| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
|
In the Washington, D.C. area, listen on 90.1 FM. | |
| Use our free C-SPAN Now app or go online to c-span.org/slash radio on SiriusXM radio on channel 455, the TuneIn app, and on your smart speaker by simply saying play C-SPAN radio. | ||
| Hear our live call-in program, Washington Journal, daily at 7 a.m. Eastern. | ||
| Listen to House and Senate proceedings, committee hearings, news conferences, and other public affairs events live throughout the day. | ||
| And for the best way to hear what's happening in Washington with fast-paced reports, live interviews, and analysis of the day. | ||
| Catch Washington today, weekdays at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern. | ||
| Listen to C-SPAN programs on C-SPAN Radio anytime, anywhere. | ||
| C-SPAN, Democracy Unfiltered. | ||
| During a news conference, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP leaders were joined by constituents to talk about the Republicans' tax and spending legislation, also known as the Big Beautiful Bill, currently being worked on in the Senate. | ||
| Speaker Johnson says members should keep their schedules flexible so the House can hold a final vote on any changes before sending the legislation to President Trump for his signature. | ||
| Well, good morning, everybody. | ||
| So good to see you. | ||
| I want to start by continuing to offer my prayers for the safety and security of our service members and all Americans in the Middle East. | ||
| God bless them and God bless our troops who are keeping us safe. | ||
| Now, over the weekend, President Trump delivered peace through strength. | ||
| Operation Midnight Hammer was not only a historic and successful mission, it was a message to Iran. | ||
| A message that resonates for years, if not decades to come. | ||
| Iran will never be allowed to attain a nuclear weapon. | ||
| And if Iran continues to try to go down this path, prepare to face the full fury and wrath of American firepower. | ||
| Because of President Trump's decisive action, the world is a safer place. | ||
| And let me be clear: America is safer, Israel is safer, and our allies are safer. | ||
| And like President Vance said, we are not at war with Iran. | ||
| We are at war with Iran's nuclear program. | ||
| The war against their nuclear program is already paying off. | ||
| And thank you to President Trump for his decisive action again. | ||
| Peace through strength is working. | ||
| Now, switching gears, let me say this: the American people are waiting. | ||
| They want to know with certainty that their taxes won't increase $5,000 next year. | ||
| They want to know that violent, illegal immigrants are not in their communities anymore. | ||
| But they don't have it yet because unfortunately, they're still waiting for the one big, beautiful act. | ||
| And each day that goes by is another day that Americans don't have the certainty that they deserve. | ||
| Whether you're a small business owner, a senior on Social Security, a tipped service worker, or a first responder working overtime to protect our communities, the one big, beautiful bill helps you. | ||
| Americans should not have to wait any longer. | ||
| There's no time to waste. | ||
| Let's get this done. | ||
| Let's send this bill to President Trump's desk so it can become law. | ||
| Now, here with me today is a fellow Michigander. | ||
| He's a real person with a real story waiting for the One Big Beautiful Bill to become law. | ||
| Sam Palmetter is the President of Engineering and New Product Development at Laser Marketing Technologies in my home district of Carroll, Michigan. | ||
| There are leaders in laser marketing and engraving technology. | ||
| And I'll let Sam speak more to this. | ||
| But they are eagerly awaiting for the immediate expensing for research and development so that they can continue being a leader in innovation right here in the United States of America. | ||
| And now without further ado, I will turn it over to my constituent and my friend, Sam. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I don't need that box. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| I'm not quite that tall, but I don't need that. | ||
| So just real quick, Lisa has been such a Spitfire for us in our district, not just during an election campaign here. | ||
| She's in our factories, in our offices, year after year, checking on us, seeing what we need in our areas. | ||
| And we can't appreciate her more, in all honesty. | ||
| This lady doesn't need to do this, and she's doing it from her heart. | ||
| And I can't thank her enough for what she's doing personally to really help manufacturing in America. | ||
| So with that, let me get on track here for you all, right? | ||
| So thank you to House Republican leadership, including my Congresswomanwoman, the awesome chairman, Lisa McLean, for this opportunity to share the reason the Big Beautiful Bill needs to be signed into law. | ||
