultimately put more money in the pockets of workers
14:04and send more money up to the federal treasury here in Washington, CBO missed all of that in 2017.
14:11And they're missing it again this time.
14:12That's the only way they come to a conclusion that it would increase the deficit.
14:16This bill will actually reduce the deficit if you recognize the historical economic growth that has always been there.
14:24To say you're going to get 1.8 percent growth, at a minimum, we think you can get 2.5 to 4 percent growth.
14:31Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary, says over 4 percent economic growth.
14:36So I get that, you know, we've got to play by the rules of the referee, but the referee's been wrong.
14:42You know, we've got a referee that tries to sack our quarterback a lot.
14:45And yet we still manage to play by those rules and deliver for the American people.
14:50Because when this bill is passed and signed into law, hopefully by July 4th, when the Senate does their work,
14:57you're going to see economic growth in this country like we haven't seen it in generations,
15:02meaning more pay in the pockets of workers.
15:06And you're going to see more Treasury money coming in because of the growth in the American economy.
15:11It's happened before and it will happen again.
15:13We just need to keep moving forward.
15:16And the Senate's got the bill now, and I'm confident they're going to move it on and ultimately back to us to the president's desk.
15:22And finally, you saw yesterday the White House sent the rescissions package.
15:26This is the first maybe of many.
15:28We are now putting that in bill format.
15:31We'll file that bill hopefully by tomorrow and then bring it up to the floor quickly
15:35and get rid of more waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.
15:40This will deal with, obviously, the abuses we all saw at USAID, NPR and public broadcasting.
15:47So those are the things that are going to be in this rescissions package.
15:50We're going to continue working with President Trump to root out waste, fraud and abuse
15:54and get the American economy turning around again.
15:57And the person who's leading that charge is our speaker, Mike Johnson.
16:03Rarely do I get to raise the podium, so let me do this for a second.
16:08Great to see you all this morning.
16:09Look, our leadership team had very much looked forward to this press conference,
16:14our weekly press conference with you today,
16:15because we wanted to celebrate this historic passage of our big, beautiful bill
16:20four days before Memorial Day, our self-imposed deadline.
16:23And that's a big achievement, and I'll address it.
16:25But, obviously, our attention has been diverted
16:27and our mood very much dampened by these atrocities
16:31that continue against our Jewish friends and neighbors.
16:34It's really something that's been discussed already this morning,
16:37but this attack over the weekend was actually the second time in three weeks
16:41that our countries witnessed these horrific acts of anti-Semitic terror
16:45here on American soil.
16:48And it was just, of course, a few miles down the road
16:50two Israeli embassy staffers, a young couple,
16:54who had planned to wed soon, were senselessly gunned down on the street.
16:58And the killer said, when they asked him what his motivation was,
17:01he said, quote, he did it for Palestine.
17:03This weekend, an Egyptian terrorist in Boulder, Colorado,
17:07Muhammad Suleiman, led at least 12 Jewish people on fire.
17:12They were at a parade, an event there.
17:15He told police he wanted to kill every single one of them.
17:17And you know what he said when he yelled out during the attack?
17:21He said, free Palestine.
17:23We also can't forget that in April,
17:25a terrorist burned the governor's mansion in Pennsylvania,
17:28attempting to kill Jewish governor Josh Shapiro
17:30and his sleeping family inside.
17:32The search warrants found that the terrorists targeted Shapiro
17:35because of, quote, perceived injustices against Palestine.
17:39There's a theme here.
17:41Why would terrorists target a young, innocent couple
17:43or peaceful protesters or the governor of an American state
17:46with no jurisdiction over a war that's happening 5,000 miles away?
17:51Because it isn't about Palestine.
17:52It isn't about Gaza.
17:54It isn't about any particular conflict.
17:56It's because these people want a complete and total extermination
17:59of the Jewish people.
18:00There is a targeted, left-wing, anti-Semitic terror movement
18:06on the rise in America.
18:07And we have to address this first and foremost.
18:10Members of this institution and the media have a moral obligation
18:14to call this out.
18:15We do not equivocate, as the leader said.
18:18We do not both sides this issue at all.
18:21This is very clear.
