President Donald Trump paid a visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, pushing House Republicans to pass the &#8220;one big, beautiful bill&#8221; with encouragement mixed with some criticism.
Trump told reporters his meeting with GOP lawmakers was about &#8220;love&#8221; and &#8220;unity,&#8221; but then mentioned, &#8220;Anybody that didn&#8217;t support it as a Republican, I would consider to be a fool.&#8221;
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President Trump after meeting with <a href="https://twitter.com/HouseGOP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HouseGOP</a>: &#8220;It was a meeting of unity&#8230;Anybody that didn&#8217;t support it as a Republican I would consider to be a fool&#8230;This was a meeting of love.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/cARFr21Ps9">pic.twitter.com/cARFr21Ps9</a>
— CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1924846821857267952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2025</a></blockquote>
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House Republicans continue to clash about spending cuts and certain provisions in the bill that is progressing through Congress via the reconciliation process, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/passing-trump-one-big-beautiful-bill-gop-duty-voters-white-house" target="_blank" rel="noopener">aiming</a> to provide funding for Trump’s domestic priorities, retain the 2017 tax cuts, raise the debt limit, and more.
One key component that threatens to derail the House bid to pass the bill is the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap. GOP members from high-tax blue states are fighting for a higher limit than the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-tax-deduction-cap-threatens-to-derail-trumps-one-big-beautiful-bill" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$30,000</a> that made it into the legislation.
Trump urged House Republicans not to let SALT impede the bill&#8217;s progress, noting they could fight about the issue in the future, a source familiar with the matter told The Daily Wire.
Medicaid has been another sticking point.
According to the source, Trump told Republicans not to touch the program, except for removing waste, fraud, and abuse — such as booting off illegal immigrants and common-sense work requirements.
Trump conveyed that he is losing patience with all holdouts in the House GOP, including the SALT Caucus and the conservative House Freedom Caucus pushing for more extensive spending cuts, per the source. He also made it clear that he wants every Republican to vote in favor of the bill.
With a slim House majority and near-certain Democrat opposition, Republicans can likely afford only a few defectors to send the bill to the Senate.
One person Trump publicly called out was Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) after a reporter noted that the congressman <a href="https://x.com/cspan/status/1924819640665936195" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suggested</a> the bill would result in &#8220;Biden levels&#8221; of spending and bigger deficits.
&#8220;I don’t think Thomas Massie understands government. I think he’s a grandstander, frankly,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://x.com/cspan/status/1924819640665936195" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> before the meeting, adding later, &#8220;I think he should be voted out of office.&#8221;
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President Trump on <a href="https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepThomasMassie</a>: &#8220;I don&#8217;t think Thomas Massie understands government. I think he&#8217;s a grand-stander, frankly&#8230;I think he should be voted out of office.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/YCLdSac95d">pic.twitter.com/YCLdSac95d</a>
— CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1924819640665936195?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Punchbowl News co-founder Jake Sherman <a href="https://x.com/JakeSherman/status/1924831698442653802" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on X that Trump &#8220;griped&#8221; about Massie while speaking to House Republicans. &#8220;He asked if Massie was in the room, which he was, and then compared him to [Republican Senator from Kentucky] RAND PAUL. He said he could never get their votes no matter what,&#8221; the journalist added.
Massie alluded to the exchange with a tongue-in-cheek post of his own.
&#8220;I usually don’t talk about private conversations in our GOP meetings but the rumors are true… President Trump said that although I have similar hair to @RandPaul, he thinks mine is better,&#8221; Massie <a href="https://x.com/RepThomasMassie/status/1924849560431562992" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.

President Trump Attends GOP House Caucus Meeting On Capitol Hill As Budget Bill Faces Resistance

In Capitol Hill Visit, Trump Tells House GOP: Back ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Or Be A ‘Fool’

Congress

Donald Trump

House Republicans

Politics

Spending Bill

Taxes

Thomas Massie

U.S. House of Representatives

This week, every GOP senator except one and 177 out of 220 GOP members of the House signed a <a href="https://www.ricketts.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Document_250514_125039.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to President Donald Trump supporting his past statements and urging that Iran’s capacity to enrich uranium be permanently eliminated.
The effort was spearheaded by Nebraska Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts and House Republican Study Committee Chair Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX). Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul was the only Republican senator who would not sign the letter.
The signatories acknowledged Trump’s “strong support&#8221; for &#8220;efforts to secure a deal with Iran that dismantles its nuclear program, and to reinforce the explicit warnings that you and officials in your administration have issued that the regime must permanently give up any capacity for enrichment.”
After noting Trump’s first-term withdrawal from the “deeply broken” Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and his imposition of maximum pressure on the regime, the signatories pointed out that the Obama JCPOA deal “allowed Iran to sell oil, provided waivers allowing third countries to help Iran build out its nuclear program, and included the termination of United Nations sanctions on the regime.&#8221;
They noted that Trump’s maximum pressure campaign had deterred Iran from making substantial nuclear progress. “Tragically, the Biden administration systematically undid that pressure, functionally re-implementing the nuclear deal. They immediately rescinded your decision to reimpose U.N. sanctions, allowed Iran to sell oil at JCPOA-levels, and even re-issued waivers allowing Iran to build out its nuclear program,” they continued.
“As you predicted, those policies indeed allowed Iran to reach the brink of nuclear breakout, which is where they are today,” they asserted. “The scope and breadth of Iran’s nuclear buildout have made it impossible to verify any new deal that allows Iran to continue enriching uranium. In its most recent report, published on February 26, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that because of Iran’s activities over the last four years, ‘the Agency has lost continuity of knowledge in relation to the production and current inventory of centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water and UOC, which it will not be possible to restore.’”
They quoted Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum that stated, “Iran’s nuclear program, including its enrichment- and reprocessing-related capabilities and nuclear-capable missiles, poses an existential danger to the United States and the entire civilized world,” then additionally quoted him saying recently that only “full dismantlement” of those capabilities would be acceptable.
“We cannot afford another agreement that enables Iran to play for time, as the JCPOA did. The Iranian regime should know that the administration has Congressional backing to ensure their ability to enrich uranium is permanently eliminated,” they concluded.

