House Speaker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-johnson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Johnson</a> (R-LA) said during an interview over the weekend that President-elect Donald Trump&#8217;s mass deportation plan was an excellent &#8220;dollar-for-dollar investment&#8221; in America&#8217;s security.
Johnson made the remarks during a Sunday interview on NBC News&#8217; &#8220;Meet The Press&#8221; when asked about reports that the mass deportation plan could cost up to $88 billion per year to deport just a million illegal aliens.
&#8220;I cannot think of a better dollar-for-dollar investment than to restore the security and the safety of the country,&#8221; Johnson said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve had a wide-open border for four years, and millions upon millions of illegal persons.&#8221;
&#8220;We have dangerous illegals in the country, criminals who have already committed crimes here, violent crimes against the American citizens,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;The best thing we can do is return those people from where they came. And I think the American people understand that.&#8221;
&#8220;I saw a New York Times poll, I think it was just two days ago, 87% of the American people agree that we should deport dangerous, illegal, criminal aliens,&#8221; he added. &#8220;And that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re going to do.&#8221;
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WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
President Trump’s mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens begin this week.
I cannot think of a better dollar for dollar investment than restoring the safety and security of our country. <a href="https://t.co/q3FdbjlDTy">pic.twitter.com/q3FdbjlDTy</a>
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerJohnson/status/1881017602127823219?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2025</a></blockquote>

Mike Johnson

Speaker Johnson: Trump’s Mass Deportation Plan An Excellent ‘Investment’

Deportations

Donald Trump

Illegal Immigration

Politics

House Speaker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-johnson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Johnson</a> (R-LA) said during an interview on Sunday that the U.S. Congress will &#8220;enforce the law&#8221; that requires TikTok to be fully divested from communist China or else be banned in the United States.
Johnson made the remarks when asked by Kristen Welker on NBC News&#8217; &#8220;Meet The Press&#8221; if the U.S. was sending a &#8220;message of weakness&#8221; to China after President-elect Donald Trump signaled support for trying to save the app earlier in the day.
&#8220;No, I think we will enforce the law,&#8221; Johnson said. &#8220;And when President Trump issued the truth post and said, &#8216;Save TikTok,&#8217; the way we read that is that he&#8217;s going to try to force along a true divestiture, changing of the hands, the ownership.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s not the platform that members of Congress are concerned about,&#8221; he noted. &#8220;It&#8217;s the Chinese Communist Party and their manipulation of the algorithms. They have been flooding the minds of American children with terrible messages, glorifying violence and anti-Semitism and even suicide and eating disorders. I mean, crazy kind of stuff. And they&#8217;re mining the data of American citizens. It&#8217;s a very dangerous thing.&#8221;
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&#8220;The Chinese Communist Party is not our friend. And we have to make sure this changes hands,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I&#8217;m really heartened to see that Google and Apple and Microsoft have taken the steps to comply with the law. There needs to be a sale, a full divestiture from the Chinese Communist Party. And I think President Trump is the one who can make that deal happen, so we&#8217;re excited about it.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) says Congress “will enforce the law” ensuring that TikTok is completely sold or it will be banned.
He says there must be “a full divestiture from the Chinese Communist Party,” not just a 50% sale.
He adds: “It’s not the platform that members of… <a href="https://t.co/TRnWS3vWtT">pic.twitter.com/TRnWS3vWtT</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1881051459896119312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tiktok-restores-service-without-change-after-trump-statement-of-support">TikTok Restores Service Without Change After Trump Statement Of Support</a>

Speaker Johnson: U.S. ‘Will Enforce The Law’ On TikTok Ban, China Must Fully Divest