18:22It's light versus darkness.
18:23It is an evil that we are confronting.
18:27And we'll continue to call it out.
18:28And the Trump administration and Attorney General Pam Bondi
18:31and FBI Director Cash Patel will continue to pursue these anti-Semitic threats
18:35and actions against the Jewish people on our soil
18:37and to bring these violent criminals to justice.
18:40And we will speak with moral clarity,
18:41and we will demand the same of all of our colleagues
18:43in both parties to do that.
18:45And I hope they will.
18:46According to DHS, Solomon, this criminal,
18:49this violent, sick individual that did this stuff over the weekend,
18:53applied for a tourist visa in 2022.
18:56He applied for asylum.
18:57He's been living in the U.S.
18:58on an expired visa since March of 2023.
19:01If you apply Democrat logic to this case,
19:04Solomon was one of their constituents, as they say.
19:07And under their framing, he was just a Colorado man, right?
19:10But when you see Democrats ramping up attacks on ICE agents
19:13and storming ICE detention facilities
19:15and calling for the dismantlement of ICE,
19:19just know that this is who they're defending.
19:22This is the result.
19:23Fortunately, President Trump has quickly slammed the border shut
19:26by simply enforcing existing law.
19:28But this administration needs the resources
19:31to detain and process and deport
19:33the millions of dangerous illegals
19:36who President Biden welcomed into the country.
19:39And this is why we need the one big, beautiful bill.
19:41One of the many reasons for President Trump's desk
19:45as quickly as possible to sign into law
19:47because it, among the other features in the bill,
19:49it includes $45 billion to expand ICE detention capacity,
19:53a billion dollars to hire 200 immigration judges
19:55and to expand immigration courtroom space,
19:57there's a billion dollars in there to hire
19:592,700 new ICE Office of Principal Legal Advisor attorneys
20:04to expedite removal proceedings,
20:06and $14 billion for air and ground transportation
20:09sufficient to support at least 1 million removals per year.
20:13We need to go find the other Solomons
20:14and get them out of America.
20:16And that's what this bill will do.
20:18We've got to get a sign-in-law as soon as possible.
20:20Yesterday, the House, changing subjects here,
20:22the House did receive the rescissions package
20:25from the White House, and we're happy to receive it.
20:26It's going to claw back $9.4 billion.
20:29Wasteful spending, 8.3 of that is in the foreign aid,
20:33the USAID abuses area,
20:35and $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
20:39These are common-sense cuts,
20:40and the American people are behind them.
20:42I'll tell you why.
20:43Just in the Corporation for Public Broadcasting space,
20:46don't forget, the NPR refused to cover
20:48the Hunter Biden laptop story.
20:50They repeatedly insisted that COVID-19 did not originate in a lab,
20:53and they ran stories defending looting during the summer of love,
20:56if you remember all that.
20:58Its CEO admitted that she regards, quote,
21:00truth as a harmful, quote,
21:02distraction from NPR's objectives.
21:05PBS produced a movie titled Real Boy,
21:07which celebrates a transgender teen's transition.
21:10This is all with taxpayer dollars.
21:12PBS has featured drag queens in programming for little kids.
21:15There is no reason for any media organization
21:17to be singled out to receive federal funds.
21:20We're in a different era now,
21:22especially those that appear to have so little regard for the truth.
21:25On the foreign aid front,
21:26we're cutting things like $6 million for net zero cities in Mexico,
21:31$4 million for sedentary migrants in Colombia,
21:34whatever that means,
21:35$3 million for Iraqi Sesame Street,
21:38$2 million for teaching young children
21:40how to make environmentally friendly reproductive health decisions.
21:44We're not making this stuff up.
21:46$1 million for voter ID in Haiti.
21:49Haiti, while they oppose voter ID here.
21:52This rescissions package is the manifestation of the Doge effort,
21:55which has transformed the way American people view government,
21:58and it's going to ultimately ensure greater accountability
22:01in government going forward.
22:02In addition to codifying the work of Elon Musk in Doge,
22:05this week the House will continue to codify
22:07the President's executive orders.
22:09We've got three of those on the floor this week.
22:11The list real quick.