MixCollage-16-May-2025-10-53-AM-8010

Nearly Every Congressional Republican Wants Trump To Show No Mercy With Iran Deal

Executive

Iran

Iran Nuclear Deal

U.S. Senate

Republicans in Congress have proposed charging asylum seekers $1,000 to gain entry into the United States.
The proposal is part of a 116-page bill released by the House Judiciary Committee on Monday, which Republicans are seeking to include in a larger package implementing President Donald Trump&#8217;s agenda, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/us/politics/house-republicans-asylum-fees.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. If passed, the Republicans&#8217; proposal would mark the first time the United States charged migrants to claim asylum from countries where they face persecution. The money generated by the asylum claims would go toward securing the southern border.
Backers of the proposal say it would cut down on the total number of asylum claims and allow those with legitimate asylum claims to be admitted into the country more quickly. Proponents also argue that the $1,000 fee would weed out those from the process who are only trying to get a free ride to the United States and deter illegal entries at the southern border, according to <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5271541-republicans-immigration-bill-judiciary-trump-agenda/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Hill</a>.
Those sponsoring children would face a $3,500 fee, and asylees already in the United States would be charged $550 to apply for a work authorization, according to the House GOP proposal. The measure was proposed after the Trump administration unveiled a program in February to give wealthy foreigners a path to citizenship in the United States with a &#8220;Trump Gold Card,&#8221; which would be sold for $5 million. The president said that he hoped the Gold Card would generate trillions of dollars in revenue, which could go toward paying off the national debt.
Revenue from the GOP-proposed asylee fees would likely go toward building new immigration detention centers, hiring more Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) staff, and helping immigration judges better staff their courts. The Times reported that the Republicans&#8217; budget blueprint calls for $45 billion for immigration detention centers and $8 billion for ICE staff.
Earlier this month, House Republicans <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hold-trump-scores-big-beautiful-victory-house-budget-vote" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> a budget plan that gets the ball rolling for Trump&#8217;s domestic agenda and allows for lawmakers in both the House and the Senate to begin developing legislation. The House Judiciary Committee is set to discuss its legislation, which includes the plan for asylee fees, this week. After House committees mark up individual bills that deal with their respective jurisdictions, Republicans will combine them into one reconciliation measure and try to pass the legislation with a simple majority vote.

Non-governmental Organizations Offer Support To Migrants Stranded In Mexico City

House Republicans Propose Fees For Asylum Seekers

House Judiciary Committee

Immigration

One of the things I always warn folks against in politics is the belief that anything that happens is eternal — that the change is eternal and there will never be another loss in the future.
I&#8217;m old enough to remember when George W. Bush won reelection in 2004 and secured the Congress of the United States, that there were Republicans who thought the Republican Party would never lose again. It was the initiation of a brand-new era. Then, of course, by 2006 Democrats had taken the Congress, and by 2008 the presidency.
I&#8217;m also old enough to remember when, in the aftermath of Barack Obama&#8217;s 2012 victory, Democrats proclaimed they would never lose again. They had a brand-new, undefeatable coalition that would just continue to grow and Republicans would be in the minority forever. Within four years, however, Republicans had taken the presidency with Donald Trump.
Now I hear Republicans who sound triumphalist about the idea that Democrats can never win again, will never take power again. They say all the trends are against the Democrats. That&#8217;s true, the trends are against Democrats right now and that&#8217;s a good thing.
We see population movement from north to south, from blue states to red states, knowing electoral votes will follow. We see the Democrats failing to find any sort of leadership class in the aftermath of the Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders octogenarian triumvirate.
However, politics change quickly. Things happen. 
And there are warning signs on the horizon. The biggest one is that President Trump&#8217;s popularity is not transferable to every single other Republican candidate. You cannot just take President Trump, stamp him on a thing, and then hope that thing is going to be a winner. That is not how it works.
Barack Obama tried the same thing. It didn’t work with him either. 
Every politician has to build their own coalition. Every politician has to have their own group of people who follow them for their own personal reasons.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2168-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
So this bizarre idea that everyone in politics seems to have, both on the Right and the Left — that you can take a very popular politician and then smear that popularity over the bread of normie politicians and expect it to taste exactly the same — that is not how it works. 
This is precisely why President Trump&#8217;s administration must be successful.
President Trump is doing very important work on everything from getting rid of DEI to completely restructuring education in the country to changing how we spend to eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. On foreign policy, he&#8217;s restoring a sense of American military power and deterrence. He&#8217;s actually doing peace through strength. And he&#8217;s looking with fresh eyes at difficult situations like the Middle East.
These are very important things that President Trump is doing. And that means no mistakes.
“No mistakes” should be the byword inside the Trump administration. And the warning signs are there. Pretending they are not is simply whistling past the graveyard.
I know Republicans are all very happy and we want to tell ourselves that President Trump won an extraordinarily broad-ranging victory in his race against Kamala Harris.
The truth is that the 2024 election result was actually far closer than people would like to acknowledge. And that is not a rip on President Trump by any measure. It was a narrow win and that means if a few votes shift, suddenly things are different. And that could happen. Pretending that it can&#8217;t happen is a fool&#8217;s errand.
In the end, President Trump won 77.3 million votes. And Kamala Harris, a horrendous candidate running on the back of a dead candidate, won 75 million votes. President Trump won 49.8% of the vote and Kamala Harris won 48.3% of the vote. That is a solid electoral victory but it&#8217;s not, by any stretch of the imagination, a giant blowout, which is why I&#8217;m saying Republicans need to be careful.
We are starting to see some early indicators of the fact that a Democratic electorate could revive itself. One of those warning signs came courtesy of this special election shocker in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which went for President Trump last year by 16 points. Democrats flipped the state Senate seat in Pennsylvania — a seat that the GOP had occupied for literally decades.
The reality is that in special election races, it&#8217;s very hard to generalize from those races because they tend to have lower turnout. And so what you get is opposition turning out at a higher rate and the home party turnout coming in at a low rate, believing that there&#8217;s not going to be any sort of competitive election.
But as The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/lancaster-county-special-election-pennsylvania-republicans-james-malone-josh-parsons-ken-martin-85a0644a?mod=hp_opin_pos_1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">points out</a>, Republicans might want to take the surprise loss in MAGA country as a warning.
That is not wrong.
It’s also true because on Thursday, Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), President Trump&#8217;s excellent nominee for the U.N. ambassador, had her nomination withdrawn by President Trump. It wasn’t because he doesn&#8217;t like Elise Stefanik — he thinks that she&#8217;s terrific. He is doing it because the margin in the Congress of the United States is simply too narrow.
President Trump had made a bunch of moves to take representatives from particular districts and put them in his Cabinet, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. That was going to include Elise Stefanik. There are three or four different congresspeople who&#8217;ve been pulled into the administration, leaving their districts open for an election.
President Trump is basically signaling here that the House of Representatives is on a knife&#8217;s edge and you can&#8217;t pull good congresspeople from their districts to serve in other aspects of the executive branch for fear the GOP might lose the district.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) put out <a href="https://x.com/SpeakerJohnson/status/1905330013244915791">a statement</a> saying he would immediately invite Elise Stefanik to return to the leadership table, adding, “It is well known Republicans have a razor-thin House majority, and Elise’s agreement to withdraw her nomination will allow us to keep one of the toughest, most resolute members of our Conference in place to help drive forward President Trump’s America First policies.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Stefanik&#8217;s withdrawal was just a result of the political realities they&#8217;re grappling with in the House, that every vote counts.
For this, you can thank some congresspeople like Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who reliably votes “No” on every contentious vote in the House of Representatives, meaning that the majority shrinks by one every single time.
There is also concern in other districts where there really should not be any concern. In Florida&#8217;s sixth Congressional District, which is Mike Waltz’ old seat, there is now a special election and it&#8217;s really competitive. Democrats are pouring money into that particular race, which is far too close right now. This should not be a competitive district.
I expect that Republicans will hold the seat. But the fact that it&#8217;s even competitive signals that any sort of overweening confidence among Republicans is misguided.
We have to act like every possession matters. We can&#8217;t act like we’re up 30 points when in reality we’re up two and there are just a couple of minutes left in the ballgame.
None of us should be overconfident.