Communist China

Congress

TikTok

Speaker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-johnson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Johnson</a> (R-LA) recently recounted a private meeting that he had with President Joe Biden last year from which he walked away believing that the country was in serious danger because of how mentally diminished Biden was.
Johnson made the remarks during an interview with The Free Press when asked if he could share a story of when he realized that Biden was not actually in charge of running the country.
&#8220;I became Speaker in October 2023, and there were all sorts of big national security concerns and everything going on, and I started requesting a meeting with the president,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The Speaker the House should be able to talk to the president, especially in times of great national interest and calamity, but they wouldn&#8217;t let me meet with him. And his staff kept giving him excuses. This went on for like, eight or nine weeks.&#8221;
He said that Biden&#8217;s team repeatedly told him that the president did not have time to meet with him.
He said that he needed to have a classified meeting with Biden over serious national security threats that he was &#8220;losing sleep over&#8221; and that he finally got a meeting after revealing to the press that Biden&#8217;s team would not let him meet the president.
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Johnson said that once he got the meeting, he was ambushed by top Democrats and members of Biden&#8217;s cabinet who tried to shield the president by turning it into a meeting about Ukraine.
Biden had everyone leave the room so he could speak to Johnson alone, much to the dismay of his staff.
Before they talked about the classified national security concerns, Johnson asked Biden why he paused liquified national gas exports to Europe.
Biden responded by saying that he never signed an executive order pausing exports on LNG.
He later claimed that what he signed ordered that a study be done on the effects of LNG.
&#8220;It occurred to me, he was not lying to me,&#8221; Johnson said. &#8220;He genuinely did not know what he had signed. And I walked out of that meeting with fear and loathing because I thought, we&#8217;re in serious trouble. Who is running the country? Like, I don&#8217;t know who put the paper in front of him, but he didn&#8217;t know.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Speaker Mike Johnson reveals just how out of the loop and cognitively impaired Joe Biden was as President after meeting with Biden and discussing his LNG Executive Order:
“Biden was not lying to me. He genuinely did not know what he had signed.”
Scary. 
<a href="https://t.co/Clbytug8e3">pic.twitter.com/Clbytug8e3</a>
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1880626844816597293?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 18, 2025</a></blockquote>

Speaker Mike Johnson

Johnson Recounts Private Meeting With Biden Where He Realized ‘We’re In Serious Trouble’

Biden Administration

Joe Biden

House Speaker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-johnson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Johnson</a> (R-LA) shamed California Governor Gavin Newsom after the governor posted a video attacking the Republican speaker over potential federal aid California may receive.
“Instead of making highly produced clap back videos with social media influencers, you should get to work helping Californians,” Johnson replied to Newsom on X. “You’re the leader of a state in crisis, and you should finally start acting like it.”
The comment came in reply to a video Newsom had posted in an attempt to embarrass Johnson and other congressional Republicans. GOP lawmakers have floated conditional aid for California to help cover the cost of recent wildfires that have destroyed thousands of homes. The conditions would mandate some improvements to California wildfire preparedness, such as cleaning out dead brush in high-risk areas and building more water infrastructure.
“Never in California questioned whether or not we as taxpayers in the largest state in the Union should support the people of Louisiana at a time of emergency and need. We never conditioned it,” Newsom says in the video.
“A state with millions and millions of Trump supporters, Speaker Johnson and Mr. President-elect. Millions of your supporters are out here. They need your help. They need your empathy. They need your care, whatever compassion you can express as opposed to condemnation,” he says.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Instead of making highly produced clap back videos with social media influencers, you should get to work helping Californians. 
You’re the leader of a state in crisis, and you should finally start acting like it. <a href="https://t.co/ipKHFse0kU">https://t.co/ipKHFse0kU</a>
&mdash; Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerJohnson/status/1879995378201948397?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
While Trump and Johnson have not condemned Californians over the deadly Los Angeles County fires, they have been critical of state and local officials for the failure to protect Los Angeles communities from the wildfires.
Trump said in a Truth Social <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113793724958051185">post</a> earlier this month that Newsom “refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.”
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“He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!” Trump said.
Johnson was similarly critical of California leadership in comments this week.
“Obviously, there has been water resource management, forest management, mistakes, all sorts of problems, and it does come down to leadership, and it appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty, and in many respects,” Johnson <a href="https://www.scrippsnews.com/us-news/california-wildfires/house-speaker-mike-johnson-says-there-should-be-conditions-on-federal-wildfire-aid-for-california" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> when talking about strings that may be attached to federal aid to California. “So, that’s something that has to be factored in.”

