Speaker Johnson defends Double strikes on Drug Boat, invokes numerous Drone Strikes ordered by Obama
Speaker Mike Johnson delivered a firm defense of the controversial double strike on a Venezuelan drug boat, urging the public and Congress not to rush to judgment. He said preliminary assessments suggest Admiral Bradley believed the second strike was essential to completing the mission. Johnson emphasized upcoming Armed Services hearings while shifting attention to Barack Obama’s drone-strike record, arguing that far less scrutiny was applied during that era. The remarks intensified debate over military ethics and political hypocrisy.
#SpeakerJohnson #DrugBoatStrike #DoubleStrike #TrumpAdministration #AdmiralBradley #VenezuelaCrisis #WarPowers #MilitaryEthics #Trump #Hegseth #CongressHearings #USNavy #NationalSecurity #PoliticalDebate #ObamaDroneStrikes #Geopolitics #BreakingNews #USPolitics #WarControversy #ForeignPolicy #CrisisUpdate #DefenseDebate #CapitolHill
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Speaker Mike Johnson delivered a firm defense of the controversial double strike on a Venezuelan drug boat, urging the public and Congress not to rush to judgment. He said preliminary assessments suggest Admiral Bradley believed the second strike was essential to completing the mission. Johnson emphasized upcoming Armed Services hearings while shifting attention to Barack Obama’s drone-strike record, arguing that far less scrutiny was applied during that era. The remarks intensified debate over military ethics and political hypocrisy.
#SpeakerJohnson #DrugBoatStrike #DoubleStrike #TrumpAdministration #AdmiralBradley #VenezuelaCrisis #WarPowers #MilitaryEthics #Trump #Hegseth #CongressHearings #USNavy #NationalSecurity #PoliticalDebate #ObamaDroneStrikes #Geopolitics #BreakingNews #USPolitics #WarControversy #ForeignPolicy #CrisisUpdate #DefenseDebate #CapitolHill
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NewsTranscript
00:00Well, good morning, everybody. I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and got to spend some time with friends and family.
00:07Before I begin, though, I need to acknowledge the tragedy that struck Washington just before Thanksgiving.
00:14Our National Guard was attacked on American streets, and so was our nation's generosity, compassion, and sense of security.
00:24It was wrong. It will always be wrong.
00:30So please join me in praying for the families, first responders, and every guardsman still in our Capitol today.
00:40Now, to the work before us in the House, millions of Americans just returned from Thanksgiving on a holiday where they watched get more expensive every year under Joe Biden.
00:55His policies sent prices on gas, groceries, and everyday essentials through the roof.
01:03While things aren't fully back to normal, families are finally feeling relief this year because of the Republican affordability agenda.
01:13Thanksgiving costs were down 5 percent this year.
01:16Turkey dropped 16 percent, and gas prices hit a four-year low, making it easier for families to gather.
01:25But we're not done.
01:26This week, House Republicans are taking direct aim at Washington's red tape that is crushing small businesses and draining household budgets.
01:36So think of this.
01:37Small businesses now pay nearly $14,700 per employee just to comply with federal rules.
01:49Meanwhile, families lose more than $16,000 a year to hidden regulatory taxes.
01:57And that's just unacceptable.
01:59So House Republicans are acting.
02:01Our affordability agenda will move forward with the Dump Red Tape Act and the Small Business Regulatory Reduction Act.
02:11These are real reforms to roll back Washington's overreach and put power back where it belongs.
02:19The power needs to be with the workers, with the families, and with the job creators, not with the government.
02:25Democrats created this affordability crisis.
02:29They buried families under regulations, spent trillions on pet projects, and siphoned off Americans' hard-earned money to appease their radical base.
02:42We're not letting that stand.
02:43House Republicans are actually cleaning up Bidenomics.
02:47We're ending Biden inflation and restoring an America that working families can afford to thrive again.
03:01Thank you very much, Chairwoman.
03:03This week, we're going to be running some very important legislation, particularly dealing with the Communist Party of China.
03:09I'm so thankful for our leadership team standing up to this.
03:12And let me tell you a little bit about what's happening in the heart of the heartland, right here in Iowa.