President Trump Swears-In Alina Habba As US Attorney For New Jersey

The Danger Of Overconfidence

Ben Shapiro

Democratic Party

Democrats

Elections

Elise Stefanik

Opinion

President Trump

Republican Party

Rep. Al Green (D-TX), who has now been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/10-dems-join-gop-to-censure-rep-al-green-for-heckling-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">censured</a> for heckling President Donald Trump during his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, might face more punitive measures from House Republicans fed up with his antics.
Daily Caller News Foundation reporter Myles Morell <a href="https://x.com/MylesMorell/status/1897734296586105271" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> a video on X on Thursday showing Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) being asked whether he thinks Republicans should &#8220;take a step further and potentially bring a vote to expel&#8221; Green.
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🚨BREAKING: Congressman <a href="https://twitter.com/timburchett?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@timburchett</a> said “at some point we have to restore decorum and Al just might be that sacrificial lamb” when asked if republicans should take a step further and potentially bring a vote to expel <a href="https://twitter.com/RepAlGreen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepAlGreen</a>. <a href="https://t.co/NVqSwyn9q0">pic.twitter.com/NVqSwyn9q0</a>
&mdash; Myles Morell (@MylesMorell) <a href="https://twitter.com/MylesMorell/status/1897734296586105271?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Yea,&#8221; Burchett replied. &#8220;I think it could be a reasonable consideration because I think &#8230; we&#8217;re going to have to do something to combat this craziness that&#8217;s going on. At some point we have to restore decorum and Al just might be that sacrificial lamb.&#8221;
Expulsion from the House requires a two-thirds majority vote to succeed and has only happened a handful of times throughout U.S. history. Two expelled members were convicted of crimes, while three others were kicked out in 1861 for backing the Confederacy. The most recent vote took place in late 2023, when the House <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-votes-to-expel-george-santos" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expelled</a> Rep. George Santos (R-NY) as he faced federal charges. Santos later <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-congressman-george-santos-pleads-guilty-fraud-and-identity-theft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pleaded</a> guilty to identity theft and wire fraud charges.
In another video — this one from the Daily Caller News Foundation&#8217;s Andi Shae Napier — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) dismissed the notion that the GOP would be able to expel members not aligned with Trump&#8217;s &#8220;MAGA&#8221; movement, noting how it would require a two-thirds majority vote for such an bid to succeed and stressing that such an outcome &#8220;will never happen.&#8221;
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🚨BREAKING: House Democratic Leader <a href="https://twitter.com/RepJeffries?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepJeffries</a> says “They have no ability to expel members &#8230;. that will never happen.”
Even though Republican Rep <a href="https://twitter.com/timburchett?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@timburchett</a> told me earlier that Republicans pushing to expel would be a “reasonable consideration”. 
Video by <a href="https://twitter.com/AndiNapier?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AndiNapier</a> <a href="https://t.co/4ja9OXsEgy">pic.twitter.com/4ja9OXsEgy</a>
&mdash; Myles Morell (@MylesMorell) <a href="https://twitter.com/MylesMorell/status/1897750066388939209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
Earlier on Thursday, the GOP-led House <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/10-dems-join-gop-to-censure-rep-al-green-for-heckling-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">censured</a> Green in a bipartisan fashion for his outburst during Trump&#8217;s speech earlier in the week. Ten Democrats joined with 214 Republicans in voting to pass the censure resolution. Two Democrats also voted &#8220;present.&#8221; The final vote was 224-198-2.
&#8220;Today, I voted to censure a fellow member of Congress. When you knowingly break House rules, as Rep. Green did, it shouldn&#8217;t be surprising to face consequences,&#8221; Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) <a href="https://x.com/RepMGP/status/1897718371346792787" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X. &#8220;Congress should respect the co-equal office of the Presidency, regardless of who holds the job, do our constitutional duty, and stop with the theatrics at these events.&#8221;
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called Green to present himself to the well of the House chamber for pronouncement of the censure, but another disruption ensued. A group of Democrats <a href="https://x.com/Phil_Lewis_/status/1897674818666868765" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stood</a> in the well with Green and sang &#8220;We Shall Overcome&#8221; while Johnson slammed his gavel and called for the House to &#8220;come to order.&#8221; Johnson ultimately <a href="https://x.com/CurtisHouck/status/1897672545211416803" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> the House would stand in recess.
&#8220;When I’m censured I’m singing Freebird,&#8221; Burchett <a href="https://x.com/timburchett/status/1897703751475249415" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quipped</a> in a post to X, referring to the song by rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.
