- 2 days ago
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) held a press briefing on Thursday after the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill.
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00:00USA! USA! USA!
00:04Yeah, you all can see over me?
00:06Yes.
00:07Oh, man.
00:09She's making sure of that.
00:11Well, good afternoon, everybody.
00:14It is noon, right?
00:16Listen, six months ago to the day,
00:20I spoke on the House floor about my optimism for America's future.
00:25I was optimistic because the American people gave Republicans a historic opportunity,
00:33an opportunity to enact the largest tax cut in American history,
00:40to finally secure our borders and unleash American energy,
00:46an opportunity to put America first again.
00:55Well, I am proud to say, House Republicans, we delivered.
01:03And thanks to the work of the House Republican Conference
01:08and our president, President Donald J. Trump,
01:12Americans have certainty.
01:14They will keep more money in their pockets
01:17and have the safety and security that they deserve.
01:21House Republicans remained unified.
01:25No one thought we could do it.
01:27Everybody doubted us, didn't they, Mr. Speaker?
01:29Right?
01:30They doubted us.
01:31But here we are again.
01:33Mr. Whip, what are we?
01:34Six and O?
01:34Nobody in this room doubted us.
01:36No.
01:36Nobody here doubted us.
01:38Uh-uh.
01:39But we are unified.
01:41We delivered on our promises to the American people.
01:44No taxes on tip, no taxes on overtime, tax relief to seniors,
01:50enhanced child care tax credits, elimination of the death tax,
01:55more ICE agents.
01:57We're finishing the border wall and funding the Golden Dome.
02:02And most...
02:04And for all the fear-mongering that goes out there from the Democrats,
02:11we actually secured Medicaid for those who need it most.
02:17Vulnerable Americans, pregnant women, and the disabled.
02:21Compared to the Democrats who would rather give Medicaid
02:25to illegal aliens and MS-13 members.
02:29Democrats are fear-mongering because they have no vision,
02:32no plan, and no leader.
02:34But guess what?
02:36We have a leader, and our leader is President Donald Trump.
02:39And lastly, let's not forget that actual fiscal sanity is being restored.
02:50Because of our work, the one big, beautiful Bill Act
02:54is headed to the President's desk for signature.
02:59And today marks the end of the waste, the fraud,
03:03and the abuse of American taxpayers' dollars.
03:06It marks the end of higher gas prices,
03:09the end of higher energy costs, and higher grocery bills.
03:12And because of the one big, beautiful Bill Act,
03:15Joe Biden's border crisis is over.
03:19Listen, I applaud my colleagues who worked tirelessly.
03:31I don't think the Speaker and the Whip and the leader have slept in days.
03:37But they've worked tirelessly to ensure that we actually delivered on our promises.
03:43And I thank President Trump for his leadership in getting this bill across the finish line.
03:49Without his leadership, none of this would have been possible.
03:53His vision, none of this would have been possible.
03:56But today, we passed actual transformational legislation,
04:00legislation that will impact every family.
04:05Tomorrow, we celebrate our nation's independence,
04:08and we set out to spread the message of this historic achievement.
04:13But today, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to celebrate.
04:20President Trump and the American people's agenda has been delivered.
04:27And the man who probably had one of the most difficult jobs
04:31was Mr. Emmer, who actually had to whip and count all the votes
04:35and get everybody into line.
04:37So, without further ado, our Whip, Tom Emmer.
04:41Thank you, Lisa.
04:46You know, Mr. Speaker, they always complain about such a small majority.
04:50But for us old hockey players, it's just fewer numbers to count.
04:54It works out much better.
04:56On November 5th, Americans elected a Republican House,
04:59a Republican Senate, and a Republican President with a mandate.
05:02A mandate for change.
05:04A mandate to undo the failed policies of the last four years
05:08and to deliver on President Donald J. Trump's America First agenda.
05:14Today, we're all proud to report that by passing our one big, beautiful bill
05:18and sending it to President Trump's desk to be signed into law,
05:22we are fulfilling that mandate.