03:17Look, I started off my career as a counterintelligence officer for 20 years.
03:21I worked directly inside China.
03:23And we saw what Communist China brought to the United States, not just in the buying of farmland,
03:27but literally sending agents to my district and pulling corn seed out of the ground so they could replicate it back home.
03:34But now they're not just growing or coming after what we grow in our fields.
03:37They're coming after what we grow in our classrooms.
03:40Most recently, a group from Des Moines Public Schools was taken on an all-expense-paid trip to be inside China.
03:47But the Chinese weren't there under the facade of friendship.
03:50They were there to collect information, to exploit, and to manipulate.
03:53They forced these kids to hand over their digital information,
04:00required them to use WeChat, an internal public server for China,
04:04started an early process of cultivation.
04:07And in the counterespionage world, we consider this source recruitment.
04:12Consistently, I've had parents across Iowa say, how is this allowed to happen?
04:17And the simple truth is, there's no law preventing it.
04:21The Chinese government is creating a series of shell organizations to recruit kids to come to China
04:27and then exploit them the moment they set down in soil inside Beijing.
04:33This has to stop.
04:35I'm so proud of this team for helping us stand up to what the Politburo in Beijing is trying to do to kids in Des Moines, Iowa,
04:41and across our country.
04:42We have the opportunity not only to push back, but to send a strong signal
04:46that we have a friendship opportunity with China that is real,
04:49but we will not stand by while Chinese communist agents attempt to recruit kids for future exploitation.
04:55Whether it's in ag or whether it's in the classroom, we have the opportunity to say no.
04:59And this team has stood up to do it.
05:01Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, for your leadership.
05:03One billion dollars.
05:10That's how much money has been stolen from the hardworking taxpayers in my home state of Minnesota.
05:15And if that's not egregious enough, some of these taxpayer dollars have allegedly been diverted to Al-Shabaab terrorists.
05:25Under the failed leadership of Tim Walls, Minnesota has become a hotbed for fraud.
05:31We knew it was bad, but now, thanks to the work of our new U.S. Attorney for Minnesota,
05:38the true size and scope of the crimes is being brought to light, finally.
05:44Two hundred and fifty million dollars in the Feeding Our Children scandal.
05:52The largest pandemic fraud case, by the way, in the country.
05:56Fourteen million robbed by a woman who fraudulently diagnosed Somali children with autism,
06:02then billed the taxpayer for the services that were never provided.
06:07Over five million stolen by individuals falsely claiming to provide housing assistance to those in need.
06:14These are just some of the fraud schemes that have been federally charged.
06:18And I want to emphasize that because our failed governor tried to claim that he's been prosecuting.
06:23He hasn't even investigated.
06:26There are even more, by the way, that are under investigation, including 80 autism clinics that are currently under investigation.
06:33Career fraud prosecutor and former acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Joe Thompson,
06:39said the amount of fraud, quote, takes my breath away.
06:43Even the New York Times admitted that the fraud in Minnesota is, quote, staggering in its scale and its brazenness.
06:53Between the meals, housing and autism therapy fraud cases, 86 people have been charged.
07:02Of those 86, 78 are of Somali descent.
07:08Let me be clear.
07:09It is not racist to call out criminal behavior.
07:13And we're going to not cower to baseless labels while Minnesotans, including law-abiding Somali Americans, get robbed blind.
07:23While Tim Walls refuses to take accountability for the fraud he created and enabled,
07:29President Trump is committed to justice for the crimes against the taxpayers of Minnesota, and I am too.
07:36I want to thank Treasury Secretary Scott Besson for launching an investigation into this important issue.
07:43Minnesotans deserve answers and accountability, and we're not going to rest until they get both.
07:48And thank God for President Trump raising this because no one was covering it.
07:52We've been sounding the alarm on this fraud for over three years.
07:56No one in this room and no one back at home was reporting how bad this is.
08:01Finally, because of our president raising the issue, people are talking about it.
08:05And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention before I left what our conference chair talked about when we started.
08:12My wife Jackie and I are praying for the family of Sarah Bergstrom as they grieve this infuriating and infathomable loss.