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When I’m censured I’m singing Freebird.
&mdash; Tim Burchett (@timburchett) <a href="https://twitter.com/timburchett/status/1897703751475249415?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gop-resolution-seeks-to-strip-committee-assignments-from-dems-who-disrupted-al-green-censure" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unveiled</a> a resolution that seeks to strip committee assignments from those who interrupted the censure. The conservative House Freedom Caucus released a statement from its chairman, Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), saying the group intends to file a resolution that specifically aims to remove Green&#8217;s committee assignments.
Green, who has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-democrat-moves-to-impeach-trump-over-dastardly-deeds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed</a> multiple articles of impeachment against Trump over the years, spoke in the House chamber after being censured. During his more than 30 minutes of remarks, the Democrat said, &#8220;And still I rise a proud, liberated Democrat, unbought, unbossed, and unafraid.&#8221;
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&quot;And still I rise a proud, liberated Democrat, unbought, unbossed and unafraid.&quot;
WATCH: Complete remarks from <a href="https://twitter.com/RepAlGreen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepAlGreen</a> (D-TX) following House censure. <a href="https://t.co/LIKoxLFUem">pic.twitter.com/LIKoxLFUem</a>
&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1897730905642340852?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Rep. Al Green (D-TX)

Could Al Green Face An Expulsion Vote? One GOP Lawmaker Believes That’s A ‘Reasonable Consideration’

House Democrats

Tim Burchett

U.S.

House Republicans are being urged to skip in-person town hall events because they are being taken over by &#8220;Democrat activists,&#8221; party leaders said on Tuesday.
NBC News journalist Melanie Zanona <a href="https://x.com/MZanona/status/1897013033727369617" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> to X on Tuesday that Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), confirmed to her that he advised colleagues to eschew in-person town hall events in favor of tele-town halls or Facebook Live discussions.
&#8220;Unfortunately, in-person town halls are no longer effective because Democrat activists are threatening democracy by disrupting the actual communication at town halls,&#8221; Hudson reportedly said. &#8220;They need to use technology to reach more constituents.&#8221;
Some House Republicans have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/23/us/politics/republicans-congress-town-halls-trump.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confronted</a> at recent town hall events by people raising concerns about the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort led by Elon Musk.
On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114099009721475492" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a>: &#8220;Paid &#8216;troublemakers&#8217; are attending Republican Town Hall Meetings. It is all part of the game for the Democrats, but just like our big LANDSLIDE ELECTION, it’s not going to work for them!&#8221;
Trump won the White House in the 2024 presidential election while Republicans maintained a narrow grip on the House and secured a slim majority in the Senate.
Fox News correspondent Chad Pergram offered some historical context about the town hall clashes in a <a href="https://x.com/ChadPergram/status/1897005292698644629" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> to X:
<blockquote>Republicans have been hammered at some town halls over cuts to DOGE. This is similar to a tactic which Republicans deployed in the summer of 2009 to torch Democrats over Obamacare – as they tried to hold the House. The approach was seemingly successful as each day yielded intense video of angry people yelling at Democrats and chasing them out of meetings. The scenes we are seeing now are not quite as electric. But similar. Republicans then won back the House in the 2010 midterms, flipping a record 63 seats.</blockquote>
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) took a swipe at House Republicans over the news about them being encouraged to steer clear of in-person town hall events.
&#8220;House Republicans have just been ordered to stop holding Town Hall meetings,&#8221; Jeffries <a href="https://x.com/RepJeffries/status/1896970343530836410" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post on X. &#8220;They can run from their extreme agenda. We will never let them hide.&#8221;
In a press conference on Tuesday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) <a href="https://x.com/PRod_FromOz/status/1897011868528730184" target="_blank" rel="noopener">echoed</a> the view that House Republicans should avoid holding in-person town hall events and instead use technology to engage with voters or meet with &#8220;small subgroups&#8221; of industry or their respective communities.
&#8220;Democrat activists who don&#8217;t live in the district very often will show up for these town hall events, and they&#8217;ll go in an hour early and fill all the seats, and so the constituents and the people from the community that are actually represented don&#8217;t even get a seat,&#8221; Johnson said.
He added later, &#8220;There are people who do this as a profession. They&#8217;re professional protesters. So why would we give them a forum to do that right now? The best thing that our members can do is communicate directly, frequently, consistently with their constituents and there are other avenues to do it than just doing in to try to give the other side sound bites.&#8221;