05:25This is a once-in-a-generation piece of legislation that secures our border,
05:31unleashes American energy,
05:33allows families to keep more of their hard-earned taxpayer dollars in their pockets,
05:38cuts, waste, fraud, and abuse in government programs like SNAP and Medicaid,
05:43modernizes our air traffic control system,
05:47strengthens our national defense,
05:48and so much more.
05:51All while implementing the largest cut in mandatory spending in our history.
05:57To put it simply, this bill is President Trump's
06:00Make America Great Again agenda being codified into law.
06:04From Minnesota to Texas and Maine to California,
06:08there are wins in this legislation for every single American.
06:12And I couldn't be more proud to be part of the Republican team
06:16that got this thing across the finish line.
06:18I want to say thank you to our Speaker, Mike Johnson.
06:37We should also thank our leader, Steve Scalise.
06:41And while she won't tell you what she's doing,
06:52we've got to give a big thank you to our conference chair, Lisa McClain.
07:00I want to thank the chairman of all our committees
07:03that worked on the reconciliation instructions
07:05for doing all the hard work behind the scenes
07:08of putting this bill together.
07:10And most importantly, most importantly,
07:12and people who know me know that it's about the team,
07:15I want to thank the members of our House Republican Conference
07:19for uniting as a team and getting this thing done.
07:22As we've said a million times before,
07:36do not underestimate the Republican majority in the House,
07:40the mighty majority in the House.
07:43This legislative process may not always look pretty,
07:47and there will always be many tough fights,
07:50but one thing is certain.
07:52We will always deliver on our promises to the American people.
07:58And with that, I turn it over to our great leader,
08:01Mr. Scalise.
08:02Well, thank you, Whip, and what a beautiful day here in America.
08:17It is the golden age of America again.
08:20America's coming back.
08:22And I tell you, a lot of people wrote this bill off for dead.
08:24Nobody said it would be easy.
08:28But you know what?
08:30We didn't come here to do easy things.
08:32We came here to do big things.
08:35We came here to make history.
08:38We came here to deliver on the promises we made
08:41to the American people to fight for them
08:44and to take power out of Washington
08:47and give it back to those families
08:49who have been struggling for way too long.
08:51Now, we had a little bit of debate on the floor today.
09:00You got to see a difference
09:02between the two parties in Washington,
09:04maybe more crystallized than we've ever seen before.
09:08And I think that's a good thing.
09:09I hope America watched all of it,
09:11watched Democrats falling asleep behind their leader
09:14as he went on and on,
09:15trying to scare the American people
09:17with lies, with scare tactics.
09:19with depressing stories about things
09:23that will never happen
09:24unless Democrats keep running this country.
09:28But the American people said,
09:30we will not live in fear.
09:32We are not a country of fear.
09:33We're a country of hope.
09:35We're a country of optimism.
09:37We're a country that believes
09:38our brightest days are ahead
09:40and they elected Republicans
09:42to deliver on those brighter days.
09:44And I think maybe their leader
09:52wanted to speak for hours and hours
09:54and break records
09:55because they wanted to stand in the way of history.
09:59But history is not going to be denied.
10:03We were elected with a purpose.
10:07Donald Trump ran all around this country.
10:09He went to swing states
10:10that they said Republicans could never win.
10:13And he didn't give different messages
10:15to different places.
10:16A lot of us traveled with the president.
10:19And the one thing you can say
10:20about Donald Trump
10:21is it doesn't matter where he went.
10:24When you listen to his speech,
10:26it was probably going to be a little bit longer
10:28than the paper that was written.
10:30Might have been about a 15-minute long speech
10:32because President Trump speaks from the heart.
10:35President Trump expanded our base.
10:38It wasn't just the typical Republican voters.
10:40It was people of all walks of life.
10:43People who had given up on Washington
10:44because Washington gave up on them.
10:47And they finally saw a leader
10:49who was willing to fight
10:50for the hardworking people of this country.