| As the founder of Laser Marketing Technologies over 20 years ago and as a lifelong resident of Michigan, a manufacturing state, I've seen firsthand the demise of manufacturing sector in America and good-paying manufacturing jobs. | ||
| It has slowly been outsourced to other countries that have taken advantage of the U.S. My company is one of the last two laser technology companies fully owned and operated in America. | ||
| We had a third competitor from Ohio that tried to hang on but went bankrupt and was subsequently purchased last year by a foreign entity. | ||
| Now think about that, right? | ||
| These are the guys. | ||
| We're the ones that are in the background supplying a lot for the Department of Defense, other items that are critical to our sovereignty. | ||
| And this is going to foreign actors that own it. | ||
| So this is what's happening to America. | ||
| Our manufacturing and IP is being blought off to other countries. | ||
| It need to stop now before we don't have the manufacturing and intellectual property to build what is needed for our military and other vital industries. | ||
| So with that, the following items in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that really matter to me and many other small business owners, not just in Michigan, but throughout the U.S., are the permanent increase of the qualified business income deduction to keep our taxes low and competitive on a global scale, not just in the U.S., but we are competing against everybody else. | ||
| So why is our taxes so much higher than other countries? | ||
| No tax and overtime was great for my employees. | ||
| Just imagine if you're in trades, right? | ||
| You're a trades person and you work an extra 20 hours and you get your check and you look at it. | ||
| You guys ever go through this? | ||
| Anybody? | ||
| Maybe not. | ||
| But if you're in trades or anything like that, even if you work at a grocery store and you see that overtime, you think you're going to bring that in, and it's half of what you thought it was going to be because somebody else got your money and it didn't go in your pocket and it never will. | ||
| Let's change that, right? | ||
| That's part of this big, beautiful bill. | ||
| That's really, really phenomenal. | ||
| And that should really resonate with everybody that's actually working with their hands, right? | ||
| People that serve you food, everything. | ||
| Specialty deduction allowance for qualified production property. | ||
| This will allow us to invest into the future and immediately allow us to double our manufacturing space. | ||
| So instead of expensing this across 40 years, I'll be 90 years old by then, right? | ||
| What's that going to matter to me? | ||
| But if I can expense our manufacturing additions and new buildings that we need to build so we can supply the machinery for the U.S., we can do that and immediately write that off. | ||
| And that means something because that puts it back in and we put it right back into our local economy. | ||
| What is that saying, high tide rises all boats? | ||
| That's what this is about, right? | ||
| We do this. | ||
| It's not trickle-down economics or whatever, which I have nothing against. | ||
| But let's think about it, right? | ||
| If we are putting this money back into the U.S. manufacturing, tradespeople are building these buildings and then qualified, good paying jobs for workers. | ||
| So the One Big Beautiful Act encourages American businesses to create new things in the U.S. to get our economy back on track. | ||
| This bill incentivizes us to create new jobs in the U.S., and we are incentivized to manufacture in the USA. | ||
| And with this new law, we will continue to do this, but at a much, much faster rate. | ||
| I'm excited to keep making it in America for America. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thanks. | ||
| Great job. | ||
| The One Big Beautiful Bill is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver real-life results to the American people, as you just heard from Sam. | ||
| From energy producers in Louisiana to police officers in Minnesota, this landmark legislation truly holds promise for every single American. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Today's guests are a testament to that. | |
| I'm proud to welcome James Stewart to speak this morning on the impact of the big, one big, beautiful bill that it will have on law enforcement officers in Minnesota and across America. | ||
| With more than 30 years of frontline experience, Sheriff Stewart is here today on behalf of the Minnesota Sheriffs Association to represent the men and women who sacrificed their safety, comfort, and time to keep us all safe. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Some even make the ultimate sacrifice with their lives. | |