Mike Johnson and Richard Hudson

House GOP Leaders Raise Alarm Over ‘Democrat Activists’ At Town Halls

Hakeem Jeffries

Mike Johnson

Former college swimmer and women&#8217;s rights advocate Riley Gaines is slated to speak at a members&#8217; lunch on Wednesday, The Daily Wire has learned.
Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer, became the face of the fight to save women’s sports after competing against trans-identifying male swimmer Lia Thomas. Wednesday’s event is the latest point of collaboration between Gaines and the committee, whose members have led the charge on protecting women’s sports and spaces.
Gaines was on Capitol Hill last month when the House of Representatives passed the Protection of Women and Girls Act, which was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-again-passes-bill-to-protect-womens-sports">introduced</a> by Republican Study Committee member Rep. Greg Steube (FL).
“Americans are united in our belief that men have no place in women’s sports, whether it’s breaking records, entering locker rooms, or stealing scholarship opportunities,” Steube <a href="https://mikejohnson.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1526">said at the time</a>. “Denying biological truth erases fairness in sports and puts women’s safety and opportunities at risk.”
Gaines praised House Republicans for passing the bill, which she said brings the country “one step closer to ensuring no more women lose trophies, roster spots, playing time, scholarships, or fair competition to men in their own sport.”
As The Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-trump-learned-to-embrace-the-transgender-culture-wars">chronicled</a>, Gaines was one of several activists whose work helped bring President Donald Trump around on the transgender issue. Trump, who shied away from the issue during his 2020 campaign, made it a pillar of his 2024 race — a move that helped <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-exposed-kamalas-radical-stances-on-gender-americans-voted-against-it">propel him</a> to a landslide victory.
Since taking office, Trump has taken several steps to protect biological women. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order stipulating it was the official policy of the United States that there are <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-to-sign-executive-order-defining-sex-as-male-and-female">only two genders</a>. Just days later, he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wire-celebrates-trumps-move-to-ban-child-transgender-medical-transitions">signed an order</a> banning taxpayer-funded gender transitions for minors, a move that has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hospitals-across-u-s-stop-transitioning-children-after-trump-signs-order-protecting-kids">already stopped</a> hospitals from performing these often irreversible procedures.
Gaines made headlines once again this week thanks to her appearance in an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/j-k-rowling-shares-powerful-ad-about-protecting-female-sports-but-theres-more-to-the-story">ad showcasing</a> her and other female athletes who have faced criticism for defending women’s sports.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This is the first and likely the last time I’ll retweet an ad, but I love it. <a href="https://t.co/oALpr5c10v">pic.twitter.com/oALpr5c10v</a>
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) <a href="https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1886348443745976525?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 
J.K. Rowling, who has also come under fire for her defense of biological women, shared the ad on X, saying, “This is the first and likely the last time I’ll retweet an ad, but I love it.”
The Republican Study Committee is viewed as the policy engine of House Republicans. Its decision to host Gaines signals its continued dedication to leading on gender issues.

Riley Gaines and House Republicans Speak Following Vote On The Protection Of Women And Girls In Sports Act

Republican Study Committee Set To Host Riley Gaines

Riley Gaines

Transgender

Women's sports

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/house-republicans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">House Republicans</a> are not done winning after their overall 2024 victory that left the Democrats in &#8220;disarray,&#8221; Speaker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-johnson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Johnson</a> (R-LA) declared on Monday.
Johnson delivered a bullish preview for his party in the years to come at the House GOP issues retreat at President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s Doral resort in Florida.
He was joined by National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson (R-NC), GOP Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-MI), and Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerJohnson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpeakerJohnson</a>: &#8220;We are going to win and grow the House majority in 2026. Historically when the president takes the Oval Office, then his party then loses on average a number of seats in the House in that first midterm. That won&#8217;t happen this time around&#8230;&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/tTf0nBAmYD">pic.twitter.com/tTf0nBAmYD</a>
— CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1883979833023049997?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;The Democratic Party is in disarray. They have no obvious leader. They have no obvious vision or agenda,&#8221; Johnson said.
&#8220;Their platform has to be rewritten whole cloth, and they don’t exactly know how they are going to wander in this wilderness for the next couple of years,&#8221; he added.
Democrats lost control of the Senate and the White House in last year&#8217;s election while they failed to crack the Republican majority in the House.
Johnson predicted that the amount of restructuring the Democrats need to do will blow past the 2026 midterms and into the 2028 presidential election.
&#8220;It’s not just gonna be a couple of years, though; it’s gonna be four years at least and then more because we are going to win — grow the House majority in 2026,&#8221; he said.
Republicans managed to retain control of the House in the 2024 election and currently have a 218-215 majority, giving leadership a slim margin in divisive votes.
There are two vacancies: one left by former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and another by former Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL), who is now Trump&#8217;s national security adviser.
Special congressional primaries in their districts are being <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/what-to-expect-in-floridas-special-congressional-primaries" target="_blank" rel="noopener">held</a> in Florida on Tuesday. The special general election has been scheduled for April 1.
Johnson acknowledged that, &#8220;Historically when the president takes the Oval Office, then his party then loses on average a number of seats in the House in that first midterm.&#8221;
Indeed, after Trump won the 2016 presidential election, the Republicans then lost command of the House in the 2018 midterms as Democrats <a href="https://www.axios.com/2018/11/07/full-list-2018-midterm-election-seats-flipped" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flipped 41 seats</a>.
However, Johnson argued, &#8220;That won&#8217;t happen this time around because there has been a sea change. And we&#8217;re going to deliver on this agenda and that begins now.&#8221;

