Speaker Johnson Holds Press Briefing After Trump Trip To China

[0:00] Good morning everybody. Just want to have a couple comments here to take a few questions if you want about a big week. We just capped off another productive week here in the House. The House Republican majority is moving the ball, moving the agenda. Of course, this is police week and we had a number of ways to memorialize that, memorializing our fallen officers and all those who take the risk and put on the badge every day to protect all of our communities around the country. [0:26] So we had bills and resolutions on the floor. As you saw, we had a wreath laying ceremony. We had a candlelight vigil out on the steps of the Capitol. All that's appropriate. And we express our sincere gratitude to law enforcement around the country. I can tell you the Republicans in the House and Senate stand with law enforcement back the blue. We always will. Also, today we just passed our first regular order appropriations bill for the FY fiscal year 27 cycle. [0:52] This is, again, fulfilling our commitment to get back to regular order in the appropriations process. That's the only way for Congress to be a good steward of taxpayer funds. We have broken the Christmas omnibus spending bill madness that has had beset Congress for many, many years and we're getting back rebuilding the muscle memory for Congress to do its job. We're really proud of that. [1:12] Now we have the remaining appropriations bills that will be coming through in short order, trying to keep on the clock and make sure this happens well before the end of the fiscal year. So stay tuned for more of that action. [1:22] We're also turning our attention to a big week next week here in Congress. We're going to have a lot of important measures scheduled for floor action. Let me list a couple of them for you. First, our bipartisan housing affordability legislation. This will be landmark legislation that will help increase the supply of housing around the country and bring down the cost. It's going to help more American families pursue the American dream of homeownership. And I have with me Chairman French Hill, the Financial Services Committee in the House, who's done extraordinary work. Again, [1:51] bipartisan on this and he'll address that in just a moment. Also on the floor next week, long awaited legislation, the SCORE Act. This is going to support student athletes and the educational mission of college athletics, really important, critical stuff to get the NIL kind of madness under control. And Congress is stepping up to lead on that and we're happy to do it. And finally, the reconciliation 2.0 legislation, which has been developing now to fully fund the immigration enforcement and border protection, [2:21] for three years, through the rest of the Trump administration. And I will say this is despite, incredibly, despite Democrat opposition. Think of it. They do not want to give $1 to secure your border and to enforce federal immigration law to keep your streets and communities safe. It's unbelievable to us, but that's where it is. Republicans have to do it on our own. We will do that next week and finally get that done. Once again, despite constant skepticism around here from the press that we can't perform, we are getting it done. We get it done. [2:51] We get it done every week. Sometimes it's a slow process, but we check the boxes and we're delivering for the American people. Promises made, promises kept. With that, I'll turn it over to Chairman Hill for the latest on the housing bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank all of you for being with us this morning. Next week on the suspension calendar, we'll bring the House amendments to the Senate passed housing bill. This has been a collaborative effort since the 118th Congress between Senator Scott and myself to bring a housing bill that's supply side oriented. [3:22] That will increase the accessibility of housing and also the affordability of housing. This is a key, I'd say goal of House and Senate Republicans. And it's obviously a key goal of President Trump because he talked about it in the state of the union. [3:37] And this bill has a provision in it that meets his request that we limit institutional investors from being out there competing with Mary and John in their attempt to buy a house. This is in the bill. It's in the bill in the right way. I think it removes some of the legal challenges that we felt that were in the structure of the Senate bill. We think this has made a better bill. [3:59] And I want to say thanks to Senator Scott and his team working over the last few months, congratulate him also on the Clarity Act, which voted out of the Senate Banking Committee with a bipartisan vote last yesterday. [4:06] This is a very important priority also for President Trump and House and Senate Republicans. And so we look forward to a good vote that will advance housing affordability, housing accessibility, help our American families in all 50 states, and also accomplish President Trump's goal of limiting institutional investors' ability to compete against the [4:29] our moms and our moms and our moms and dads who are out trying to buy a house. Thank you. A couple of questions? [4:34] The House defeated and Iran were two new Republicans that voted for it. Are you confident that you can keep giving back these types of questions? [4:44] Yes. Look, Iran is in a – we're not having kinetic activity right now, as we would say. The president has declared Operation Epic Fury to have concluded, and now we're working on the next project, which is getting the Strait of Hormuz open. We don't expect that to be a warfare [5:00] activity, so to speak. So we've got to allow the administration time to negotiate these things. The president has been doing that in earnest. The difficulty, as they've articulated in the White House, is that you've got to make sure you're negotiating with the right parties, and it's taken Iran some time, because the top layers of leadership were taken out, to make sure the right people with the right authority are at the table. [5:20] So that's been the complicating factor. I do know that our allies and our neighbors and friends around the world, and