Speaker Johnson: The Reform Agenda Begins When Trump Takes Office

WASHINGTON - This morning, Speaker Johnson joined Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday and Jake Tapper on State of the Union to discuss how a Republican-led government will secure the border and prevent the largest tax hike in US history, as well as the strength of President Trump's cabinet appointments, and the need to rein in federal spending.

Click here to watch Fox interview, here to watch CNN interview

On securing the border on day one:

Here's what the plan entails: It's securing the border right out of the gates. This is what the American people have demanded and what they deserve. They want a secure country. They want a secure border, and we will deliver upon that. That's what the mandate of the election was all about. We know how to do that. We have legislation that we passed in the previous Congress, in this Congress, HR 2, that would be the most secure border legislation ever passed. But President Trump, I suspect, will use his executive authorities beginning on day one and we will come behind with legislation, and we will make sure we have a sovereign, safe and secure nation. Again, that's what we have to deliver.

On preserving the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and energizing the American economy:

We have lots of legislation already planned, and he has action from the White House already planned, to bring down the cost of living. How? By, well, incentivizing American companies to invest here again and grow jobs, to create more jobs for more people. We have to make sure early in this new Congress, that we make certain the American people don't experience the highest tax increase in U.S. history when the provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would expire. So that'll be top of the agenda as well.

And then reducing the reckless levels of spending that Biden and Harris perpetuated for four years. We can turn this around, reduce the size and scope of government, make it work more efficiently and effectively for the American people. I was on a plane last night coming back from the UFC fight with the President and Elon Musk and many others, and Elon and I were talking about ideas to make government work more efficiently. There are exciting things on the table Jake, and I think the people are going to be very pleased with what comes out.

On President Trump's cabinet selections:

This is what I'll say about the nominees that the President has put forward, is that they are persons who will shake up the status quo. And I think what the American people have believed, and what they've delivered with the mandate in this election, is they demand that we shake up the status quo. It's not working for the American people. So, you used the term in the opening about how these are disruptors. They are, I think that's by design.

Any president has the right to name their own cabinet, to nominate persons that they think will fulfill their agenda. And the people that are on this list will do that. They will go into the agencies that they're being asked to lead, and they will reform them. These agencies need reform, and I think the vast majority of American people understand that. You can't have status quo appointments in a moment like this.

On government funding and the need to rein in federal spending:

It's getting more and more difficult to get all those bills done. Here's the reason why: the House has done its work, the Senate has not. Chuck Schumer is still the Democrat leader there in the Senate and he has refused to put a single appropriations bill on the floor. That's not how the process is supposed to work, so it's broken down in that regard. We're running out of clock. December 20th is the deadline. We're still hopeful that we might be able to get that done, but if not, we'll have a temporary measure, I think, that would go into the first part of next year and allow us the necessary time to get this done. And I think that would be ultimately a good move because the country would benefit from it, because then you'd have Republican control. And we'd have a little more say in what those spending bills are.

But the new reform agenda begins in earnest as soon as President Donald J. Trump takes the office in January. And we have a full agenda to run. It's going to be a very aggressive first one hundred days of the new Congress. And we've been getting all the members of Congress ready for that. The House has been preparing for this for almost a year. And now the Senate under its new leadership, leader-elect Thune, he and I met this week. We talked about this aggressive agenda, and he told me he is ready to go and deliver on those America first policy. It'll be a very busy time for Congress and a good time for the country.

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