Speaker Johnson Predicts House GOP Will Expand Majority In 2026 With Dems In ‘Disarray’

Election

Republicans

The House Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement is set to hold a hearing on the Biden administration’s failure to secure the border and potential solutions the Trump administration could employ, The Daily Wire has learned.
The upcoming hearing, titled “Restoring Immigration Enforcement in America,” is set to take place on Wednesday, January 22nd, just two days after Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 47th president. It will be the first House Judiciary Committee hearing of the year, and &#8220;will examine how the Biden Administration dismantled immigration enforcement and what the Trump administration can do to restore integrity to America’s immigration system,” according to a description of the hearing obtained by The Daily Wire.
“The American people gave Republicans a mandate in November when they put us in the driver’s seat,” said Texas Rep. Brandon Gill (R.) who will participate in the upcoming hearing. “The Judiciary Committee Republicans are ready to hit the ground running, restore law and order back in our home districts, and secure the southern border.”
“With President Trump as our leader, we have momentum and energy as we hold our first Judiciary hearing of the year,” he told The Daily Wire.
Just under <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/nationwide-encounters">11 million</a> illegal alien encounters were between fiscal year 2021 and October 2024 under the Biden administration. The figure marks a colossal increase from President Donald Trump’s first term, when there were roughly 3 million nationwide encounters with illegal aliens. The Biden administration has even rushed to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-biden-races-to-sell-off-border-wall-parts-before-trump-takes-office">sell off border wall material</a> for pennies on the dollar in the final days before Trump returns to office, The Daily Wire revealed.
Trump has pledged to strengthen border security through a slate of different policies and carry out the largest mass deportation operation in American history, which is expected to initially focus on illegal aliens who have been convicted of violent crimes.
A series of polls have found that Americans are widely supportive of Trump’s immigration agenda. Nearly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americans-strongly-supportive-of-trumps-mass-deportation-agenda-poll-finds">60 percent</a> of respondents to one poll said that they would support an effort to deport all illegal aliens from the United States, not just those who have been convicted of a violent crime. One poll from this summer found that a majority of American adults want <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/majority-of-americans-want-fewer-immigrants-poll-finds">less immigration</a> into the United States.
Trump is expected to swiftly reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy upon retaking office. The measure, which required migrants to remain in Mexico while their asylum claims were processed, was ditched by the Biden administration, which allowed migrants to be released into the United States. Some migrants were released into the country by the Biden administration and given immigration court dates <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/05/11/migrants-admitted-to-us-given-2035-immigration-court-dates/">in 2035</a>.
Trump has nominated South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security and tapped former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan as his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trumps-border-czar-has-a-plan-to-stop-illegal-immigration">border czar</a>.
Noem said today in her confirmation hearing that the Trump administration will end the CBPOne App, a controversial program that allows migrants to remotely schedule their asylum appointments, increasing the flow of migrants into the United States.

Border wall

EXCLUSIVE: First House Judiciary Hearing Of 2025 To Focus On Biden Border Failures

Biden Administration

Border Crisis

Illegal Immigration

This week, a pair of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/house-republicans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">House Republicans</a> proposed bills that could bring to life President-elect <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s suggestions for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-announces-u-s-to-change-name-of-the-gulf-of-mexico" target="_blank" rel="noopener">renaming</a> the Gulf of Mexico the &#8220;Gulf of America&#8221; — at least on maps and documents within the United States — and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-former-trump-official-explains-why-trump-may-take-panama-canal-back" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taking back</a> the Panama Canal.
Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/marjorie-taylor-greene" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marjorie Taylor Greene</a> (R-GA) announced on Tuesday that she directed her staff to draft a bill to make the &#8220;Gulf of America&#8221; rebranding happen as soon as Trump brought up the idea.
If the legislation is enacted, any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of the United States to the Gulf of Mexico shall be deemed to be a reference to the &#8220;Gulf of America.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨 READ MY STATEMENT &amp; BILL TEXT 🚨
Mexican cartels currently use the Gulf of Mexico to traffic humans, drugs, weapons, and God knows what else while the Mexican government allows them to do it.
The American people are footing the bill to protect and secure the maritime… <a href="https://t.co/m0Nh3a6vuq">pic.twitter.com/m0Nh3a6vuq</a>
&mdash; Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1876756973644837111?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
And the commerce secretary, acting through the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, would oversee the implementation of changing the names in each federal document and map — an overhaul that would be completed in 180 days.
&#8220;It’s our gulf. The rightful name is the Gulf of America and it’s what the entire world should refer to it as,&#8221; Greene <a href="https://x.com/RepMTG/status/1876756973644837111" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X, adding later, &#8220;We already have the bill written with legislative council and ready to file first thing Thursday morning. Congress has to take the Trump Agenda mandate seriously and that means acting fast to enact it.&#8221;
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Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) is going to introduce a bill to authorize the president, in coordination with the Secretary of State, to enter into negotiations for the acquisition of the Panama Canal from the Republic of Panama for the &#8220;symbolic&#8221; amount of $1. The bill, according to a screenshot <a href="https://x.com/cami_mondeaux/status/1877058216032379180" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> to X by The Washington Examiner&#8217;s Cami Mondeax, also calls for a report to Congress detailing progress on the talks, potential challenges, and anticipated outcomes in 180 days.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Here’s bill text from <a href="https://twitter.com/DustyJohnson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DustyJohnson</a> to “authorize the President to enter into negotiations for the reacquisition of the Panama Canal from the Republic of Panama for the symbolic amount of $1.” <a href="https://t.co/k9nRSmrE7l">pic.twitter.com/k9nRSmrE7l</a>
&mdash; Cami Mondeaux (@cami_mondeaux) <a href="https://twitter.com/cami_mondeaux/status/1877058216032379180?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;President Trump is right to consider repurchasing the Panama Canal. China’s interest in and presence around the canal is a cause for concern,&#8221; Johnson said in a statement <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5074775-republican-bill-panama-canal-trump-purchase/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> by The Hill. &#8220;America must project strength abroad — owning and operating the Panama Canal might be an important step towards a stronger America and a more secure globe.&#8221;