| President Trump and House Republicans stand with our nation's brave law enforcement officers. | ||
| The One Big Beautiful Bill makes clear that we don't just do so with words, but with our actions. | ||
|
unidentified
|
President Trump campaigned on no tax on overtime, and now we're following through on that promise. | |
| To the benefit of our men and women in blue, by the way, and their families. | ||
| And I thank the President for his vision of a prosperous America that truly appreciates and honors the bravest among us. | ||
| With that, I'll turn it over to Sheriff Stewart from Minnesota's 6th Congressional District. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, thank you, Congressman Emmer, for inviting me to speak this morning and for your leadership. | |
| My name is James Stewart. | ||
| I'm the Executive Director and CEO for the Minnesota Sheriffs Association, a former vice president for the National Sheriffs Association, and retired sheriff of Anoka County, located in Minnesota's 6th congressional district. | ||
| After more than 30 years in law enforcement, I know the sacrifice that is required to carry out the mission of protecting our communities. | ||
| The sacrifice of late nights, weekends, and holidays away from the dinner table and special events with your family. | ||
| Early mornings out the door before your children even wake up, and the mental toll of routinely encountering scenes that no human should ever have to witness. | ||
| And the ultimate sacrifice some officers make with their life in exchange for a safer tomorrow for the people that they proudly serve and protect. | ||
| Law enforcement officers sometimes work 100-plus hours per pay period. | ||
| And not only is that time spent away from their family and their friends, it is more time in the line of duty putting their lives at risk. | ||
| No tax and overtime pay would benefit our protectors all across the country in tremendous ways. | ||
| The increase in take-home pay for these deputies and officers rewards the extra hours and the extra efforts that they devote to protecting their communities, impacting their own lives in significant ways. | ||
| That is more money in their pockets to save, to invest, and to grow. | ||
| With more net pay, our protectors could reduce financial burdens and ultimately the related stresses and rely less on second jobs and better focus on serving others in their demanding roles. | ||
| But no tax and overtime won't just lead to a bigger paycheck. | ||
| Law enforcement agencies across America right now are facing staffing shortages and struggle with recruitment and retention like never before. | ||
| No tax and overtime would help keep seasoned officers on the force longer and decrease that turnover. | ||
| The one big beautiful bill passed by the House is the opportunity to honor our men and women in blue and reinforce the vital role that they play in our communities. | ||
| The no-tax and overtime pay policy is a clear message of respect and support to our nation's law enforcement officers. | ||
| And the impact of this legislation cannot be understated. | ||
| Our protectors across America want to see this change, and you all have the power to make it happen. | ||
| I commend House Republicans for the work that they've done thus far to move this policy closer to the finish line. | ||
| And I ask on behalf of peace officers across Minnesota and our entire nation that you continue full steam ahead in that work. | ||
| For the moms missing dinner with their families tonight, and for the sons missing their birthdays for their families this weekend, and for the men and women in blue putting their lives on the line day after day and hour after hour, let's make this happen. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Well, over the weekend, we saw President Trump take strong and decisive action to ensure that Iran does not any longer have a nuclear weapons program. | ||
| Not only did the President work with our allies in the region, of course, working very closely with Israel, but the President defended America. | ||
| Again, let's not forget the Ayatollah and many others in his leadership structure have been chanting death to America for years as they tried to get a nuclear weapon under previous presidents who let this build and build for decades and the world knew one day it had to be confronted. | ||
| But the president didn't just take that strong and decisive action under the War Powers Resolution. | ||
| In compliance with that law, he notified Congress within 48 hours of the actions that were taken. | ||
| And hopefully that's as far as it's going to go. | ||
| The President announced yesterday that there is now a ceasefire. | ||
| Again, peace through strength, they're not just words. | ||
| They have to be actions that a president of the United States, who's strong and bold and decisive, is willing to take those steps to keep America safe. | ||