08:23We're also praying for Andrew Wolfe as he continues to fight for his life.
08:26These two guardsmen are heroes who answered the call to keep this city safe.
08:33Justice must be executed swiftly for this heinous and targeted act.
08:38And with that, I yield to the leader.
08:44Our country was shocked the day before Thanksgiving to see just a senseless, violent act of this tragedy attack on our National Guardsmen here in D.C.,
08:59the West Virginia National Guardsmen that were both attacked for just doing their jobs and keeping D.C. safe.
09:06I, too, want to extend my prayers and sympathy to Sarah Bergstrom's family for the horrible loss of her life
09:15and just senseless, senseless loss of life for such a young girl with great promise.
09:21And then, of course, Andrew Wolfe, who is still at the hospital fighting for his life from the gunshot wounds that he suffered.
09:29And we keep him in our prayers, his family as well, and pray that he is able to recover and come back.
09:38And I know the people of West Virginia share that.
09:42The people of America share those prayers.
09:45This week, we have a number of bills we're bringing to the floor to continue to address some of the problems
09:52that were created by the Biden administration that drove up inflation, that drove up higher costs.
09:56We saw so many ridiculous rules and regulations that added costs to the products we buy,
10:04our small businesses that were under attack.
10:06And so this week, we're bringing a number of bills to reduce those regulatory attacks on small businesses.
10:12Giving small businesses relief also gives families relief in terms of lower costs.
10:18We're going to bring more bills that came out of the Education Committee to take on what is happening in our universities,
10:26in our schools where the Chinese Communist Party tries to move Confucius Institutes into our schools,
10:32teaching our children, trying to put communist ideas into our children in our schools.
10:40And so we're going to continue to have more transparency and prohibit that kind of money coming in from China to our schools.
10:49We're bringing the SCORE Act to give some structure over the years.
10:54You've seen lawsuits erode the ability for the NCAA to even police college athletics to the point where now it's the wild, wild west.
11:01There are no rules in place, no structure.
11:03You have people that can play until they're 26 years old in college athletics.
11:09You don't have any protections for a lot of the student-athletes.
11:12And so we first restore the ability for policing through the NCAA.
11:17Congress won't be doing the regulations.
11:20It will be the NCAA having the ability to police college athletics again.
11:24We also protect women's sports.
11:26We protect Olympic sports by ensuring that you have an equal number of women's sports to men's sports,
11:34that you have a minimum number of sports so that a lot of the Olympic sports that are so important to our country,
11:40as we see the Olympics coming up here again, in many cases our Olympians come from the college ranks.
11:46And so we protect that too.
11:48And again, just putting structure in place for what is right now wild, wild west atmosphere.
11:55And we're going to continue to work on health care proposals to ensure that families have choices and lower premiums.
12:03That's what Republicans care about.
12:05Democrats have never cared about that since they passed the Affordable Care Act.
12:10And all the broken promises and lies that went with it.
12:12If you like what you have, you can keep it.
12:14Probably the most broken promise in all of politics,
12:18where millions of families lost the good health care plans that they liked because of the Affordable Care Act.
12:24And, of course, there's nothing affordable about the Affordable Care Act.
12:27All we've seen is increased costs, 80 percent premium increases.
12:32Democrats just concerned about bailing out insurance companies who get record profits,
12:37while families see higher premiums because of that failed law.
12:40What we want to do is give families options, lower premiums for families.
12:45And, again, we've brought some bills to the floor already.
12:48We're going to keep bringing bills to the floor to do those two things,
12:51to lower premiums for families and give them options so that they can get what's best for their families.
12:57They don't have to be enforced into a plan that the government tells them they have to be in that's too expensive form
13:03and doesn't work for their family.
13:05They can buy whatever they want that makes sense for them and for their family.
13:09So we're going to continue to work on that, too, as we move an aggressive agenda.
13:13And that agenda is led by our speaker, Mike Johnson.
13:17Thank you, Mr. Leader, this leadership team, Colonel Nunn, for being here with us this morning.
13:22There is a lot going on, and we want to give you some updates on things.