22:13Representative Beth Van Dyne's American Entrepreneurs Act
22:15ensures taxpayer-funded loans go only to Americans,
22:19codifying President Trump's executive order
22:21to end taxpayers' subsidized open borders.
22:23Representative Brad Finstead's Save SBA from Sanctuary Cities Act
22:27moves SBA offices out of sanctuary cities
22:30and into non-sanctuary municipalities,
22:32and will codify President Trump's executive order
22:34to protect American communities from criminal aliens.
22:37And the last one this week is Representative Rob Bresnahan's
22:41CEAS Act, which aligns with recent action
22:43taken by the Small Business Administration
22:45to restore oversight capabilities to the SBA
22:47by limiting the number of for-profit
22:50small business lending companies.
22:52These are common-sense provisions.
22:53They deserve to be signed into law,
22:55and this is a continuing series of things
22:57that we've signed into law, executive orders.
22:58There are many more to come,
23:00and you'll see the House continue that effort
23:01in earnest this week.
23:02Let me take a few questions.
23:03I can guess what they'll be.
23:04Chad.
23:04Mr. Speaker, how can you explain the fact
23:08that Republicans voted for this interim spending bill
23:11back in March, greenlighting this money,
23:13and two, three months later,
23:15then you want to take back that money?
23:16That seems inconsistent.
23:17Well, if you're talking about, for example,
23:19this USAID money and this kind of stuff, I mean...
23:21That was approved in the CR back in...
23:23Yeah, yeah, it was.
23:24And here's the point.
23:25It's a critical point.
23:26When I met with Elon in his office
23:28back in early February,
23:29he had just gotten into it.
23:30They were just uncovering the USAID abuses,
23:32and they went after USAID first
23:34for their review, their audits,
23:36because USAID screamed the loudest,
23:40opposed the loudest of this accountability measure,
23:42and so they effectively put, you know,
23:44the scrutiny target on their own backs.
23:46And Elon and I were in his office late one night.
23:48We were talking about this,
23:49and I said he had just started...
23:50He had finished USAID.
23:51They were just starting on Social Security,
23:53and he was finding all these abuses,
23:55and we were talking,
23:56and he and I were getting increasingly excited together
23:57about this new era of accountability,
23:59and it occurred to me we were excited
24:00for different reasons, and I said, you know,
24:02Elon, you're excited because you're looking at this
24:04as a data analyst and a scientist,
24:06and I'm looking at it as a constitutional law attorney
24:08and a legislator and a novice historian, right?
24:12But, like, this is about more than saving money.
24:15This is about restoring the framers' original vision
24:18for the Constitution.
24:19The framers of our magnificent form of government,
24:22our matchless Constitution,
24:24what they envisioned, and in fact,
24:26what they designed was a small, lean federal government.
24:29They wanted most of the power reserved for the states,
24:33for the people at a local level,
24:34closer to the people
24:36because there's more accountability and efficiency.
24:38And so the Doge effort, overall,
24:40what it does is it restores the framers' vision
24:42because what Elon was able to do,
24:44what he's been able to do,
24:45what Doge is able to do,
24:46its lasting legacy,
24:47is they cracked the code.
24:48They got inside the belly of the beast.
24:50He was inside the bureaucracy of the agencies
24:52with his algorithms,
24:54crawling, finding all the irregularities and the abuses.
24:56He did something we had never been able to do before, Chad,
24:58not as long as I've been in Congress in nine years
25:00and not for decades.
25:02I told Elon that night, I said,
25:03you're doing something that we were not capable of doing.
25:06We've tried to perform our oversight responsibility,
25:08but Congress has not been able to get the things
25:10to uncover the abuses that you found.
25:14We didn't know we were funding transgender operas
25:16in Peru, obviously, right?
25:18Like, we would have stopped that.
25:19But our committees did their diligent work.
25:21They've done oversight.
25:22They've had hearings with the heads
25:24of the bureaucratic agencies,
25:25the executive agencies.
25:27Subpoenas have been issued.
25:29But never did they turn over this level of data
25:31and this level of detail.
25:32It was unknowable to us until now.
25:35And so, yes, we can't act fast enough
25:37on these rescissions to claw back these abuses
25:39because it happened without Congress's knowledge.