Mike Johnson, Gavin Newsom

‘Get To Work Helping Californians’: Johnson Slams Newsom After CA Gov Complains About Wildfire Aid

California

Gavin Newsom

Los Angeles

House Speaker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-johnson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Johnson</a> (R-LA) removed House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) from his role on Wednesday just several days before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Johnson told reporters that he made the decision because it was a new Congress and Republicans needed some &#8220;fresh horses in some of these places, but I&#8217;m a Mike Turner fan.&#8221;
&#8220;He&#8217;s done a great job. He performed valiantly in a difficult time under difficult circumstances,&#8221; Johnson said. &#8220;So I have nothing but positive things to say about my friend.&#8221;
When asked if Trump had any role in the decision, Johnson said that it was not Trump&#8217;s decision, it was his.
&#8220;This is a House decision. This is no slight whatsoever to our outgoing chairman,&#8221; he said. &#8220;He did a great job, but we just, the intelligence community and everything related to HPSCI, it needs a fresh start and that&#8217;s what this is about, nothing else. So I have nothing negative say about Mike Turner at all. He&#8217;s a good man, a good colleague. I respect his work.&#8221;
He added that Turner would continue to be his appointee for everything involving NATO.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Speaker Johnson on removing Mike Turner as intel chair: “This is not a President Trump decision. This is a House decision, and this is no slight whatsoever to our outgoing chairman. He did a great job.” <a href="https://t.co/lFparUcxnA">pic.twitter.com/lFparUcxnA</a>
— Kit Maher (@KitMaherCNN) <a href="https://twitter.com/KitMaherCNN/status/1879680588313219487?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
Turner released a statement following the announcement in which he said that he was &#8220;very proud to have served on the House Intelligence Committee and as its chairman.&#8221;
&#8220;There are great members on the Committee, and I’m honored to have served with them,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Under my leadership, we restored the integrity of the Committee and returned its mission to its core focus of national security. The threat from our adversaries is real and requires serious deliberations.&#8221;
&#8220;As a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, I have been and will continue to be a strong advocate for the military and our national defense,&#8221; he added. &#8220;My work to expand missions and capabilities at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base continues. Furthermore, I look forward to welcoming the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to Dayton in the coming months.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I’m very proud to have served on the House Intelligence Committee and as its chairman. There are great members on the Committee, and I’m honored to have served with them.
Under my leadership, we restored the integrity of the Committee and returned its mission to its core focus…
— US Rep. Mike Turner (@RepMikeTurner) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMikeTurner/status/1879688962375082481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2025</a></blockquote>

House Intelligence Committee Hears Testimony On The 2024 Annual Threat Assessment