Marjorie Taylor Greene and Donald Trump

Republicans Offer Bills To Realize Trump’s Ideas For ‘Gulf Of America’ And Taking Back Panama Canal

Gulf of Mexico

Marjorie Taylor Greene

Panama Canal

Two major issues are going to come up in the Congress of the United States this year because Republicans do not actually have a supermajority in the Senate, which means they have to use a process that is called reconciliation. 
Reconciliation can only be used on budgetary bills and matters, which means it can only be used once, or possibly twice at the most, inside of a year.
The big question for Republicans in the House and the Senate is whether they are going to create two bills and vote on them separately over the course of the year.
One is going to be a border bill that&#8217;s going to attempt to increase border security and complete the building of the border wall, to change the law where necessary in order to make it easier to deport illegal immigrants. That would be bill number one.
Bill number two would be making the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent.
There are basically two possible strategies here. One strategy would be to separate those two bills. In some ways that might be better, and in some ways it might be worse. 
The other strategy would be to wrap them up into one giant bill. This method would cause more compromises to be cut than might be cut if the bill was separated into two. That’s because piling everything into one bill on border matters and tax matters and having an up or down vote creates more crap in the crap sandwich.
It&#8217;s like an omnibus package that includes tax matters and border matters.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2110-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
Many conservatives are concerned about this. The House Freedom Caucus is upset because it will take additional spending on the border in order to secure the border. The Trump tax cuts may lead to short-term lowering of federal revenue into the tax coffers, so their question is how to offset that in terms of spending.
Meanwhile, Republicans would also like to increase the defense budget in the face of a vastly aggressive China.
If all of this gets wrapped in one bill and Trump says to the American body politic and to the constituents of all these Republicans, “Listen, the bill has a lot of stuff I don&#8217;t like, but it has a lot of stuff I do like. I&#8217;m ‘yes,’ on the bill. Everybody else should be ‘yes’ on the bill,” Republicans will be pressured to go ‘yes’ on the bill, even if there&#8217;s more crap included in the crap sandwich.
The alternative, which is to separate the two bills — the border bill and the tax bill — is that neither may pass. It may be an opportunity for people to signal their discontent on matters regarding Trump&#8217;s approach to the border. If you&#8217;re on the left wing of the Republican Party on tax matters, there&#8217;s going to be some pretty serious battles inside the Republican Party with regard to the state and local tax (SALT) deduction that allows taxpayers to subtract a portion of their state and local taxes from their federal taxable income.
The 2017 tax cuts asserted that if you paid taxes in California or New York, that didn&#8217;t mean you could deduct the taxes you paid on the state level against your federal taxable income. That would have been a sort of affirmative action program on taxes for blue states. That got removed.
But there are a lot of people, Republicans from New York and California, who would like to restore the SALT deductions in the tax code, and that&#8217;s going to be an open battle.
So strategically speaking, the question is, do you go for two purer and smaller bills, or do you go for one less pure, bigger, beautiful bill?
Because Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is working with such a slim majority, he would prefer one bill because he wants to get everything that Trump wants. His choices are: get less of what Trump wants and less bad stuff, or get more of what Trump wants and more bad stuff.
That&#8217;s the nature of the bargain here. There is no third choice where you get all the great things that you want and none of the bad things that you don&#8217;t want. That’s not how it works with a majority this slim in the House and a pretty slim majority in the Senate as well.
This is a matter of strategy. It&#8217;s not a matter of principle. Johnson is very conservative. So too, for example, is House Ways and Means chair Jason Smith, a Republican from Missouri and a very conservative member of Congress. He&#8217;s also calling for one big bill. The idea would be get this bill rammed through by April — and do it fast. Do it quickly, because as we all know, the midterms are going to come up in a couple of years, which means Trump has two years to get everything he wants done.
And that really means he has one year to get it done. By the time he hits his second year, everybody will already be running for reelection, and they will have their eyes on their next race.
Smith pointed out that practically no parties have succeeded in passing two reconciliation bills in the same year in decades.
The bottom line is: Johnson is, in fact, a very good strategist. So is John Thune (R-SD), the Senate Majority Leader.
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When Republican congresspeople talk about how we are not solving our national debt with these bills, they are damn right: We&#8217;re not solving our national debt with these bills. There is no need in pretending that anything being proposed is going to solve the national debt. The reality is that the national debt is never going to get solved until the entitlement programs that no one is going to touch are, indeed, touched. Until you touch Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, you are not going to be able to tackle the national debt.
So what does that mean? Those tax cuts better be made permanent because otherwise Democrats are going to reverse those at the first available opportunity, thus destroying the possibility of economic growth that could help facilitate solutions to issues like the national debt.
The border bill better be passed now because Democrats sure as hell aren&#8217;t going to pass a good border bill if they are in charge or if they gain control of the House of Representatives.
So, understand what Johnson has to do.
And he will get it done.