25:43And that's a really important thing to point to.
25:45And look, you give credit where credit is due.
25:46And I credit Elon and the Doge effort for doing that.
25:49But isn't that undercut Congress?
25:50I mean, if that was Congress...
25:51No, no, Chad.
25:52I understand the uniqueness of his situation.
25:55Yeah, but what it's going to do,
25:56the lasting legacy of this,
25:57and the reason it's so important,
25:58and the reason they deserve accolades,
26:00is because they have done a reset in Washington.
26:02Now, everybody knows what the abuse is.
26:04Not just Congress, but the American people.
26:06And we'll be able to demand
26:07and ensure greater accountability going forward.
26:09And that is a huge innovation.
26:11Yeah.
26:12Elon Musk was sort of making,
26:14alluding to electoral threats
26:16against Republicans who voted for
26:18the big, beautiful bill.
26:19I mean, he spent $290 million
26:21in the 2024 election.
26:24How much of a threat is this
26:26to keeping the majority in 2024?
26:29Look, let me just address the Elon controversy
26:32and tell you that I consider Elon a friend.
26:35He's obviously brilliant.
26:38I just told you we credit him
26:40with all the big changes with Doge
26:41and everything else.
26:42It's curious to me what happened this week.
26:44And I just, I mean, full disclosure,
26:46Elon and I had a great conversation
26:47about a half-hour-long talk on Monday,
26:50this week, Monday morning.
26:52And we talked about the big, beautiful bill
26:54because he made, he,
26:55I think he was trying to make a joke
26:56a couple of days earlier,
26:57it can't be big and beautiful.
26:59And I started the conversation,
27:00oh, yes, it can, my friend.
27:01It's very beautiful.
27:02So we talked about
27:03all the record level of savings.
27:06My friends, no government
27:07in the history of mankind
27:08has ever cut $1.6 trillion
27:10in a piece of legislation.
27:12We're doing that here.
27:12I mean, the extraordinary level of savings
27:15and the historic level of tax cuts
27:17at the same time
27:18and all these great policy prescriptions.
27:20And I talked to Elon through all that
27:22and explained to him what we're doing
27:23and that this is just the beginning
27:24of a long process
27:26of making government more efficient and effective,
27:28of cutting wasteful spending,
27:29fraud, and abuse.
27:30And you can't do it all in one bill.
27:31It took Congress decades
27:32to get to this situation.
27:34It's going to take us a little while
27:35to get out of it.
27:36But we have a very specific plan to do that.
27:39And Elon was encouraged by that conversation.
27:41We had a great, it was a very friendly,
27:42very fruitful conversation together.
27:44And he and I talked about the midterm elections.
27:47And he said, I'm going to help.
27:48We've got to make sure
27:49that the Republicans keep the House majority.
27:51We can't have the president impeached,
27:53which is what the Democrats would do on day one,
27:54as we all well know.
27:55And we've got to continue this.
27:57The Trump administration needs four years
27:58to do all this reform, not two years.
28:00The Biden administration,
28:02Biden-Harris made such a disaster
28:04of every metric of public policy,
28:05it's going to take us more than one bill
28:06to fix it all.
28:08Elon and I left on a great note.
28:09We were texting one another,
28:10you know, happy texts, you know, Monday.
28:13And then yesterday, you know,
28:1524 hours later, he does a 180
28:17and he comes out and opposed the bill.
28:19And it surprised me, frankly.
28:20And I don't take it personal.
28:21We don't take it personal.
28:22You know, policy differences are not personal.
28:28I think he's flat wrong.
28:30I think he's way off on this.
28:32And I've told him as much.
28:33And I've said it publicly and privately.
28:35I'm very consistent in that.
28:36But am I concerned about the effect of this
28:38on the midterms?
28:39I'm not.
28:39Let me tell you why.
28:40Because when the big, beautiful bill is done
28:42and signed into law,
28:43every single American is going to do better.
28:45This bill is geared for middle
28:47and working class Americans.
28:48And they are going to feel the effects of it.
28:50And they're going to feel it
28:51before the midterm election.
28:53So I have no concern whatsoever.