Speaker Johnson Removes Mike Turner As House Intel Committee Chairman

Mike Turner

National Intelligence

When President-elect <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> and Vice President-elect <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jd-vance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JD Vance</a> are sworn into office on Inauguration Day, flags at the U.S. Capitol will fly at full-staff, House Speaker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-johnson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Johnson</a> (R-LA) announced on Tuesday.
Flags at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., had been <a href="https://x.com/ABCPolitics/status/1873799350150631675" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lowered</a> to half-staff at the end of December for a 30-day mourning period after former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jimmy-carter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jimmy Carter</a> died at the age of 100.
&#8220;On January 20th, the flags at the Capitol will fly at full-staff to celebrate our country coming together behind the inauguration of our 47th President, Donald Trump,&#8221; Johnson said in a <a href="https://x.com/SpeakerJohnson/status/1879195077446389850" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>. &#8220;The flags will be lowered back to half-staff the following day to continue honoring President Jimmy Carter.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
On January 20th, the flags at the Capitol will fly at full-staff to celebrate our country coming together behind the inauguration of our 47th President, Donald Trump. 
The flags will be lowered back to half-staff the following day to continue honoring President Jimmy Carter.
&mdash; Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerJohnson/status/1879195077446389850?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
On X, Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) <a href="https://x.com/RepNateMoran/status/1879201691947655299" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thanked</a> Johnson, writing: &#8220;Inauguration Day should be a day of celebration &#8211; NOT a day when our nation’s flag is flown at half mast.&#8221;
Moran also noted that he is a &#8220;proud&#8221; co-sponsor of a bill from Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-TX) that would mandate American flags fly at their <a href="https://delacruz.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2355" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;highest peak&#8221;</a> on Inauguration Day.
The speaker&#8217;s move comes after governors in some states ordered flags to return to full-staff at their state capitols and state buildings for Inauguration Day.
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&#8220;Inauguration Day is a day of celebration for America,&#8221; Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott said in a <a href="https://x.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/1878826334396580075" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> to X on Monday. &#8220;Today, I ordered flags raised to full-staff at the Texas Capitol &amp; state buildings for President Trump’s inauguration. While we honor President Carter’s service, we also celebrate an incoming President &amp; our bright future.&#8221;
Among the others who did the same were Alabama Republican Governor <a href="https://x.com/GovernorKayIvey/status/1878940382953922763" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kay Ivey</a> and North Dakota Republican Governor <a href="https://www.governor.nd.gov/news/armstrong-directs-full-staff-jan-20-celebration-president-elect-trumps-inauguration-flags" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kelly Armstrong</a>.
The Associated Press <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-flies-mar-a-lago-flag-at-full-height-before-end-of-mourning-period-for-carter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that a large flag at Trump&#8217;s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida was lowered to half-staff but had been raised to full height in recent days before the end of the 30-day mourning period for Carter.
Trump and other dignitaries traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to pay their respects to Carter, where the late president laid in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. His <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jimmy-carters-funeral-living-presidents-together-national-cathedral/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">funeral</a> was held in the National Cathedral.

Inauguration Ceremony Rehearsal Takes Place In Nation’s Capital