13:25I hope everybody had a blessed Thanksgiving.
13:28It is true that our hearts were heavy, of course, with Sarah and Andrew,
13:31these two selfless National Guardsmen who were senselessly attacked while they volunteered for service
13:38to defend the rest of their fellow Americans, and they literally took bullets for it.
13:45And so our prayers are with Andrew as he recovers, and our hearts and prayers are with the family of Sarah.
13:50It reminds us, it reminds us that freedom isn't free,
13:54and some people make the ultimate sacrifice so the rest of us can have that.
13:58You know, I was reminding our conference this morning, 1789, our first president, George Washington,
14:04was the first to issue a national day of Thanksgiving and prayer, a proclamation.
14:09And he declared that because the Congress requested it of him.
14:13And, of course, Washington was the first and best person to do that, to start the tradition.
14:17And he wrote famously in his proclamation, he said,
14:21It is the duty of all of us, it is our duty to acknowledge the blessings of God,
14:26to be grateful for what he's done for our country and all of us individually,
14:30and to humbly implore his protection and favor.
14:35It's never been more important to do that, and it's a great reminder.
14:37Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday, as we know.
14:41And it's a great time to sit around the table and be reminded of those blessings.
14:45And chief among them is the freedom that we enjoy.
14:48And we do not take that for granted.
14:50So it's proper, appropriate for us to acknowledge those sacrifices.
14:54Now, there's a lot going on across the country.
14:57There's a special election in Tennessee today, you may have heard.
15:00Tennessee's 7th District.
15:02I spent all day there yesterday.
15:03I think it was 10 hours and 12 events, I think.
15:07I was with Matt Van Epps, our Republican extraordinary candidate for the seat there that is open
15:12and will be filled today in the election.
15:13He's running against someone who truly is, by any objective measure, a real radical.
15:19She famously said that she hates Nashville, which is the largest city in the district,
15:23which is kind of an interesting campaign strategy, and hates country music.
15:28You know, it's Tennessee.
15:29So Matt Van Epps is an extraordinary candidate, by contrast.
15:33He is a lieutenant colonel in the Tennessee Army National Guard.
15:37He's a combat veteran.
15:38He flew combat missions deployed eight times over to the Middle East and dodged missiles and bullets for his country.
15:45He worked in Tennessee state government and is a highly capable, competent, calm, common-sense conservative.
15:52He's exactly what that district needs.
15:54We're excited for him, devoted husband and father, America First Patriot.
15:57So I'm just, hey, if you're in Tennessee's 7th District, Nashville, and 14 counties, go vote today.
16:01It matters.
16:02Special elections are strange animals, and anything can happen.
16:05And when you're in a deep red district, sometimes people assume that the Republican, the conservative, will win,
16:10and you cannot assume that because anything can happen.
16:12So we encourage everybody to go out there and make that happen.
16:18The people are fired up.
16:20I was there and really enjoyed the energy there.
16:23We're going to see that across the country next week as we go into this very important midterm election next year, I mean, in all the weeks ahead.
16:32And as we go into that election, remembering, again, how important all of this is.
16:37And as we put some posters up here to remind you and remind all of ourselves what an extraordinary run we've had in the 119th Congress.
16:45Now, in spite of the fact that we had razor-thin majority, I mean, many times, as you know, one or two-vote margin,
16:51we still have had one of the most consequential Congresses in the great history of this extraordinary nation.
16:58And, you know, if you look at what has been accomplished for the first ten months of this term, this year, the 119th Congress, this new administration,
17:05you could stack that up against any Congress in history.
17:08I think it's probably in the top five in terms of marquee landmark achievements.
17:12And, you know, part of our both a blessing and a curse is we did so much of it in the one big, beautiful bill, the working families tax cut.
17:20There's so much to talk about.
17:21It's as if it just got brushed aside.
17:22But the component pieces of that is some of the most nation-shaping, productive, pro-growth policies that have ever occurred to help all Americans.
17:30And we look forward to all the provisions of that bill being implemented, beginning really in earnest in the first part of the year.
17:37And so the first quarter, second quarter will be a very different scenario.
