LIVE: Speaker Johnson, Other Republican Leaders Hold a Post-Meeting Press Conference

Harris administration it's been hard to recruit and keep good service members in part because of the bad woke policies the loss of focus by this administration House Republican Conference it is my honor to kick off the first leadership stakeout of this year and we're excited as Republicans Democrats have made the bed that they lie in and they need to own their decisions every single day just recently President Biden has been pardoning sex offenders decreasing domestic energy and and forgiving even more student loan debt as he leaves his post we need as Republicans to fight against this record of corruption and bad policies dems need to own this insanity this is their mass but we will clean it up and fortunately there is a better path forward and it's a very stark contrast but the difference between the Democrats and Republicans is that our agenda is about opportunity freedom prosperity and putting America first while their agenda is about control dependence and America last we have an opportunity for a massive political realignment and we are excited about that we have a unified Republican government that wants to put America first again we also won on building diverse coalitions and I'm committed to doubling down on these efforts as conference chairwoman we ran on a political platform that is about being accountable to the people the Democrats alienated the working class while the Republicans proved we want to be the party of the bigger tent we want more investments in America we want energy independence again not an increased reliance on foreign countries that hate us and hate what we stand for we want to make our country safer today the House Republic of the House is expected to vote on the Lake and Riley act for people like and for people like congressman Addison McDowell the southern border is very personal very personal and he's gonna speak unfortunately he is perfectly equipped to talk about illegal immigration and why this matters in every community not just the border states and I'll turn it now over to congressman Addison McDowell for some remarks thank you good morning last week when we were sworn in and I took my oath and became a member of the 119th Congress my entire family was here with me everyone except for my little brother Luke Luke wasn't here because he was killed by fentanyl that was almost certainly manufactured in China and smuggled across our southern border when I decided to run for Congress I went and met with President Trump and I told him sir I'm ready to get off the sidelines and I'm ready to fight with your agenda to secure our border and protect our country I'm ready to fight for families like mine who have had my mom and dad had to look at police officer in the eyes when when he told them that their son was dead every day that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden and the Democrats in Congress refused to act more people will die that is why that was the number one issue for Americans across the country when we went to the ballot box they looked at the president and the vice president they said y'all are fired I'm looking forward to voting for the Lake and Riley Act today because for families like hers and like mine this is a needed step to those of you that are watching I lost my little brother and I'm in Congress so that you don't have to lose yours I'm excited to get to work President Trump we need you here January 20th cannot come fast enough thank you thanks Edison yesterday President Donald J Trump's historic victory was solidified marking the dawn of a new golden age for America the time is now to restore our strength rebuild our prosperity and reassert true leadership in our nation with just 13 days until President Trump returns to the White House our House majority is acting swiftly to advance important legislation that Joe Biden and the Democrats blatantly ignored the Lake and Riley Act with Joe Biden Chuck Schumer and the party of lawlessness out of the way the radical left's mission to enable criminal illegal aliens criminal illegal aliens yet people keep writing undocumented whatever criminal illegal aliens at the expense of law-abiding Americans it's no longer going to be tolerated the tragic and preventable murder of Lake and Riley serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of failed leadership but thankfully voters sent a clear message on November 5th the American people elected a Republican trifecta to put a stop to the failed Biden-Harris policies that rolled out the red carpet for illegal immigrants criminal illegal immigrants and put Americans in harm's way and guess what that's exactly what we're gonna do the Lake and Riley Act is a direct step toward ensuring that criminal illegal aliens are swiftly and permanently removed from our communities and our country this bill is more than just a piece of legislation it's a return to common-sense American values and under President Trump's leadership there will be a lot more where that came from as we restore the rule of law and put Americans first again and with that I turn it over to our leader Steve Scalise thank you whip it was very exciting Friday to not only get sworn in but to see all these new members of Congress as part of this new Republican majority both House majority Senate majority with President Trump Trump coming in just a of weeks we have over 30 new Republicans that are a part of this majority and their enthusiasm is contagious they came to do big things and we have big things planned and I'll talk about a couple of those things but we started by doing something and maybe some of you were a little disappointed in we actually only took one ballot to elect Mike Johnson as our speaker and I think that showed you just how focused this new majority is on doing our work we have a lot to do we did not have time last week to go multiple rounds and try to have a lot of internal fights while we might have internal disagreements along the way we are going to be focused on the people's business and we have a lot of work to do to fix the mess as