At today's House Republican leadership press briefing, Speaker Johnson touted the reconciliation bill.
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00:00Well, thank you all for being here. There's a lot going on, and we will update you on and have been this morning already.
00:08We're grateful for the opportunity to do that. We're really grateful that it's National Police Week.
00:13Republicans look forward to this. We really, truly do.
00:15And we've been welcoming families of fallen officers and law enforcement officers from around the country all week.
00:21We had a candlelight vigil last night, or a couple of those events last night that we participated in.
00:26And you can't give honor where honor is due enough, especially around this subject.
00:32People put their lives on the line every single day. The numbers are staggering.
00:36After the candlelight vigil last night, we went, as Sheriff Rutherford mentioned, Representative Rutherford mentioned,
00:42we went to the National Law Enforcement Memorial this morning, and it was misty, and the weather was sort of appropriate,
00:48because when you walk that place and you see the names of more than 24,000 officers whose names are etched in the stone there,
00:56it really moves you.
00:57We lost 345 fallen heroes this year alone at the Etchedon Memorial.
01:03So there were many officers out there, and just paying their respects, and we placed rates at some small totes.
01:08But, look, I come from a first responder family, and I know that sacrifice.
01:13I grew up at the Fire and Police Training Academy in my hometown, Shreveport, Louisiana, because my dad was a training officer.
01:18He was on the fire side of it, and he also worked the line, and I was 12 years old.
01:22He got burned in an explosion on the job, 80% of his body, 33 burns.
01:26He had a 5% chance to live, 5%.
01:28He came back miraculously and survived, but he was terribly disabled for the rest of his life.
01:33And his co-captain died in that fire during the hazmat team, and I watched the sorrow that his family, his young family,
01:41went through, the children left behind, his spouse, his wife.
01:44And I just learned that at a young age, the profound sacrifice that people make.
01:49And we have to keep that in perspective.
01:50We have to stand behind those who are willing to do that for all the rest of us.
01:54And the House Republicans will stand with God.
01:57We definitely do have their back in every way, and we're glad to show it.
02:00So thank you for your service.
02:02Thank you for your service, David.
02:03Everybody who does that.
02:04My Capitol Police team, my security team, I spend more time with them than I spend with my family, friends, and everybody.
02:11And they've become like family to us, and they do have a road job.
02:14So we're so grateful.
02:15Can't say it enough.
02:17They deserve our gratitude, and they deserve our respect.
02:21And I wish all of our House Democrats agreed with that.
02:24They showed with their actions that they don't.
02:26And we've got to talk about what happened in New Jersey.
02:28See, on Friday, as you all know, three Democrat members of Congress got into a physical altercation with our isolations.
02:35I mean, outside the Delaney Hall Detention Center in New Jersey, what a spectacle that was.
02:39What a horrible display for our children to see, right?
02:45Amid a long list of shameful and embarrassing episodes this year, that altercation, I think it takes the cake.
02:50I think it's a new load for congressional Democrats.
02:52Instead of condemning the action, of course, the Democrat leadership in the House sent out a statement of support.
02:58My friend Hakeem Jeffries said, quote, we will never bend the knee.
03:01To bend the knee to what?
03:02Hakeem, to ICE?
03:04Come on.
03:05The reason the Democrats were even at the detention facility is equally concerning.
03:11The purpose was.
03:11They were there demanding to shut down the detention facility.
03:15Now look, here's who's housed in the detention facility.
03:18Violent gang members, rapists, and murderers.
03:20They want to shut it down.
03:22We already know that Democrats support open borders.
03:24They support MS-13 gang members.
03:26They go and visit them in jail.
03:27They want to allow illegals to vote.
03:30But this really is a new vote.
03:33Republicans want to detain and deport criminal illegal aliens.
03:36Democrats want to come to the jails.
03:38Could you have a stronger contrast than that right there?
03:41We don't need less detention beds and facilities.
03:43We need much more.
03:45And death behavior is just unacceptable.
03:47We're grateful to U.S. Attorney Alina Hoppe in New Jersey.
03:49She's open an investigation into this matter.
03:52And that legal process will play out.
03:54We're having conversations.
03:56We had them this morning at the House Republican conference meeting this morning about appropriate
04:00action that we need to take here to address that inappropriate behavior, the wildly inappropriate
04:04behavior.
04:06And we will do that.
04:07Let me just talk about reconciliation real quick.
04:09Look, this is, the bill's coming together, as you've heard.
04:12The last three committees are reporting out today.
04:15Everybody in this room, you know, gets fixated on a few final details about all this.
04:20But I think it's important to just state one more time what we're achieving through reconciliation.
04:24This will be one of the most consequential pieces of legislation ever passed by the United
04:28States Congress.
04:28It is large, it is comprehensive, and it deals with reconciling the budget in a way that will
04:33be fiscally responsible.
04:35We're going to slash taxes, including on tips, overtime, Social Security for seniors and
04:40job creators, restore American energy dominance, as you've heard, secure our border, and deport
04:44illegal aliens.
04:45We're going to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, return to peace through strength, and
04:50reduce spending all at the same time.
04:53And I put reconciliation on an aggressive timetable back in January.
04:57I said that we would try to do this as quickly as possible.
05:00We're still on target to get that Memorial Day deadline, which people balked out when we
05:04first said it.
05:05The American people are counting on us to get this done, and get it done quickly.
05:08And we're on target to do it.
05:11President Biden let virtually every area of public policy in disrepair.
05:14And it is incumbent upon Congress to fix it and pass laws that cannot be easily undone
05:18or overwritten.
05:20We're working around the clock to build our consensus, to get the 218 votes, and deliver
05:24on President Trump's on their first agenda, so the American people can really begin to
05:29feel a lot of relief.
05:30And as we're working to get this done, House Democrats are working overtime to deceive the
05:35American people about this.
05:36We've discussed it already this morning, but they're not talking about what the bill actually
05:40does.
05:41They're using talking points that are pretty stable.
05:43They're not afraid to lie about what's in it, and we're not afraid to tell the truth
05:47about what the Democrats are doing.
05:49They've already been forced to take down their advertisements because they were filled with
05:52falsehoods about what the bill supposedly was going to have in it.
05:55You probably saw last week, they're at it again.
05:57They released a CBO report, so-called, that claims that our legislation cuts many millions
06:02of Americans out of Medicaid.
06:04It's obviously demonstrably false.
06:06Other outlets have reported on this, okay?
06:10They included policies that are not even in the legislation.
06:13How could they have done that?
06:14Because they released a report before the bill text was issued, okay?
06:18And most of the media ran with it, okay?
06:20And I'm just going to say this to my friends in the media, on the Hillcrest Corps in particular,
06:23right?
06:24If you...
06:24If you...