Speaker Johnson speaks at a House Republican Leadership Press Conference. 7/21/2026

Good morning everybody. We have a lot on our plate this week. It's going to be a very important week for the country and for House Republicans. I spend a lot of time on the road when we're not in session. I'm out campaigning in the swing districts and with our candidates and our incumbents all across the country the last two weeks. I've been from California to New York, Iowa, Nebraska, many points in between. And everywhere we go, the American people are seeing and understanding, they're articulated in their own way, the stark contrast between the two sides. As we say all the time, this is not your father's Democratic party. The chasm between the two sides, their visions for America and what we believe, our principles, our priorities, our platform, has never been more divergent than it is right now. As I've said here many times and I say across the country, you know, a few decades ago, Republicans and Democrats in Congress are arguing over marginal tax rates and shades of regulation. Now we are quite literally in a contest to determine whether we're going to maintain our status as the world's great superpower, the greatest nation in the history of the world, as a constitutional republic, or we're going to tear that down to the foundation like the Communist Democrats want to do and go down this dark road of Marxism. Not on our watch, we're not going to do that. I am very confident, in fact, I'm very enthusiastic about the upcoming midterm elections. I believe people are beginning to see this. It is going to motivate voter turnout for true Americans who love their country more. We're in the process of making it better every single day. You're going to see that on display this week on the floor. We've said this is contrast. We have been saying for months, you've heard me say, contrast between common sense and crazy in the midterm. Now it's common sense versus communism. This is real. So this week on the floor, let me talk to you about a few things that we're going to have. It's been mentioned by leaders. This week House Republicans are going to take an important step to restore Americans' faith and trust in Congress and in American elections with the Stop Insider Trading Act. As Leader Scalise noted, this is something that people have been very interested in for a long, long time. We have finally cobbled together what we believe is a vote coalition to make that happen. I want to commend the good work of the House Administration Committee and Chairman Brian Steyer for their quarterbacking of this collaborative effort, and they've grabbed the bill that I think is really, really well done. Too often Americans struggling to make ends meet have watched as lawmakers have entered office to leave as multi-millionaires. There's a handful of glaring examples of people still serving, notably on the Democrat side. The Stop Insider Trading Act does exactly what it says. It bans members of Congress from purchasing individual stocks from publicly traded companies, and it helps prevent public officials from profiting from inside information. It's a very logical thing to do. The bill also includes a very common sense popular provision to ensure that voters must show a valid ID when they go to vote. Virtually all Republicans support that common sense measure, and over 70% of Democrats do, as acknowledged most recently by Chuck Schumer himself. And yet, watch, I bet you not a single Democrat in the House or Senate supports this measure. Democrats only talk about Democrats. Republicans are actually delivering real solutions to actually restore the public faith in our institutions, because we believe in this country. We believe in our matchless Constitution that is the envy of everybody around the world. We believe on the 250th anniversary now is a very important time to stand up. Later today, House Republicans are going to move closer to responsibly funding the government as well. We're going to pass a totally clean, very simple, continued resolution that will fund the government through November. The CR is as clean as they come. There are no more bills. There's no hidden maneuvers. There's nothing other than a simple extension of current funding levels, but this is going to be one to watch. Unfortunately, given that Democrats have already forced the two longest government shutdowns in American history in this Congress, one after 78 days, they've already demonstrated they don't care what kind of pain they inflict on their people. I think they're making the wrong calculation. Republicans are under no illusions about Democrats' intentions ahead of a very consequential interim election. Today's Democrat Party, I think they have a very false impression. They think they can score political points by trying to inflict pain. It's not going to work. They've shown there's nothing they'd love more than a government shutdown. As tens of millions of Americans head to the polls in November, this clean CR is an opportunity for both sides. They have an opportunity to demonstrate they're committed to responsibly funding the government through November. Again, I'll bet you they don't know this. The Democrats can't support this basic principle that they alone are going to own the chaos that ensues if the government shuts down after September 30. On reconciliation this week, of course, we're going to move the ball forward on Reconciliation 3.0. As a reminder, this legislative vehicle is our best shot at accomplishing two key objectives for the people of this country. These are very popular and important necessary objectives. Number one, secure American elections by passing the Safe America Act. Number two, protect and strengthen our home. How do we do that? We'll be providing supplemental funding in line with the administration's request to support our national defense and our farmers. Why is this necessary? Because the Democrats have yet again refused to work with Republicans on basic election integrity and strengthening our nation's defense. As always, Republicans support our troops, our farmers, election integrity, and we'll demonstrate that again this week. Another big thing on the floor that you know is the NDAA. Now, there was a time, Molly, you remember, not too long ago, that funding for our national defense was a bipartisan exercise because at the end of the day, everybody put their weapons down, metaphorical weapons, political weapons, and said, gee, you know, both parties have to acknowledge the necessity of maintaining our defense and supporting our troops. Surely that's the last thing to agree upon, everybody would say. For 65 consecutive years, Congress has done exactly that, enacted the National Defense Authorization Act without fail. I am sad to tell you that it's no longer the case because the communists talk, it's the Democrats that have decided, they're not into that anymore. Republicans will once again be the only adults in the room as we vote to authorize this critically important funding, just as we have done under previous Democrat administrations, but more than a century. Why? Because Republicans understand the priorities of the country. Even when we don't get our briefs and preferences, we're still willing to do the right thing and support those who put on the uniform. Democrats aren't there anymore. One final point, this week will prove beyond a dispute Democrats' reflexive obstruction, specifically obstruction for the sake of obstruction driven by Trump derangement syndrome and other maladies. It's shocking to say that today's Democrats would rather endanger our national security, they'd rather threaten the livelihood of hardworking Americans, they'd rather punish their own constituents than work with Republicans to advance any meaningful policy for this administration. But here's the good news, Republicans refuse to allow the Democrats to railroad the legislative process with their relentless and childless obstruction. No matter how hard they dig in their heels, we're going to work ten times harder, we're going to deliver for the American people, we're going to make our country safer, more affordable for millions of working families. We've demonstrated that over and over, we're going to continue to do it this week and as they've said, that is why we're going to win decisively in this election, not again. We're not, we're not going to turn this country into a communist sphere, we're going to maintain it.