Speaker Mike Johnson: We Are Codifying Trump’s EOs Into Law So They Can’t Be Erased By A Future Administration

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During Tuesday's House Republican leadership press briefing, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) discussed the process of codifying President Trump's executive orders in law.

Transcript

00:00Good morning, everybody. Great to see you all. It's a great day on the Hill. We're

00:05very encouraged and even excited this morning about where we are and

00:09everything. President Trump, after the inauguration, and Republicans have taken

00:17our job very seriously. We haven't wasted a moment. We all celebrated the first

00:20hundred days of the Trump administration and all the extraordinary things that

00:23have been accomplished in such a short period of time. And we've been

00:27working around the clock to codify so much of what President Trump has been

00:32doing. I think there's a hundred forty-three executive orders that have

00:35been issued thus far and we're we're working around the clock to make sure

00:40that we put these into statutory law so that it can't be reversed and erased by

00:45an upcoming administration. For some reason the media acts like that this

00:48effort is some somehow a negative thing. It's not at all. Anybody who says that

00:53they just fundamentally misunderstand the relationship between congressional

00:57Republicans and President Trump and his administration. We all ran on the same

01:01America first agenda. Secure the border. Cut taxes for working families. Revive

01:07American energy production. Strengthen our standing on the world stage and bring

01:12back common sense. That's the those that sort of the common themes of all these

01:16executive orders and the action the administration has taken. And this agenda

01:20remember was resoundingly endorsed by 77 million Americans who voted in the

01:26popular vote for the president and almost as many for House Republicans. We set a

01:30record for that. It's the most diverse and expansive coalition we've seen in

01:34modern history. A real and true demographic shift. And the reason people voted

01:39that way is that they had this sort of hopeful anticipation that the president and

01:43Republicans in Congress would do exactly what we are doing right now. And we are we are

01:48fulfilling that promise. We already have the formula for prosperity and security and that's

01:53the thing about President Trump. It's not an unknown entity. As we've all

01:56recounted many times he's done it once he'll do it again. We we we plan to work

02:01together to enshrine the agenda in the law and make sure we have a roaring

02:04American economy and stability and security and prosperity and strength again.

02:09From day one President Trump has used his executive authority to reverse also the

02:13devastating policies the last administration. There was a lot of that to be done. But as the previous

02:18administration made it painfully clear executive orders can be undone and

02:22overwritten and that's why we have to move it through the legislative process. And we

02:26are. Here's a few key examples okay of what we've already voted to codify in

02:31terms of the executive orders. The president's election security executive order

02:35through the SAVE Act. That's what we voted on and got that done in the House. His executive order banning men

02:41from women's sports. We did that through the Women and Girls in Sports Act. His sanctions on the ICC. We did that through our illegitimate

02:47court counter action act to support our ally Israel. And his forest management

02:53executive order through fix our forests act. Some of the things we've done so far.

02:57Now this week we'll add another one to the list. We're going to pass Marjorie Taylor

03:03Greene's bill to permanently rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. And then

03:08we're going to codify dozens more of President Trump's budget related executive

03:12orders spending related executive orders through the budget reconciliation process. Let me

03:17give you just a quick word on that and then we'll take some questions. As leader

03:20Scalise just recounted we're really excited. We're very encouraged this

03:24morning. I mean I am I'm so thankful to have such a team that's worked so hard. I

03:29began the House Republican conference meeting this morning with all the

03:32House Republicans by congratulating and thanking all of our committee chairs. I

03:37mean they worked so hard around the clock and we've been doing this for almost a

03:40year as we've said many times in here. And all the committee members who were so

03:44disciplined and getting the work done. I mean they had 10-12 hour hearings and some

03:48of these committees some even longer. And they got the product done and through

03:52the process. So by the end of this week we'll have eight of the 11 committees of

03:56jurisdiction will have done their work. And then next week we will have ways and

04:00means energy and commerce and an AG. And some of you reported or some of your

04:06outlets reported anyway over the weekend that this was somehow a snag in the

04:09process that those three committees were going next week instead of this week. But

04:14as I've explained to a few of you individually I'll just say you're together in

04:18the room. We went last Thursday to the White House as the leader mentioned. Steve Scalise and

04:23I and Chairman Guthrie and Chairman Smith met in the White House with the

04:28President and his and his whole team on point. We had Secretary Besant there from

04:32Treasury. We had Russ Vogt from Office of Management and Budget. We had his whole

04:38Ledge Affairs team and Susie Wiles the Chief of Staff and Stephen Miller and the

04:42whole group. And the intention was to work through some of the final details but

04:46we realized that we were still awaiting some key numbers on calculations on

04:51some of the provisions with tax and some of the other details. And it just made

04:54sense for us to push pause for a week to make sure that we do this right. We