| And I think most people in the civilized world know that a nuclear-armed Iran is not just bad for America, but it's bad for other countries all around the world. | ||
| Now, we've got another busy week here in Washington. | ||
| Today, we're going to be debating the resolution to condemn the political violence in Minnesota. | ||
| I think you'll see a very strong, bipartisan message being sent by Congress that political violence is never acceptable. | ||
| And you see the actions over the weekend with the state representative and her husband, who were brutally murdered, the senator who was nearly killed. | ||
| We keep all of them in our prayers and their families. | ||
| But we know that justice will prevail and ultimately in America. | ||
| We need to be united when we say that political violence is never the answer. | ||
| We're going to also bring more legislation to protect Americans from illegals who come here and commit violence against our constituents. | ||
| Somebody gets a DUI here while they're here illegally. | ||
| And I saw this in my own district, where you had an illegal who came about eight times the legal limit and murdered an 18-year-old girl and her boyfriend. | ||
| And he was fine, but they are no longer with us. | ||
| And we see this every day in communities all across the country. | ||
| We've given President Trump some tools in law, like the Lake and Riley Act, to keep us safe from people who come here illegally and commit violent acts against our citizens. | ||
| This will be one more of those tools. | ||
| Of course, Friday, we're going to have a vote to stand up for our ICE agents and for law enforcement in Los Angeles and other communities who are trying to keep us safe in the face of these violent riots like the LA riots that you're seeing. | ||
| That will be Friday. | ||
| Of course, the overarching focus has been on the one big beautiful bill. | ||
| The Senate finally has the legislation. | ||
| They're moving forward. | ||
| We've continued up here to talk about so many great things that this will do to get our economy back on track, to put more money in the pockets of hardworking families through so many provisions, like certainty in the tax code, ensuring that you don't have a massive tax increase that would hit lower and middle-income families. | ||
| No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, the ability to have bonus depreciation, some of the other things that would bring investment into this country. | ||
| But we also have so many other provisions. | ||
| Border security, of course, is one, but energy security is a big component of this bill to allow America to continue producing more oil so we don't have to be dependent on foreign countries. | ||
| So world markets aren't worried about an action Iran might take when you saw them talking about shutting off the Strait of Hormuz. | ||
| You really didn't see much of a change in oil prices because America and our allies can now pick up the slack because you have a president in Donald Trump who wants to open up more American energy opportunities. | ||
| And so do our friends around the world. | ||
| And in this bill, we have a number of provisions to do that. | ||
| But rather than me talk about those provisions, and I love the great work that South Louisiana is involved in in so many different fronts at producing energy for the rest of the country and the world, but I am proud to have one of my constituents, Paul Danos, whose family for three generations has been involved in the energy industry. | ||
| He knows just what it takes to produce American energy and the challenges that can be posed if Congress and the White House don't get it right and what opportunities we have ahead for our country if we do get it right. | ||
| That great leader is my friend Paul Danos. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Leader Scalise, for having me here today for that introduction. | |
| Good morning, everyone. | ||
| My name is Paul Danos. | ||
| I am CEO and one of the owners of Danos. | ||
| We are a 78-year-old, third-generation family-owned and managed energy services firm headquartered down in southeast Louisiana. | ||
| We provide frontline workforce that enable companies to explore, produce, and develop the energy in the Gulf of America. | ||
| I'm honored to share with you the positive impact that this bill will have on family-run businesses in our areas and our employees around the country, and how critical this bill is for American energy dominance. | ||
| I'm honored to represent so many hardworking people that provide safe, reliable, and affordable energy to our country. | ||
| My grandfather, Alan Danos Sr., he took a risk. | ||
| He had a dream in 1947 to create jobs for his community, prosperity for his community, and security for our nation. | ||
| But during the previous administration, that sort of innovation and spirit was stifled. | ||