17:41But we're excited to go through that.
17:44We can't fix everything overnight.
17:46And the Biden-Harris administration, as we've said so many times in four years, really destroyed almost every metric of public policy.
17:52We don't go flip a switch to do that.
17:56It takes some time.
17:57And we've been working earnestly and around the clock to do that, to work on solutions to solve all those problems and to make government more efficient and effective and responsive.
18:05Republicans have been delivering and working to bring down costs for American families, to fix the Democrats' broken health care system,
18:12and to rid our streets of violent criminals and dangerous illegal aliens.
18:17All this has been our goal since January, and we've been delivering.
18:20And as the year comes to an end, we started to reflect upon what we've done in that first 10 months and ultimately the first 12 months, and it's really something.
18:29The working families tax cut.
18:31Let me just tell you some of the components of that because people seem to have forgotten.
18:36It was a permanent extension of the 2017 tax cuts, which is collectively it's the biggest tax cut in U.S. history.
18:43Had we not passed the big bill, we would have had a $5 trillion tax increase on all hardworking American families as that expired in December.
18:53It was a marquee achievement.
18:54We also in that included permanent estate tax relief extensions.
18:58We had landmark Medicaid program reforms, which the CBO has said is going to save $185 billion and reduce premiums on everybody for their health care.
19:08We expanded the SNAP work requirements to get ineligible recipients off, young, able-bodied men with no dependents or health problems.
19:15They shouldn't be riding the wagon, and they won't anymore.
19:17In the bill, we increased border enforcement and funding, generational investment in those things, and it's work because guess what?
19:24The border is sealed, and we don't have all these illegals coming across the border anymore.
19:29We included no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, increased standard deduction for seniors, free tax savings accounts for every child born in America,
19:37which we'll be announcing at the White House in an event this afternoon, business tax provisions to incentivize investments and innovation.
19:46That's all in the bill and much more.
19:47We codified 67 of President Trump's America First executive orders so far, and there are many more to come.
19:54We repealed Biden-era regulations with 23 Congressional Review Act resolutions.
19:59Now, this is important, too.
20:01We've been making history along the way over the last 10 months.
20:03In the entire time that CRA's Congressional Review Acts have been part of the law, only 20 had been signed into law since the inception of that instrument.
20:15This year alone, we have already passed 23 of those out of the House, and 16 of those have been signed into law.
20:22That's a big thing.
20:24We've restored regular order to the appropriations process, and y'all know what a big thing that was.
20:28The goal of mine, since I became Speaker a little over two years ago, was to restore regular order,
20:32because instead of governing by an omnibus before Christmas, which is no way to do stewardship, we wanted to get back to 12 separate appeals bills.
20:40And as you saw, when we reopened government, one of the things the president signed was three regular order appropriations bills signed into law.
20:47What a marquee achievement.
20:48We had agriculture, legislative branch, military construction, VA bill signed into law.
20:53And both chambers and the appropriators are working right now to put the next bills, get them prepared, and get them enacted and signed into law.
21:01We've also, in the last 10 months, defunded wasteful spending through rescissions, billions of dollars there.
21:07We passed and signed into law the Genius Act, the bipartisan landmark crypto legislation.
21:12We passed into signing into law the Lake and Riley Act, the Halt Fentanyl Act, and the Take It Down Act.
21:16And the House has passed the SAVE Act, the Illegitimate Court Counter Action Act, Protecting American Energy Production Act,
21:24the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, Fix Our Forest Act, the Ticket Act, Unlocking Our Domestic LNG Potential Act,
21:31American Entrepreneurs First Act, Stop Illegal Entry Act, Made in America Defense Act.
21:35I could go on and on and on.
21:38Remember, these are just the top lines.
21:39The House has passed 331 pieces of legislation this year that will directly improve the quality of life for millions of American families.
21:47And that's a lot to be thankful for.
21:50By the way, just this week, as was mentioned earlier, President Trump is signing into law the IRS Math and Taxpayer Help Act.
21:57It received little fanfare in the media, but it's a bill that will provide taxpayers fairer treatment when corresponding with the IRS regarding tax returns.