10:53That's who Donald Trump has always been.
10:56And all the people that knocked Donald Trump
10:58ignore one important fact.
11:01There is no better, more passionate fighter
11:04for America and its hope and promise
11:07than Donald J. Trump.
11:12And President Trump said at every stop,
11:15if you elect me,
11:17if you give me a Republican House
11:19and a Republican Senate,
11:20these are the things I will do.
11:22It was kind of historic in a lot of ways.
11:24It should be commonplace
11:26that a presidential candidate
11:28runs on specific things
11:29and then delivers
11:30on every single thing he ran on.
11:32He said,
11:33I'm going to secure America's border.
11:34His opponent said
11:35they were going to keep the border open.
11:37He said,
11:38I'm going to actually make our country
11:40energy independent again.
11:42And then the war,
11:44the attack on American energy
11:46that we've seen for four years
11:47crushed jobs,
11:49crushed the economy,
11:50forced families to pay too much for gasoline
11:52and emboldened the enemies of our nation
11:54like Russia, Iran and others.
11:57And those days are over
11:58with this one big beautiful bill.
12:00And President Trump said
12:05a lot of other things.
12:07But what American people knew
12:09about not only electing Donald Trump,
12:12but about keeping this House majority
12:14and about electing a Republican Senate
12:15is that they said,
12:17we're going to entrust this group of people
12:19to go and be different
12:21and to deliver on those promises.
12:23And when you look through
12:24all the historic things
12:26in this one big beautiful bill,
12:27the wins for hardworking families,
12:30win after win after win,
12:32it's delivering on those promises.
12:35We are going to see economic growth.
12:37When Donald Trump signs this bill tomorrow
12:39on America's birthday,
12:42the independence of our nation,
12:44you will start seeing historic growth
12:46like we've never seen before.
12:48I've been proud to work
12:49on a lot of important pieces of legislation.
12:52There is not one group of people
12:53and there is not one bigger piece of legislation
12:57that will deliver more great benefits
13:00for the hardworking families
13:02who have been struggling in this country
13:03than this one big beautiful bill.
13:05There's a reason it was hard.
13:07There's a reason that it wasn't two committees
13:10like Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
13:11It was 11 committees involved.
13:13Historic.
13:14We made great historic reforms
13:16in education policy.
13:18First ever repeal of a Second Amendment tax
13:21in the history of our country.
13:23A constitutional right
13:24being taxed, gone in this bill.
13:28You've heard about a lot of the other provisions.
13:31One of the things you didn't hear about
13:32is school choice.
13:33Federal school choice for the first time ever.
13:35So low-income families will have an opportunity
13:38to get their kids out of failing schools.
13:41Every Democrat voted against all of those things.
13:44And they're going to have to explain that.
13:46Once the lies and the hot air
13:47and the long-winded speeches are over,
13:49people are going to go,
13:50I'm better off today
13:51now that this bill's signed into law
13:53and all the things you said didn't happen.
13:55But the great things that Donald Trump
13:57and this Republican majority promised did.
14:00And that's the testament
14:01to the non-ending hard work
14:04of this group of people.
14:06And I will tell you,
14:07I've worked alongside a lot of leaders.
14:10And I've been blessed
14:12to be a part of leadership
14:14in majorities mostly.
14:17Minorities too.
14:17It's a lot more fun to be in the majority.
14:20But you get in the majority
14:21to do the big things,
14:23to do the hard work.
14:24And believe me, this was hard work.
14:25You all know it.
14:26You all know how many times
14:27this bill could have died
14:28if we just said,
14:29you know what,
14:30it's probably not going to get there.
14:32There's a lot of reasons
14:33why you could say
14:33it's just going to fail.
14:35But this group always said
14:37from the beginning,
14:37and we told you this
14:38and we meant it,
14:40failure's not an option
14:41because the American people
14:43are counting on us.
14:44There's too much at stake.
14:45There was too much at stake
14:47from the very beginning.