most recently, in the discussion the president had with Xi in China just in the last couple of days, everyone has an interest in the Strait being reopened for commerce. [5:33] And so you're going to have, I think, international partners who assist with that. We think it comes to a conclusion soon. And I don't think Congress needs to get in the way of the administration as they finish what is now a negotiation instead of a military conflict. That's the way we see it. So we'll see how that goes. [5:47] The Health Ethics Committee confirmed its investigation to Congressman Edwards. Has there been a conversation about addressing potentially the onboarding process for these congresspeople, considering there's been two resignations over similar allegations? [6:02] Well, look, the two resignations were, all these are individualized and special cases. They're different facts, different scenarios, different circumstances. And in the case of Swalwell, I mean, there was a long pattern of abuses that apparently everybody on Capitol Hill knew about except me. [6:16] And it was right for him to resign in the case of Tony Gonzalez. I mean, there was a long, really detailed due process investigation through ethics, the ethics committee, and he made a determination to step down. That was the appropriate thing as well. [6:30] I am very consistent, intellectually consistent in every way, no matter whether you're talking about a Republican or a Democrat, everyone is due due process. If an allegation is made against someone, that is not reason for expulsion or disciplinary action. People get a chance to present their case. That's what the House Ethics Committee is all about. It's a process that has worked for a long, long time in this chamber. It's a very active committee right now. I'll concede that to you. [6:54] But we've got to get on top of this. Now, you know, this week we now announced a new bipartisan measure. I'm really proud of this effort. It's probably long overdue. But myself and Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries both have endorsed this and set it in place. [7:10] So you have the Republicans Women's Caucus and the Democratic Women's Caucus working together in a partnership, as they like to call it, to work through the issues of misconduct of members with staff to make sure that, in particular here, especially female staff members who work on Capitol Hill are comfortable and safe. [7:27] And there needs to be better reporting mechanisms, perhaps, on, you know, when lines are crossed. We're going to police that very carefully. We're going to make sure that this is the safest place in America to work, as it should be. [7:39] And so looking forward to that group and the productive ideas that come out of that. And I'm really proud that that's a bipartisan effort, as it should be. I'll bless it and move that as aggressively as possible, and we'll get that in place so it'll help solve the problem. [7:51] Senator, as you just heartfully laid out your legislative agenda, we know that there's a packed calendar coming up. You always have your narrow majority in the back of your mind. Next week, all eyes are going to be on Kentucky's 4th Congressional District. [8:04] Who do you believe right now is the best person to coalesce around the conference to deliver on those priorities, particularly in the president's second term? [8:14] Well, I watch all the primaries very carefully, of course, and the speaker's in charge of the whole map. And we're going to keep and grow this majority in this cycle. And I'm absolutely convinced, especially after the redistricting changes to the map, we feel very, very bullish about this. [8:28] So we're going to run right through the tape. I'm not going to get engaged in these individual primaries. We see how it sorts out. But we're going to have a great crop of people. [8:36] We recruited extraordinary candidates this cycle on the Republican side. I mean, great Americans who are going to come here and serve faithfully and patriotically. And we're looking forward to that new class coming in. Yes, ma'am. [8:45] On foreign policy, should President Trump have been more committal when it comes to Taiwan during his visit to China? [8:53] I haven't seen the – I've been really busy the last couple of days, so I haven't seen the exact readout on how that discussion went. I've heard a couple little comments offhand of what he said. [9:02] But he feels like they had a very productive meeting. They talked about some really important issues. And I'm awaiting – sit down with him and go through it in detail. [9:10] We had an exchange text last night, but he's on the way back now, I think. And we'll sit down and go through it. We'll find out. [9:16] Look, we've always been concerned, and we've made America's interests very clear, our position on Taiwan. [9:21] They need to be – stay independent and secure there, and we have an interest in that, as is everybody around the world, because of chip manufacturing and other reasons there. [9:30] I'm sure they discussed that, but I don't know the details of it because I haven't talked to the president yet. [9:34] One more. Yes. [9:34] Mr. Washington, your chair of Michael Chess says his committee's sources to move matters more quickly through his committee. Will you give ethics committee more resources? [9:42] Well, that's the first I've heard of it. I mean, obviously, we'll dedicate whatever resources are necessary to ensure the House Ethics Committee does its job as it should. [9:50] And I will concede – and he has – he had a great challenge. The chairman of Ethics Committee – that committee is very busy right now. [9:56] There's lots of allegations flying around, so we'll make sure that they have everything they need to get the job done, and we'll continue to, again, police these things as best we can. [10:04] We need every member of Congress on both sides of the aisle to act appropriately and according to the dignity of their office. [10:10] It's a small ask, and I – 99 percent of the people around here do that every day. [10:14] Those that don't will face disciplinary action, and we're going to – we're going to police our own. We'll do that. Thank you all so much. [10:19] Thank you.