Opening Day Of The 119th Congress On Capitol Hill

The Urgency Of Time: Why Mike Johnson Must Do What He Has To Do

Federal Government

National Debt

The GOP-led <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-house-of-representatives" target="_blank" rel="noopener">House</a> chose on Friday to keep Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-johnson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Johnson</a> (R-LA) on as speaker for the 119th <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/congress" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Congress</a>, a triumph for the man who faced some resistance within his own party after roughly 14 months on the job despite being endorsed by President-elect <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> and other key allies.
A total of 218 Republicans voted for Johnson, giving him the majority he needed for victory in the first ballot, while 215 Democrats backed Minority Leader <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hakeem-jeffries" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hakeem Jeffries</a> (D-NY). An individual needed <a href="https://x.com/ChadPergram/status/1874625607985967600" target="_blank" rel="noopener">218 votes</a> to win the gavel if all 434 sitting members backed someone by name after former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/matt-gaetz-resigns-from-congress-following-attorney-general-nomination" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resigned</a> after last year&#8217;s election amid a brief push to become the next U.S. attorney general. Frustrated with Johnson&#8217;s leadership in a divided Congress, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) became the sole Republican to reject Johnson&#8217;s bid. Other GOP holdouts came around and voted for Johnson.
&#8220;No speaker is perfect, and no one will ever be. However, achieving perfection requires incremental gains and hard decisions along the way. None of us will get exactly what we want. The fundamental collective goal of this body is to make progress for the American people, in which we represent. And we have done just that under Mike&#8217;s leadership,&#8221; said the new Republican Conference chair, Lisa McClain (R-MI), while nominating Johnson on the House floor.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;No Speaker is perfect and no one will ever be.&#8221;
.<a href="https://twitter.com/RepLisaMcClain?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepLisaMcClain</a> nominates <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerJohnson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpeakerJohnson</a> for Speaker of the House. <a href="https://t.co/oTGrnWzZf5">pic.twitter.com/oTGrnWzZf5</a>
— CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1875241878930567596?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
Johnson, who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-elects-mike-johnson-as-speaker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first became the 56th speaker</a> via a late October 2023 vote that ended a weeks-long stalemate after the House booted then-Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/kevin-mccarthy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kevin McCarthy</a> (R-CA) from the role, had to contend with a Democrat-led Senate along with a slim GOP majority on issues such as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-passes-last-minute-funding-bill-to-avert-shutdown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spending</a>. In the new term, following the 2024 election, Republicans still narrowly control the House and have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/john-thune-elected-senate-majority-leader" target="_blank" rel="noopener">command of the Senate</a> as well as the White House.
The vote on Friday was not without drama. At first, it looked as if Johnson just barely fell short of the threshold for victory in the first ballot.
Massie backed Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), who ran a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/emmer-drops-speaker-bid-hours-after-winning-gop-nomination" target="_blank" rel="noopener">short-lived campaign</a> for the speakership after McCarthy was ousted. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) picked Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who also tried to win the gavel during the 2023 vacuum and also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-gop-drops-jordan-as-speaker-nominee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">faltered</a>. And Rep. Keith Self (R-TX) voted for Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL). Several other Republicans initially declined to vote when their names were called, but ultimately backed Johnson at the end of roll call.
After a long pause and lots of deliberating among members, Norman and Self changed their votes to pick Johnson.
Earlier this week, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-endorses-mike-johnson-for-house-speaker-a-good-hard-working-religious-man" target="_blank" rel="noopener">endorsed</a> Johnson, declaring in a <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113742374534233751" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> to Truth Social: &#8220;LETS NOT BLOW THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY WHICH WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN. The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration. Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete &amp; Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!&#8221;
Johnson <a href="https://x.com/SpeakerJohnson/status/1873758339324362916?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1873758339324362916%7Ctwgr%5E213e304785a0340e6e1ca105d07da90422ab8fd0%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywire.com%2Fnews%2Ftrump-endorses-mike-johnson-for-house-speaker-a-good-hard-working-religious-man" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thanked</a> Trump on X. &#8220;I’m honored and humbled by your support, as always,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Together, we will quickly deliver on your America First agenda and usher in the new golden age of America. The American people demand and deserve that we waste no time. Let’s get to work!&#8221;
Tech entrepreneur <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a>, who is set to help lead Trump&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/department-of-government-efficiency-doge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)</a>, also <a href="https://x.com/metzgov/status/1874976542465593470" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> his support of Johnson, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/newt-gingrich-house-speaker-mike-johnson-deserves-reelection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as did</a> former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA).
On Friday, before the vote, Johnson <a href="https://x.com/speakerjohnson/status/1875230086611272150?s=46&amp;t=o-U3qwC25WnWaylJ0oeG7Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> three commitments for another stint as speaker: creating a working group &#8220;comprised of independent experts – not corrupted by lobbyists and special interests – to work with DOGE and our committees on implementing recommended government and spending reforms to protect the American taxpayer.&#8221;
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The American people have demanded an end to the status quo, and a return to fiscal sanity. That’s why the citizens of our great country gave President Trump the White House and Republican control of both chambers of Congress. If we don’t follow through on our campaign promise for…
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerJohnson/status/1875230086611272150?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
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He also vowed to task &#8220;that working group with reviewing existing audits of federal agencies and entities created by Congress – and issuing a report to my office for public release&#8221; and request &#8220;House committees undertake aggressive authorizations and appropriations reviews, including providing additional resources where needed, to expose irresponsible or illegal practices and hold agencies/individuals accountable that have weaponized government against the American people.&#8221;
With a speaker in place, House business for the new term will get underway, including consideration of a 36-page <a href="https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20241230/119th%20Rules%20Package%20for%20Circulation.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rules package</a> that includes a provision making it <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-to-consider-raising-threshold-for-motion-to-vacate-against-speaker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more difficult</a> to cast out a speaker for at least the next two years. This section requires nine majority party members to initiate a privileged &#8220;motion to vacate&#8221; the speaker — up from a threshold of one member that was used against McCarthy and ultimately <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mccarthy-ousted-from-speakership-after-democrats-side-with-matt-gaetz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">led to his downfall</a>.

Mike Johnson and others in the House chamber

House Elects Mike Johnson For Another Stint As Speaker

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