22:06And that's a big thing as we go into tax season in the first quarter.
22:09It's the type of work that House Republicans are doing here every day in these halls.
22:13We're working on real solutions to real problems for our constituents.
22:18As I mentioned, the Working Families Tax Guide, if we were just to go through every provision of that bill that's going to make life easier and safer and more affordable for American families,
22:27we would be here until Christmas.
22:29So I'm not going to do that for you.
22:31But we're not going to rest on our laurels, okay?
22:33The American people delivered a clear mandate last fall for us to fix everything.
22:38And we're going to sprint through the finish line next November.
22:41We'll be adding a new member.
22:43I expect Matt Van Epps is going to win that election today.
22:46And we will bring our freshman class of Republicans up to the number of 36, adding another vote to that margin every single day.
22:53And we'll keep working.
22:54We're more confident than ever that the Working Families Tax Cut provisions are implemented as that happens in the first quarter, second quarter.
23:03American families begin to receive financial relief.
23:06Republicans are not just going to hold on to the majority.
23:09We're going to grow it.
23:10And over the next weeks and months, House Republicans will advance legislation to continue to bring down the cost of health care for working families,
23:17to ensure our fighting force remains the most lethal and the best prepared in the world,
23:23and to fully fund the government for the upcoming fiscal year in a responsible way while maintaining good stewardship of taxpayer resources.
23:30This week, as the leader mentioned, we'll pass legislation to reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses further,
23:36to keep the Chinese Communist Party out of America's classrooms.
23:39That's a big and important endeavor.
23:41And to establish a landmark nationwide NIL framework for collegiate athletics and empower student athletes to maximize their college experience.
23:49Despite the unrelenting stream of palace-intrigue stories that fill the pages of your publications,
23:56House Republicans remain united and focused on delivering results for our constituents.
24:01That's how we've gotten this done.
24:02That's how we'll continue to do it.
24:04And that will be happening in earnest in the weeks and months to come.
24:08So we'll take a few questions.
24:09Okay.
24:11You're so eager.
24:12I've got to go.
24:14We have a relationship at this point.
24:16First off, hope for Thanksgiving as well.
24:17But quick question.
24:18What are your thoughts about, and not related to the Minnesota welfare scandal,
24:24but specifically what are your thoughts about President Trump calling Governor Walz retarded?
24:29Well, look, that's not the word that I would choose.
24:33I think his reaction was probably a spontaneous one to the enormous amount of fraud that was announced there.
24:39We're thinking it may be, it could be $2 billion.
24:44Congressman Ember, of course, represents that state.
24:47And it is an outrage.
24:49And we're told that this was funding terrorist organizations in Somalia.
24:54And so it's a lot to look into.
24:56I mean, all of us, when we heard the news, we reacted in different ways.
24:59And, you know, that's not the word I would choose.
25:02But I think everybody understands how absurd and crazy that is and how Congress has an immediate obligation to look into it.
25:09And the administration is as well.
25:11And we're going to get down to the bottom of that.
25:12But Governor Walz appears to have a lot to answer for.
25:15So it was a really stupid thing.
25:17Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker.
25:19You talked a lot about your accomplishments.
25:21And one you didn't mention is the SAVE Act, which the House has passed twice.
25:25It's still awaiting action in the Senate for some reason.
25:27But many are still asking when an in-person, same-day, hand-counted paper ballot measure will be passed.
25:35And will that be done in time for the 2026 election?
25:37Yeah, I've been asking that myself.
25:39I think that would be a really important measure to eliminate, you know, fraud in elections.
25:45And there is some element of fraud in every election.
25:48We all know that.
25:48And we have a duty as lawmakers to prevent as much of that as is humanly possible.
25:53The SAVE Act has been a big priority of ours.
25:55I think I did mention it in a list, but it was so long.
25:58I certainly intended to.
25:59It's an important measure, and we would certainly love to get that signed into law.
26:03We need a little help in the Senate, of course, to do that.
26:05We don't have control over all elections.
26:07The states in our system, as you know, have a lot of responsibility over that, and that is federalism.
