Speaker Johnson Takes Victory Lap After Passing Big Beautiful Bill By July 4 Deadline

Forbes Breaking News

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) held a press briefing on Thursday after the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill.

Transcript

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.

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