14:48And we knew the power
14:49of what this bill will do
14:50for those families
14:51who were counting on us.
14:53And so every time
14:53it would have been easy to give up,
14:55we just thought about those families
14:56who entrusted us with their vote
14:59and we had to deliver for them.
15:01We figured out a way
15:02to come together.
15:03People you never would have thought
15:04showing up voting yes.
15:07And I will tell you,
15:08all the leaders I've served with,
15:10I don't think there's one,
15:11one that held this group together,
15:14complicated majority,
15:16narrow majority,
15:18narrowest we've ever had.
15:19We were down a two-vote majority
15:21at the beginning of this process.
15:24And Speaker Mike Johnson
15:25never one day wavered
15:29on his commitment.
15:31Donald Trump absolutely was our closer
15:33and Donald Trump never stopped.
15:35Every day was there in the fight.
15:37Who do I need to call?
15:38What do I need to do?
15:39No president more directly engaged.
15:42And believe me,
15:42tomorrow at the White House,
15:44you're going to see a proud president
15:45who's ready to deliver
15:47on his promise to the American people.
15:49But this bill wouldn't be
15:50heading over to the White House tonight
15:52without the incredible yeoman's
15:56unwavering support
15:59of Speaker of the House,
16:02my dear friend,
16:03Mike Johnson, our leader.
16:09This is the vote tally card.
16:34We're going to frame this one,
16:34okay?
16:35218, 214.
16:36Listen, I'm not going to give you a long speech.
16:38A lot has been said today,
16:39and these people are exhausted.
16:41A couple of us quite literally
16:43haven't slept in two days,
16:44so I'm a danger to myself
16:45and others right now.
16:46I'm not going to speak off the cuff.
16:48I'll just say this.
16:48I mean, many of you have asked me
16:50this question in the hall
16:51over the last couple of days.
16:52But when it looked like
16:53that we might actually deliver this thing,
16:55particularly this morning,
16:56how did you know?
16:57I mean, what kept you going?
16:59Why did you think this was possible?
17:03You guys made an audacious plan.
17:05You brought the most comprehensive,
17:08complicated piece of legislation,
17:09probably, arguably,
17:11in the top two or three
17:12in the history of the Congress,
17:13with the smallest margin in U.S. history,
17:15which we had for a big chunk
17:16of the first hundred days.
17:18And you put this audacious timeline.
17:20You said you were going to pass it
17:20out of the House by Memorial Day.
17:22I mean, some of you openly laughed at me
17:24when I said that back in early February.
17:25And then we said we would get it done
17:27by July 4th.
17:28We beat Memorial Day by four days,
17:30and we got this one done a day early,
17:31I just want to point out, okay?
17:36Chris scheduled an interview, thank you.
17:41So the question was, I mean,
17:42like, why?
17:43Why did you do that?
17:44Why did you think that was possible?
17:45Because it just sums up,
17:47I would sum it up with one word.
17:48It's belief, okay?
17:51We had a vision for what we wanted to do as a group.
17:53We believed in the election cycle last fall
17:56that we were going to be given
17:58this great blessing of unified government,
17:59that we would have the White House
18:00and the Senate and the House aligned
18:02and alignment, unified government.
18:04And we did not want to waste that opportunity
18:06because we understand the history
18:07that comes along with it,
18:08the opportunity that we can do for the country,
18:11and we believe that we would have that chance.
18:13And then I believe in the people
18:14that are standing here behind me.
18:15I believe in this group,
18:17every single one of them individually.
18:18Some of them are more fun to deal with
18:20than others, you know?
18:21I mean that with the greatest level of respect.
18:26I love every single one of my colleagues.
18:29You know, even the ones I've got to spend
18:30the more time with, right?
18:32Because everybody's here.
18:33Their motive is right.
18:34Their heart is right.
18:35They're trying to do right for their constituents.
18:36They're trying to serve the greatest nation
18:38in the history of the world
18:39that we're going to celebrate tomorrow.
18:40We don't take that lightly.