28:54I'm absolutely convinced
28:56that we're going to win the midterms
28:57and grow the House majority
28:58because we're delivering for the American people
28:59and fulfilling our campaign promises.
29:01And we'll see how that happens.
29:02Second row, Reverend, please.
29:03You floated a second reconciliation package.
29:06What would be in that second package
29:08once you'll get to it?
29:09You know I'm not going to tell you that this morning.
29:11Great question.
29:12Yeah, let's get the first one done.
29:14A leader has been around Washington a while.
29:16Look, I said this,
29:18this is the beginning of a process.
29:20And what you're going to see
29:21is a continuing theme
29:22of us identifying waste,
29:23raw and abuse in government,
29:24which is our pledge of common sense,
29:28restoring common sense and fiscal sanity.
29:30So we have lots of ideas of things
29:31that might be in that package.
29:32But as you know,
29:33for the first reconciliation package,
29:35for the big, beautiful bill,
29:36we worked on this for about 14 months.
29:38I mean, this isn't something
29:39we just drew up overnight.
29:41So we'll go through that same laborious process
29:43and it'll be fruitful in the end.
29:46And we'll do right by the American people.
29:47Front row.
29:47You mentioned that you talked to Elon on Monday
29:50who made this 180.
29:51What do you think changed?
29:53Why do you think he's coming out against us now?
29:55And have you spoken to the president
29:57and Elon since the infamous tweet?
30:00Well, I'll tell you,
30:01I called Elon last night
30:02and he didn't answer.
30:03But I hope to talk to him today.
30:05I mean, it's not, you know,
30:06it's very friendly
30:07and we've laughed about
30:09our differences on policy before.
30:11I'm not upset about this.
30:13And I just,
30:14I think he understands
30:16and he's acknowledged to me before
30:17that this is so serious
30:19that we can't fool around with it.
30:21I mean, the debt cliff
30:23is approaching very quickly, right?
30:24All the things that are in this bill
30:26are so important for the U.S. economy.
30:27It's going to be jet fuel for the U.S. economy.
30:29All boats are going to rise.
30:31And the sooner we do that, the better.
30:33And the risk of not getting it done is enormous,
30:35not just for the Republican Party,
30:36but for the country.
30:37We've got to do this.
30:38We're going to have the largest tax increase
30:39in U.S. history at the end of the year
30:40if we fail
30:40and all the other calamities
30:43that we've talked about.
30:44So we've got to get it done.
30:45And I think Elon understands the weight of that
30:46and I hope he comes around.
30:47I'd love to talk to him this week
30:48and I hope he calls him back today.
30:49I've talked to President Trump,
30:51you know, all the time,
30:52multiple times a day.
30:54Obviously, we've talked about this.
30:55As you know, he's not delighted
30:59that Elon did a 180 on that.
31:01But, look, I don't know what happened in 24 hours.
31:05Everybody can draw their own conclusions about that, okay?
31:07But I look forward to talking to my friend about it again
31:09and I'm not upset about it, all right?
31:12Yeah, Olivia.
31:13You brought up EV mandates
31:15when you were talking about Musk previously.
31:17Is that what you think is his motivation
31:19for opposing the bill?
31:21Manu brought up EV mandates, not me, okay?
31:23And I said that everybody can draw
31:26their own conclusions about that.
31:27Look, I don't subscribe motive to anybody.
31:31I try not to do that.
31:31It's a good way to live.
31:34I just believe that we've got to do the right thing
31:37by way of policy
31:38and I hope everybody understands.
31:40They might not think the bill is perfect in some respect.
31:43I mean, a bill that's 1,100 pages long
31:44and covers every area of policy
31:46and the budget that ours does.
31:49You know, very few people are going to say
31:51that's a perfect piece of legislation.
31:53But I hope everybody will evaluate that
31:54in both parties and everybody
31:56and recognize, wow,
31:58the benefits of this far outweigh anything
32:00that I don't like about it.
32:01And that's why we're excited about it
32:03and I hope our mood is not dampened
32:05next time we're together
32:06because we're going to celebrate this thing,
32:07getting it over the line by July 4th.
32:09Thank you all.
32:09Appreciate it.