Lisa pointed out that Joe Biden Kamala Harris and the Democrats have left behind just look what Joe Biden did a couple of days ago puts out another executive order to make it harder to produce American energy another kick to the gut of hard-working families those people in the middle class he talks about the middle class he talks about hard-working people and yet he passes policy after policy to kick them in the gut and raise costs on them those actions on energy anti-american energy policies will raise costs even higher on those those families who can't afford it the good news for those families is help is on the way we are starting the budget reso reconciliation process we are already working with committee chairs we've been doing this for months but now we're doing it in a very direct way we've worked with President Trump to make it clear that in February we're going to get our budget on the floor the committees will be working by March to actually get the policies in place to not only secure the border to get good energy policy in place to reverse a lot of these radical regulations that are crushing families across America but to just get Washington have some common sense again as President Trump has talked about and then to move that through the house by April by Easter it's an ambitious agenda but it's an agenda that all of us signed up for we're starting today with the Lake and Riley Act a bill we passed last Congress but Chuck Schumer made it clear he was not going to allow through his far-left radical Senate well now we have a new Senate and John Thune wants to move that bill as early as this week so that is good news to people like Addison real people like Addison who have real stories where Washington had left them behind and didn't care about their problems the good news for them is there's a new light in Washington there's a new sign of hope in Washington where we're gonna be addressing the problems that families are facing and we're gonna do it quickly this is gonna move at rapid speed because the problems America faces cannot wait so this Congress is open for business and it's ready to move fast you're gonna see that aggressive agenda led by our first ballot speaker Mike Johnson well thank you all and welcome to the 119th Congress it is already gotten off to a swift start and it has to and I tell you what there's a real feeling on Capitol Hill right now in the midst of the snow and all the winter drama as well as across the country it really does feel like a new day in America it really does and I we're excited about it the excitement is palpable our members are ready to get to work and we already are we have hit the ground running as we promised everyone we would on that campaign trail because we have to fix everything and it begins today on Friday we passed our rules package as you all know and that included 12 policy measures that that prove to the people that House Republicans are serious about this delivering on our promises you'll see instant measures right out of the gates here to secure the border unleash American energy protect American elections and return to common sense which will be a primary theme of the new year for all of us on Saturday and Sunday we took all the House Republicans for workshops and lengthy retreats we spent all day both of those days meeting and having important discussions about our policy agenda and and what will happen over the next several months you all heard me say over the last year we were developing you know using my football metaphors we were developing a playbook and we have and we have very well-designed plays and now we're working out the sequence of those plays working with the new head coach in that metaphor which is President Trump and our colleagues and teammates and the Senate the Senate Republicans and we're excited about how all of that is is rolling out we trudge through the snow yesterday to certify the elections and that went off without a hitch 38 minutes to certify the new president that might be a record I'm not sure but it went off well and President Trump won the popular vote and he won all seven swing states which we stood to applaud during that important procedure the America first agenda will be on full display that was the mandate we got in the election with with president receiving 77 million popular votes and the House Republicans receiving almost 75 million which I think is a record we won the popular vote as well and we we know that that message has been heard here loud and clear as promised we're starting today with border security if you polled the populace and the voters they would tell you that that was the top of the list and we have a lot to do there to fix it it's an absolute disaster because of what has happened over the last four years and the Lake and Riley Act is a big part of that you know her story it was last February 22 year old student reminds us many of us of her own children out for a jog a vicious killer tragically murders her and that that killer entered the country illegally with Joe Biden's open border and took the life of a beloved daughter and sister and friend the only thing President Biden did after Lake and Lakin's tragic death was apologized for calling her murderer and illegal that's outrageous we we all know the real victim here is young Lakin there are real consequences to policy decisions this one was deadly it was reminiscent of what the tragic story that Addison shared about his little brother and we all feel that acutely this is a story that's repeated across the country to so many many countless American families and it must come to an end and it will and we'll begin with legislation like Lake and Riley Act today when we brought this bill forward last Congress it's shockingly amazingly to me a hundred seventy House Democrats voted against that legislation we we're going to detain and deport illegal aliens who commit burglary theft larceny shoplifting certainly vicious and violent crimes and I can't believe anybody would be opposed to that but as Democrats struggle with their identity now as a party post-election we'll find out if they're still