26:12We support that.
26:13The states have that in their jurisdiction of authority.
26:17We don't want to federalize all elections because that could open up a whole other can of worms.
26:23But with regard to federal elections, at least, you know, elections for Congress and Senate, we do have some say.
26:28And so the SAVE Act would be an effort to ensure that we eliminate as much fraud as possible.
26:33I've obviously been a big champion.
26:34I was a co-author of it before I became Speaker.
26:36We've been working on this, and we'll continue to try to get it done.
26:39So it's a big priority.
26:40Yes, ma'am.
26:40Mr. Speaker.
26:41Yes, ma'am.
26:42Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
26:43Elise Stefanik wrote on social media this morning that you are protecting the deep state by not including a provision in the Intelligence Authorization Act.
26:51What's your reaction to this claim, and why is House Republican leadership not united on this?
26:58Well, all of that is false.
27:01I don't exactly know why Elise won't just call me.
27:04I texted her yesterday.
27:06She's upset that one of her provisions is not being made, I think, into the NDAA.
27:10I explained to her on a text message as soon as I heard this yesterday.
27:14I was campaigning in Tennessee, and I wrote her, and I said, what are you talking about?
27:16This hasn't even made it to my level.
27:18The way regular order works is, and I think she should know this.
27:22We'll be talking about it, I'm sure, today.
27:24The way this works is that it has to go through committees of jurisdiction if it will be attached to the NDAA.
27:29And this provision that she's working on, I think, is under the jurisdiction of judiciary.
27:34And so there's a four corners engagement and agreement that's required.
27:37You all know how this works.
27:39The two chairs and the two ranking members of the committees of jurisdiction, which would be judiciary in the House and Senate, all have to agree, or at least three out of four have to agree.
27:48It's typically unanimous to make sure that it makes it onto the bill.
27:52Well, in this case, I found out last night, this wasn't even on my radar, that that apparently didn't happen.
27:58And I haven't even talked to those chairs, but I haven't had time because I got in late last night.
28:02But apparently those four, the two chairs and the two rankers in both chambers did not agree, and so that provision was dropped out of the NDAA.
28:09It doesn't mean it can't become law or even that that is a final decision.
28:12But I sent my friend Elise a text last night, and I said, can you find out what the issue was, and I'll help you resolve it.
28:18I support her provision.
28:20I mean, I would vote for it.
28:21I think it's smart.
28:21And I'm not sure exactly why it wasn't included.
28:24So I don't know why she's frustrated with me.
28:27I literally had nothing to do with it.
28:28But I'm happy to roll up my sleeves and help her.
28:30I want everybody to be successful, and we're going to try to make the bill the best it can be.
28:36On the Caribbean boat strikes, the administration has acknowledged that there was a second strike in that attack in September.
28:43But they have not said if there were any defenseless survivors.
28:46Should they release the video to Congress, the unedited video to Congress and to the American public, and two, if the defense of survivors were killed, would that constitute a violation of the laws of war?
28:59I'm not going to prejudge any of that.
29:01As you know, both of the Armed Services Committee and the Senate and the House will be having hearings on this to review, and that's their role.
29:07I have been listening.
29:09Again, I was pretty busy yesterday.
29:11I didn't follow a lot of the news, but I caught up a little bit early, early this morning.
29:13My assessment of this, my understanding is that most of the people that have looked at this, at least in a preliminary review, say that the admiral who ordered the second strike thought it was necessary to complete the mission.
29:27He's a highly decorated, highly respected admiral in the Navy, and he made that call.
29:34And so we're going to have to look at that.
29:37I'm sure Congress has a right to look at it.
29:38I don't know how much of the tape should be released because I'm not sure how much is sensitive with regard to national security and all that.
29:45I haven't had a chance to review it, so I'm not going to prejudge it.
29:48But I will say that, you know, it's not an unprecedented thing.
29:52One of the things I was reminded of this morning is that under Barack Obama, President Obama, he had, I think, over 550 drone strikes on people who were targeted as enemies of the country, and nobody ever questioned it.
30:04Okay, and secondary strikes are not unusual.