Speaker Johnson Orders Flags At U.S. Capitol To Fly At Full-Staff For Trump’s Inauguration

Capitol Hill

Executive

House Speaker

Inauguration

Jimmy Carter

House Speaker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-johnson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Johnson</a> (R-LA) said on Monday that he believes aid sent to California after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/wildfires" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wildfires</a> that have devastated places around <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/los-angeles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Los Angeles</a> &#8220;should probably&#8221; have conditions.
&#8220;Obviously, there has been water resource mismanagement, forest management mistakes — all sorts of problems,&#8221; Johnson told reporters, according to a video <a href="https://x.com/mkraju/status/1878885889150951465" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> to X by CNN&#8217;s Manu Raju.
&#8220;It does come down to leadership,&#8221; Johnson said, adding that it appeared state and local leaders were &#8220;derelict in their duty in many respects,&#8221; something that need to be taken into consideration.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
New — Asked Speaker Johnson about placing conditions on aid to California, and he tells us: “I think there should be conditions on that aid.” Said that’s his personal view before talking with the conference.
Also says “there’s some discussion” within the House GOP about tying… <a href="https://t.co/CZmjZb7WLd">pic.twitter.com/CZmjZb7WLd</a>
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) <a href="https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1878885889150951465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;I think there should probably be conditions on that aid; that&#8217;s my personal view. We&#8217;ll see what the consensus is,&#8221; Johnson said before mentioning that it would be part of the discussion.
The speaker also acknowledged that there is &#8220;some discussion&#8221; that a debt limit increase could be linked to disaster aid, but noted &#8220;we&#8217;ll see where it goes.&#8221;
Other top Republicans have criticized leading officials in Democrat-led California, including Governor Gavin Newsom, with the blazes <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/at-least-24-dead-from-los-angeles-county-fires-with-more-still-missing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">killing</a> at least 24 people and causing an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-fires-cause-an-estimated-50-billion-in-damages-on-track-to-be-most-expensive-in-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">estimated</a> $50 billion in damages.
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<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vance-rips-serious-lack-of-competent-governance-in-california-as-wildfires-destroy-la-area" target="_blank" rel="noopener">On &#8220;Fox News Sunday,&#8221;</a> Vice President-elect <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jd-vance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JD Vance</a> said, &#8220;There is a serious lack of competent governance in California. And I think it&#8217;s part of the reason why these fires have gotten so bad.&#8221;
And Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/barrasso-strings-attached-to-any-u-s-money-given-to-california-after-democrats-mismanaged-fires" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> CBS News on Sunday that he expects &#8220;there will be strings attached to money that is ultimately approved,&#8221; citing the &#8220;gross failure this time.&#8221;
Raju <a href="https://x.com/mkraju/status/1878885889150951465" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> that &#8220;aid to rebuild after natural disasters often is approved without any conditions and with significant bipartisan support. But there could be a big fight over the California aid in the coming weeks.&#8221;
At least one Democrat member of Congress expressed disapproval in response to Johnson opining that aid to California should be conditional.
&#8220;This is a Mistake. If you start this, it will never end. When Dems retake the House, they will condition aid to Florida and Texas,&#8221; Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) <a href="https://x.com/JaredEMoskowitz/status/1878893219401933117">said</a> on X.
&#8220;Disaster Aid must stay non partisan,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I would fight Democrats should they try and do this. The Speaker can find many other ways to hold people accountable.&#8221;