clinging to that open border policy and that that mantra and despite the American people roundly rejecting all that in November we'll see this would be a telling vote also this week the House will vote to impose sanctions on ICC officials and put the ICC prosecutor Kareem Khan back in his place he does not have jurisdiction over Israel or the United States and it is outrageous that they're that they're issuing arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel's Defense Minister Golan the ICC is actually equating Israel and Hamas even as Hamas still holds Israelis and American hostages it is just absurd that the house will not tolerate rogue actors who circumvent international law to attack Israel and threaten America we won't do it and this bill passed the house on a bipartisan basis last Congress and after we vote on it again with leader Thune in now in leadership in the Senate and Chuck Schumer out I expect that'll be brought to the Senate for for a vote finally later today we'll have the chance to honor President Jimmy Carter the late president as he lies in state here in the rotunda special occasion obviously one of the rare opportunities that we have to honor a former president in this manner and I hope you all join us to remember President Carter and mourn with his family and with the nation with that I'll take a few questions well the attention or the intention is to is to handle the debt limit in reconciliation in the process and that way as the Republican Party the party in charge of both chambers we then get to determine the the details of that if it runs through regular order and regular process and as a standalone or as part of the appropriations for example then then you have to have both parties negotiating and we feel like we're in better stead to do it ourselves so there is a broad range of opinion on that in our own conference and we are working through that it will be having very deliberate lengthy whiteboard sessions with all of our members this is something I actually look forward to I love this process of churning it out amongst our colleagues because people come to the table with great skill sets life experiences deep principled positions and it's it's a really healthy thing to have that debate inside that the tent and come to the the solutions and the consensus together and people feel like they have a sense of ownership in it when they do that so that's what will be devoting a lot of my time leadership teams time our committee chairs time over the coming days and weeks to make sure that everybody is on the same page on that so the debt limit among all the issues is probably one of the most important I want to emphasize this and I'm going to say this every time the issue comes up Republicans and this this majority in the House and the Senate our intention and our mission is to reduce the size and scope of scope of government to reduce spending in a in a in a meaningful way so that we can get restore fiscal sanity and get our country back on the right track so raising the debt limit is a necessary step so that it we don't give the appearance that we're going to default in some way on the nation's debt that that's important to the bond markets and and the stability of the dollar and all the rest but that does not mean that we have any intention whatsoever or will tolerate spending up to the new debt limit the idea is to do exactly the opposite so while that is a almost a pro forma sort of step that must be taken the commitment at the same time is to reduce spending not to spend more so that will be the thoughtful discussion we have behind the scenes that that number the final formula for that is yet to be determined but it will be determined here in the coming days and I look forward to having that discussion money are you open at all to cuts to entitlement programs specifically to medicare no look the president has made very clear social security and medicare have to be preserved and and we are not no one is coming in with the intention of cutting benefits in any way or anything but we have to look at all spending and look at it very deliberately while maintaining those commitments the Republican Party is not going to cut benefits okay we've made that very clear over and over and over and that's the commitment of the White House and the commitment of this Republican conference we do know however at the same time there are many many areas of fraud waste and abuse the government is too large the agencies are too many there have too many divisions and employees and all the rest and there'll be a very deliberate auditing of all of that in various aspects as we go through the process the doge initiative the project is going on simultaneously and we'll be dovetailing all that together so our intention is to by the end of this Congress to show the American people we we brought the government back down to a measurable state so to speak right that it works more efficiently and effectively for the people and the way you do that is to get back to the the original intent the primary the primary roles of the federal government and that's been expanded too much the government has expanded too much over the last year I'll take one more back row yes ma'am yes yeah the Lakin rally act was bipartisan leader Scalise is reminding me behind me 37 Democrats did vote for that 170 voted against it and I think they put politics ahead of principle and we're gonna find out where they stand on this now look we have every intention of doing really important bipartisan work in the Congress I was to be frank I was heartened when leader Jeffries and in his opening remarks before he introduced me to give my you know speakers speech that he noted some of this he noted border and other things we'll see it can't be just empty rhetoric it's got to be action and we're gonna give them the opportunity to take action with us I look we welcome with open arms any Democrat who wants to help us solve these problems because the American people demand to deserve it it's overdue and we'll be looking for that and we'll see how it shakes out thank y'all thank you happy new year