04:59didn't want to move this quickly speed for the sake of speed. We want to get it

05:02right. And so everybody in the in the room agreed that it made sense for us to do

05:06that. And so we push those those three committees that are going next week just

05:10off another week so we can make sure that we have the right equilibrium point

05:14on all the key issues. And I'm absolutely convinced we're going to do that and I'm

05:18excited about it. So we'll stay on track. They'll they'll do that next week and by

05:22the end of the week as as Steve said, Leader Scalise said, we'll have our 11

05:27committees. We'll send them to by the end of next week to the Budget Committee and

05:32Chairman Arrington then and his team will take that and merge it all together

05:36and we'll have the one big beautiful bill ready to go. We can pass that by

05:39Memorial Day. That was our original time frame and some of some of the people in

05:43this room balked and thought that would be impossible. But stop doubting us. We're

05:47gonna get this job done. Okay. I'll just make this point. I made it on TV over the

05:51weekend and I want to say it again. The House and Senate Republicans are

05:54utilizing the budget reconciliation process primarily because Leader Schumer in

06:00the Senate, Leader Jeffries in the House and their Democrat colleagues refuse to

06:04engage in anything no matter how meritorious even to improve the lives of

06:09their constituents if it means that President Trump will somehow be

06:12credited with a win. I mean it's really sad but that's the fact. They'd rather

06:16put up put on performative stunts and host these activist town halls and all

06:20this other nonsense then just work with us to bring costs down and make

06:24communities safer for their constituents. Just think about how the

06:28American people feel about these issues. Consider this. Secure the border, right?

06:32Securing the border is an 80-20 issue in America. Deporting illegal aliens, more

06:37than 50% of American American people believe that every single illegal alien

06:42should be deported. Okay. And yet Democrats, much less the violent criminals, which

06:46the administration has taken on in earnest. But in spite of those numbers, okay, the

06:51Democrats are taking trips to Central America to bring back violent illegal aliens

06:56because back to the country. It's, it's, it's, it's madness. Strengthening Medicaid for

07:02Americans who need it by eliminating things like fraud, waste, and abuse, which is a huge

07:06problem in the program, including removing illegal aliens. If you add all that

07:10together, 66% of the American people think that that's a very important idea. We need to

07:15improve and shore up and strengthen the program so that it can be there for the

07:20people who desperately need and deserve it. And, and Democrats, what are they doing? They're lying about what we're

07:25doing with Medicaid. Um, so much so that we, we've gotten them to pull down their

07:30advertising because they were literally breaking the law. We sent cease and desist

07:33letters and they had to take it down. Cutting taxes for working families and small

07:37businesses. What American doesn't want to pay fewer taxes to the government? There may

07:41be a few, but I haven't found them. Uh, especially on, on, uh, matters like the

07:46overtime that they work, um, their, their, uh, tipped wages and social security. Big promises for the

07:52president. We're going to deliver that. But it turns out congressional Democrats

07:55apparently want Americans to pay more. Uh, they're, they're adamantly against all

07:59those things I just named. They're against keeping taxes low. And, and when they

08:03oppose the reconciliation bill, when they oppose the, the, uh, the solution to this,

08:07to extending the tax cuts, they are actually advocating for the largest tax

08:10increase in U.S. history. End of, end of sentence. Unleashing American energy,

08:14lowering input costs, creating new jobs. Democrats want a radical Green New Deal policy

08:19extension. They don't want these common sense solutions and all the above

08:23policies, uh, like we are bringing and that the American people demand and

08:27deserve. I could go on and on and on. You get the point. This is what we're

08:30endeavoring to do through our budget reconciliation process. And these are

08:33the policies we're fighting every day to deliver because these are the ones the

08:36American people support and they need and they deserve. When Democrats had a

08:41trifecta in 2021, they use a budget reconciliation process, but you know what

08:45they did? They used it to stimulate the economy. What did that mean? Well, trillions in new

08:49spending and tax hikes and the, the Green New Deal giveaways. We can't do that. It's

08:54not sustainable. So we're going to reverse it. And guess what happened when

08:57they did that? We had runaway inflation making the cost of living for everyday

09:00Americans unbearable. Contrast that with what we're doing. What Republicans are

09:05working on right now, what we're delivering through the committees and

09:08soon through the whole house, lower taxes, decreased regulation, safer streets,

09:13keeping money, more of your money that you earn in your own pocket. We'll take that to the

09:19people every single day and they'll be for us. And as the house works to finish

09:22budget reconciliation over the next few weeks, we'll continue to shine a light

09:25on the do-nothing Democrats who would rather oppose President Trump's popular

09:29agenda than work for the needs of their own constituents. And I just, I just think

09:33it's shameful. With that I'll take a few questions.

09:36Thank you, Mr. Johnson.

09:37Olivia.

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