Speaker Johnson Says Aid To Wildfire-Stricken California ‘Should Probably’ Have Conditions

Natural Disaster

U.S.

U.S. House of Representatives

Wildfires

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

Ben Shapiro

Federal Government

House Republicans

National Debt

Opinion

Republicans

Speaker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-johnson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Johnson</a> (R-LA) said on Sunday that he wants the House to pass one hefty budget reconciliation bill to realize President-elect <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s policy agenda during the early months of his second term, dealing with a broad range of issues such as border security, tax cut extensions, the U.S. economy, and energy.
In an interview on &#8220;Sunday Morning Futures,&#8221; Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo noted that new Senate Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has been pushing for splitting the legislation into two reconciliation bills and asked Johnson what Trump prefers.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Speaker Johnson Joins Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YctBNeFHquk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&#8220;Yes, he and I have talked about this quite a bit, as you might imagine, over the last few months, determining the pros and cons of the two different strategies,&#8221; Johnson said. &#8220;I respect Lindsey Graham and all my friends who kind of preferred a two-step strategy. The idea would be: get something done on the border and maybe defense spending right out of the blocks very quickly in what we would call a skinny reconciliation bill, and then do the rest of it in a larger chunk later.&#8221;
Johnson, who huddled with colleagues over the weekend at Fort McNair to discuss the plan, said he thought &#8220;at the end of the day, President Trump is going to prefer, as he likes to say, &#8216;one big, beautiful bill.&#8217; And there&#8217;s a lot of merit to that, because we can put it all together, one big up-or-down vote, which can save the country, quite literally, because there are so many elements to it. And it&#8217;ll give us a little bit more time to negotiate that and get it right.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/with-snow-blast-imminent-speaker-johnson-says-we-cannot-delay-certification-of-trumps-victory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: With Snow Blast Imminent, Speaker Johnson Says ‘We Cannot Delay’ Certification Of Trump’s Victory</a>
The speaker insisted the plan for reconciliation does not mean &#8220;we won&#8217;t come right out of the gates full-fledged right out of the beginning of the Congress.&#8221; The House will be &#8220;addressing the border&#8221; over the next couple weeks with fixes that are &#8220;so commonsense&#8221; that some Democrats may support them, Johnsons noted, adding that those bills could be ready for Trump to sign when he takes office on January 20.
As for the reconciliation bill itself, the legislation will &#8220;have a lot of pieces,&#8221; Johnson said. &#8220;We made a lot of campaign promises. President Trump did as well, and reconciliation is the way to get it done. Why? Because you avoid a 60-vote threshold in the Senate.&#8221;
Johnson then alluded to <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL30458" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a two-step process</a> in which putting together a budget resolution would precede the House and Senate actually considering the reconciliation legislation.
&#8220;Reconciling the budget, which we will pass in early February, is how we will get all of our committees involved, committees of jurisdiction all these big issues. What are they? Well, obviously, we have to secure the border. We have got to make sure that our Border Patrol agents and our immigration enforcement agencies have the right directives from the White House, but also the right resources to do their job and secure that border once and for all,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;We have got to take care of the dangerous illegal criminals who have come over, and all that&#8217;s part of it as well. And we have got to shift immediately to the economy. Maria, you know, you talk about every day, we have got to revive the U.S. economy, and we can. We know how to do it,&#8221; Johnson continued. &#8220;Part of that is preventing the largest tax increase in U.S. history, which would happen automatically at the end of next year if we don&#8217;t get our ducks in a row. So we&#8217;re going to make sure that happens. We&#8217;re going to incentivize American companies to manufacture in the U.S. again. And we&#8217;re going to make sure that the regulatory burden and the red tape that has smothered our free market is reduced and eliminated.&#8221;
Johnson said &#8220;we&#8217;re going to be dismantling the deep state all along the way. We&#8217;re going to restore American energy dominance, so many different pieces to this, Maria. They all have to work together. And, of course, the president has asked us and really needs us to address the debt limit crisis before that hits in June. So, a lot of moving pieces, a lot of things to negotiate, a lot of opinions on all that, so we will be working long, long hours with whiteboards, making sure every Republican is on board, because, remember, I will be dealing with the smallest margin in U.S. history for much of the first 100 days. But we&#8217;re going to get it done.&#8221;
Bartiromo asked Johnson if he is expecting to raise or eliminate the debt ceiling as part of the reconciliation legislation.
&#8220;I think we&#8217;re going to have to do it in that bill. And the reason for that, Maria, is that we won&#8217;t have to negotiate with [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the Democrats on that,&#8221; the speaker replied. &#8220;If you do it in reconciliation, you can do it just with the Republican Party. So we will have very thoughtful discussion and debate about where that limit should go. But here&#8217;s the important thing everybody needs to remember. We&#8217;re the team that wants to cut spending, and we will. And we will do it dramatically, all the wasteful spending in government. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/department-of-government-efficiency-doge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DOGE</a> will be doing its effort in coordination with all this. But you have to raise the debt limit on paper, so that we don&#8217;t frighten the bond markets and the world&#8217;s economy. You know how that works. It&#8217;s about the stability of our economy. But we don&#8217;t intend to spend to that limit, as President Trump will clarify all the time. We&#8217;re going to raise the ceiling, but we are going to be cutting all along the way, so we can do both of those things simultaneously.&#8221;
Bartiromo also pressed Johnson on &#8220;what&#8217;s a realistic timeline&#8221; for getting the legislative package advanced through Congress and on Trump&#8217;s desk. &#8220;Would you have that on the president&#8217;s desk by May?&#8221; she asked.
&#8220;Certainly by May, yes,&#8221; Johnson said. &#8220;In fact, we&#8217;re targeting a vote in the House maybe in the first week of April. Now, everything&#8217;s got to move in the right sequence. And along the way, I think we&#8217;re going to keep those trains moving in the right direction and on time. And if that happens, we will get it out of the House in early April, maybe as soon as April 3, and then move it over to the Senate. That would put that bill on the president&#8217;s desk for signature by the end of April. That would be fantastic. And, in a worst-case scenario: Memorial Day.&#8221;

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson

‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’: Speaker Johnson Draws Out Budget Reconciliation Plan For Trump 2.0