30:09It has to happen if a mission is going to be completed.
30:13So I haven't reviewed the scope of the mission.
30:15I haven't reviewed that particular strike.
30:17I don't know what went into the admiral's decision matrix, but it's something that Congress will look at, and we'll do that in the regular process and order.
30:25I think it's very important for everybody to reserve judgment and not leap to conclusions until you have all the facts, and that's what we'll be uncovering.
30:31Yes, Secretary Hayek, testify.
30:32Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
30:34The first note is a little bit self-serving.
30:35It's Giving Tuesday, and so just asking everyone to consider perhaps public television among the many worthy charities.
30:42And public television, one of the best.
30:45Yes, there's a plea to give to public television for Giving Tuesday.
30:48And then on health care, two of your members came out of the meeting just now and told me that it was their impression that the House Republicans are likely to get on board some kind of short-term extension for the subsidies while you work out long-term reform.
31:03If they weren't members who loved that idea, but they said it looks like that might be necessary, where do you think things stand, and could something come before the House by the end of the year?
31:13I don't know who you talked to, but they might have left early.
31:15I was up there for quite a bit today.
31:16We were talking about a lot of issues, and what I said, we didn't commit to that.
31:20What I said is, when you have, this is just practical, okay, when you have a razor-thin majority, which we have, this is not like the old days.
31:28You know, in the old days, they had 30, 40-seat majorities, and so four leaders could go in a back room, create the agenda, and hoist it upon everybody and say, this is what you're doing.
31:36And if 20 or 25 people disagreed, they said, so what?
31:39Go jump in the Potomac.
31:40We're moving forward.
31:40It doesn't work that way, right?
31:42In an era of small margins, I literally have to get almost every person in the room on board.
31:49Now, health care is a very complex issue, and I want to point this out.
31:53Look, it is not the Republicans who broke American health care.
31:56Next week, we'll go into this in real detail, and I'll show you the whole timeline.
31:58The Democrats broke health care, okay?
32:00When they created the Unaffordable Care Act 15 years ago, they promised you that everybody could keep your plan, keep your doctor if you want it, and that your premiums would be reduced on average by $2,500.
32:11Exactly the opposite was the truth, and premiums have risen, in some cases, 60%, 80% over that time.
32:17They broke the system, and every time the Democrats have gone in to try to subsidize the broken system, they've spent more and more taxpayer dollars, and they've been wasted.
32:27The COVID-era subsidy only affects 7% of Americans, okay?
32:32All this hullabaloo is over 7%.
32:34Now, every American, 100% of Americans need their health care costs to come down.
32:39Republicans have ideas to do that.
32:41Now, what I've got to do is build consensus deliberately around the best ideas, and we've been working on that.
32:46The majority leader has been quarterbacking this effort with the chairman of the committees of jurisdiction, with the DOCS caucus, and with individual members who this is their passion, and they really spend a lot of time thinking and working on it.
32:57And we're pulling those ideas together, and there will be a Republican response to this, okay?
33:01So I can't project in advance what that will be, because I don't know what the consensus is in that room.
33:06But you will see our sleeves rolled up and that work being done in earnest this week as we bring all that together.
33:11I told everybody, we are going to respond.
33:14We understand the need of bringing down health care costs, and at the same time, raising access to care and quality of care.
33:21The Republican Party is the party that can do that.
33:23The Democrats have demonstrated for 15 years they broke the system, and they keep doubling down on the broken system, okay?
33:31Hey, and guess what?
33:33If you love your Obamacare, you'll get to keep it, okay?
33:36We're going to improve the system for Americans, and we have good ideas to do it.
33:39We have a lot of thoughtful people working on this, and we'll be pulling it together.
33:43So, no, the answer is no, I did not project any outcome of this this morning.
33:47We were talking about the various ideas, and we're working right now.
33:50People are very passionate about this, and they should be, because their constituents understand the necessity of it.
33:54So we'll keep doing that.
33:56Thank you all so much, and there will be more later today.
33:58Do you know what the Somali Art Society, they actually work on helping Somalis get properly diagnosed.
34:08They're what the Somali Minnesota autism is saying.
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