18:42I know their hearts,
18:43and I know what their skill sets are,
18:44and I know what they bring to the table,
18:45and I get up every day excited
18:47because I know that each of them
18:49are going to bring that to the table,
18:51and they're going to serve their constituents.
18:52You could not have a greater group
18:55of public servants
18:56than the people standing in this room right here.
18:58They will give their all for this country,
19:00and man, that's what the framers intended
19:02when they put this thing together 249 years ago.
19:06This is what it was about.
19:07So I believed in this vision.
19:09I believed in the group.
19:11I believe in America.
19:13I believe we have the greatest nation.
19:15I'm going to say this very simply,
19:24and everybody here would articulate it in their own way.
19:26We had a tough four years
19:27before this last election cycle.
19:28America was in deep trouble,
19:30and we knew that if we won,
19:32and we believed we would,
19:34we knew that if we got unified government,
19:35we'd have to quite literally fix
19:37every area of public policy.
19:39Everything was an absolute disaster
19:41under the Biden-Harris radical,
19:43woke, progressive Democrat regime.
19:46And we took the best effort that we could
19:49in one big, beautiful bill
19:51to fix as much of it as we could,
19:53and I am so grateful to God
19:55that we got that done as we did
19:57because of the dedication.
19:59Yeah.
20:05Lastly, it's no secret,
20:06I do believe in God.
20:08I believe in that motto that I referenced
20:10in the floor speech a little while ago.
20:12I believe that is what has made our nation
20:14the greatest in the history of the world.
20:16And some people shake their heads,
20:17and they think that's old-fashioned or something.
20:19That is a fact.
20:20When the framers put this together,
20:22they stepped out in faith.
20:23They did something that no nation had ever done before.
20:26The great statesman philosopher G.K. Chesterton,
20:29of Great Britain,
20:30said America is the only nation in the world
20:32that was founded upon a creed.
20:34And he said it's listed with almost theological lucidity
20:37or clarity in the nation's birth certificate,
20:39the Declaration of Independence.
20:40We hold these truths to be self-evident.
20:42We recognize,
20:43we boldly proclaim the self-evident truth
20:45that our rights do not come from the government.
20:49They come from God himself.
20:50He's the one that gave us our rights.
20:52That's right.
20:59Abraham Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address,
21:00we are dedicated to this proposition,
21:02to one nation under God.
21:04A government of the people,
21:05by the people,
21:06for the people,
21:07shall not perish from the earth.
21:08This is an experiment.
21:10It's only 249 years.
21:11Y'all,
21:11that's not a long span of time in human history.
21:15It's just a real blip
21:16on the whole scale of human history.
21:18It is up to us to save it.
21:19It's up to the duly elected representatives
21:22of the people to come here and represent.
21:24And it's up to every single one of us,
21:26of the people,
21:27by the people,
21:27for the people,
21:28all of us.
21:29So you got to be engaged
21:30and we got to pass this along
21:32in the next generation.
21:33Reagan reminded us,
21:33freedom's not inherited in the bloodstream.
21:36It's got to be protected.
21:37It's got to be fought for.
21:38It's got to be taught
21:39to the next generation
21:40so that they will have
21:41the same liberty,
21:42opportunity,
21:42and security
21:43that we have all known
21:44and too often take it for granted.
21:46So I just want to say,
21:47we're going to get to the main event here.
21:48We're about to sign this bill
21:49and get it over to the White House.
21:50Some of these men and women
22:02have got to go catch flights and stuff.
22:03So we're going to sign this real quick
22:04and I'll take a few questions,
22:05but I just want to say this.
22:07Do not take for granted
22:08what we have been given,
22:10this grand experiment in self-governance.
22:12We can preserve it,
22:13but we've got to do it all together.
22:15God bless you.
22:15Thanks for being here.
22:46We're going to head out, Tim.
22:52Yeah, yeah, back to Iowa.
22:55Where'd that fighter pin?
22:59And then you just have to
23:15finish the beverage game.