Budget

Lindsey Graham

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/congress" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Congress</a> must not allow a snow storm to delay the certification of President-elect <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s Electoral College victory, Speaker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-johnson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Johnson</a> (R-LA) said on Sunday.
&#8220;Well, I hope we have full attendance. We&#8217;ve got a big snow storm coming to D.C. and we encourage all of our colleagues, &#8216;Do not leave town. Stay here.&#8217; Because, as you know, the Electoral Count Act requires this on January 6 at 1 p.m. So, whether we&#8217;re in a blizzard or not we&#8217;re going to be in that chamber making sure this is done,&#8221; Johnson told Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo during a &#8220;Sunday Morning Futures&#8221; interview.
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Speaker Johnson on certifying the 2024 election:
&quot;Whether we&#39;re in a blizzard or not we&#39;re going to be in that chamber making sure this is done.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/Krhg1DU2j1">pic.twitter.com/Krhg1DU2j1</a>
&mdash; Bobby LaValley (@Bobby_LaVallley) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bobby_LaVallley/status/1875925375605436555?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Forecasters have issued a <a href="https://x.com/NWS_BaltWash/status/1875663759542550892" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Winter Storm Warning</a> for the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and expect up to up to <a href="https://x.com/capitalweather/status/1875893877728780421" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10 or more inches</a> of snow through Monday, when the House and Senate are slated to meet for a joint session of Congress to affirm the 2024 results. Punchbowl News co-founder Jake Sherman <a href="https://x.com/JakeSherman/status/1875684212671750434" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted on X</a> that the House needs a quorum of 218 — a simple majority of all the sitting House lawmakers — to conduct business and most members stayed in town for a weekend session to discuss plans for budget reconciliation at Fort McNair.
&#8220;Listen, President Trump had a mandate — a landslide, you know — so many electoral votes and we get to count them all. We cannot delay that certification,&#8221; Johnson added. &#8220;He deserves that; 77 million Americans voted for President Trump and this agenda — almost 75 million for the House. That&#8217;s our highest number ever. So, we call it a mandate. I believe it is. And we&#8217;ve got to get to work beginning immediately on Monday.&#8221;
Other House Republicans posted to social media about showing up on Monday.
&#8220;Unless [Elon Musk] has figured out how to control the weather it looks bad. If you are a Republican member of Congress I’d get to Washington. We have a President [Trump] to certify,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/timburchett/status/1875900840990720355" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quipped</a> Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN).
&#8220;Jan 6th at 1:00 pm Congress must certify President Trump’s historic election,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/RepMTG/status/1875709597576491142" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). &#8220;Washington has a winter storm warning for Jan 5-7th expecting possibly a foot of snow. Many members of congress left town this weekend even though they were told to stay. I’m here and will walk to the Capitol if I have to.&#8221;

U.S. Capitol

With Snow Blast Imminent, Speaker Johnson Says ‘We Cannot Delay’ Certification Of Trump’s Victory

2024 Election

Snow

Washington D.C.

Weather

House Speaker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-johnson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Johnson</a> (R-LA) outlined the Republican Party&#8217;s agenda in a 19-minute speech that he delivered on Friday immediately after winning the speaker&#8217;s race.
Johnson opened his speech by holding a moment of silence for the 14 people who were murdered by an Islamic terrorist this week in New Orleans.
He said that the seven principles that would guide his actions as speaker were individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets, and human dignity.
&#8220;The American people want an America First agenda. Sadly, for the past four years of divided government, too many politicians in Washington have done the opposite,&#8221; Johnson said. &#8220;Open borders and over-regulation have destroyed our cities and stifled innovation. Inflation and weak leadership have left Americans poorer and they placed our country in a perilous position.&#8221;
He said that the top priority this Congress will tackle is securing America&#8217;s borders.
&#8220;In coordination with President Trump, this Congress will give our border and immigration enforcement agents the resources that they need to do their job,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We will secure the border. We will deport dangerous criminal illegal aliens, and finally finish building the border wall.&#8221;
He said that Congress would also take action to address the inflation crisis that President Joe Biden and the Democrats sparked in 2021 with their American Rescue Plan.
Johnson said that Republicans would also stop the Democrats&#8217; war on energy and unleash America&#8217;s energy industry.
&#8220;We’re going to drastically cut the size and scope of government,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We’re going to return the power back to the people. And in coordination with President Trump and his administration, we’re going to create a leaner, faster, and more efficient federal workforce. We need to do that.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) takes the speaker&#8217;s gavel and outlines the Republican Party&#8217;s agenda in his first remarks as Speaker of the 119th Congress. 🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/PyLbeyo3uZ">pic.twitter.com/PyLbeyo3uZ</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1875281571646992877?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2025</a></blockquote>

Mike Johnson Outlines Republican Agenda After Winning Speakership

America First

Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson secured back-to-back terms as House speaker on Friday after President-elect <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> intervened to pressure GOP holdouts.
Trump began Friday prior to the speakership vote by <a href="https://x.com/BretBaier/status/1875218813643379054" target="_blank" rel="noopener">calling</a> House Republicans who were shaky or undecided on Johnson serving another term as speaker. By the time of the vote, only three holdouts remained, one of which, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, had already been tallied as a loss by the Trump team.
The other two holdouts, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Keith Self of Texas, agreed to switch their votes and support Johnson after a phone meeting with Trump, according to Fox News’ Chad Pergram.
South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace huddled Norman and Self in a phone meeting with Trump where the president-elect pushed them to support Johnson, arguing that extending the speakership fight would be “disrespectful to Americans.” Trump never visited with Massie, who was the lone Republican vote against Johnson.
“It would be disrespectful to Americans who voted in an historic Presidential election – to have this speaker’s vote go to a second or third ballot. And it would be disrespectful to me,” Trump <a href="https://x.com/chadpergram/status/1875277082793509145" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, according to Pergram. “Fellas, we have a lot to do. Let’s get to it.”
Self said later in a statement posted to social media that he agreed to support Johnson after “receiving firm assurances from the Speaker, that Republicans in the House will have strong representation during the budget reconciliation process — a cornerstone of President Trump’s agenda.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
RE: Speaker’s Vote   My sole focus was advancing the Trump agenda. To ensure this, I expressed concerns to Speaker Johnson about fiscal responsibility and holding the line on deficit spending—key priorities for my constituents.   After receiving firm assurances from the Speaker,…
&mdash; Rep. Keith Self (@RepKeithSelf) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepKeithSelf/status/1875277861554123179?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Norman appeared on Fox News and said that he would “do it again” the same way.
“[Trump] just said, ‘Mike Johnson is the only one that&#8217;s got the support among the body to become speaker.’ And I get that. But, you know, the only way I had to let my voice be heard was what I did,” Norman said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;I&#39;d do it again,&quot; Rep. Ralph Norman tells me after holding up Mike Johnson&#39;s speakership. 
A phone call from President-elect Trump led Norman to change his vote. 
&quot;He just said, Mike Johnson is the only one that&#39;s got the support among the body to become speaker. And I get… <a href="https://t.co/wwhGNZ2pqs">pic.twitter.com/wwhGNZ2pqs</a>
&mdash; Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) <a href="https://twitter.com/JacquiHeinrich/status/1875297593225327083?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The Washington Examiner’s Byron York, a longtime political columnist and Hill watcher, atributed Friday’s relative lack of excitement and chaos around the speakership vote to the “Trump effect.”
“Why was this Speaker election not the multi-ballot, multi-day ordeal that the McCarthy vote was in 2023? The Trump effect. The number of GOP members who were willing to stand in defiance of the president-elect&#8217;s wishes was exactly 1,” York noted.
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Why was this Speaker election not the multi-ballot, multi-day ordeal that the McCarthy vote was in 2023? The Trump effect. The number of GOP members who were willing to stand in defiance of the president-elect&#39;s wishes was exactly 1. <a href="https://t.co/67iHeS8T1p">pic.twitter.com/67iHeS8T1p</a>
&mdash; Byron York (@ByronYork) <a href="https://twitter.com/ByronYork/status/1875273667611128089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Mike Johnson, Donald Trump

‘The Trump Effect’: How Trump Wrangled Republicans And Won Mike Johnson The Speakership

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