| Oil and gas leases were canceled, they were nullified, and altogether stopped. | ||
| This bill is a lifeline for American energy and restores the kind of predictability that businesses like ours need to invest and to grow. | ||
| Predictability keeps capital flowing. | ||
| And when capital flows, companies like Danos can invest in equipment and jobs and people and technology at home. | ||
| You see, offshore projects take years to build their multi-billion-dollar investments. | ||
| And without clarity and consistency with lease sales, businesses can't make the long-term investment decisions that are needed to grow their workforce and acquire equipment. | ||
| So, when lease sales stall or disappear, that doesn't just cause a pause in our business. | ||
| Those opportunities can vanish. | ||
| So, when that happens, good paying jobs across the Gulf Coast and really around the country because the supply chain throughout the country supports our energy in the Gulf of America. | ||
| And that American energy and security is jeopardized. | ||
| So, this bill will help to restore American energy dominance. | ||
| It'll make everyday goods less expensive and it'll create jobs to secure America's energy future. | ||
| And we know that energy security is national security. | ||
| The more energy we can produce at home, the more that we can help our allies abroad to make sure that they aren't relying on hostile nations to get their energy. | ||
| The Gulf of America is critical to America's energy economy and security. | ||
| When Congress gets energy policy right, companies like Danos can do what we do best, deliver safe, reliable, affordable American energy. | ||
| I want to thank the Congress and President Trump for making good energy policy a priority in this legislation. | ||
| Now, I'll turn it over to Tony McAllister. | ||
| Paul, I know you're the CEO, but I get to control the podium. | ||
| All right, no, that's okay. | ||
| They told me something different. | ||
| No, it's so great. | ||
| What a great collection of Americans here. | ||
| We wanted to come this morning. | ||
| I have a lot of updates for you, and I'll get to it in a moment, but I want to continue with this theme real quick because the Big Beautiful Bill is so important, literally, to every sector of the U.S. economy. | ||
| And we could have chosen constituents of ours from any sector in the economy, but it occurs to me we chose just the letter L as our theme today. | ||
| Okay, you heard about lasers and law enforcement and liquefied natural gas. | ||
| Now we're going to go to logging because I brought Tony McAllister here, and she is a small business owner. | ||
| She's going to talk to you about what it would mean to them. | ||
| She's also a mother, and she's the wife of one of our greatest sheriffs in the state of Louisiana. | ||
| They hail from Wynn Parish. | ||
| The sheriff's standing in the back, he's the big guy with the badge. | ||
| You can't miss him. | ||
| But I'm so grateful that Tony is here with us. | ||
| Now I'll turn it over to you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
How about that? | |
| All right. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for having me today. | ||
| So, my name is Tony McAllister. | ||
| I'm a proud resident of rural Louisiana in the 4th congressional district. | ||
| I am a Louisiana logger. | ||
| I'm a mom. | ||
| I'm a wife of a Louisiana sheriff. | ||
| And as a logger for years, small businesses like ours, with our team of 30 hardworking employees, have carried the weight of this governmental system that often seems to grow on the backs of small businesses and middle-class families like mine. | ||
| It's been tough. | ||
| It's been challenging to compete and to grow and to simply get a fair chance to thrive right here in the U.S. | ||
| But today I'm filled with gratitude. | ||
| I'm thankful to President Trump and the House Republican leadership who have made it a priority to reset this system, to put hardworking Americans first, to support the businesses and the families who are the backbone of this great nation. | ||
| When the One Big Beautiful bill is signed into law, it will finally give small businesses like ours a better opportunity to not just survive, but to grow and to succeed. | ||
| Some of these have been mentioned already, but just as a reminder, this legislation will lower the effective tax rate for producing in America, increase and make permanent the small business deduction, double immediate small business expensing, and reduce reporting burdens for small businesses. | ||
| In Louisiana, timber is not just what we do. | ||
| It's who we are. | ||
| It's the largest agricultural product in the state, and it is vital to the survival of so many rural communities across our state and across the South. | ||
| This bill recognizes this impact of small businesses just like mine. | ||
| It protects us. | ||
| It strengthens us. | ||
| For far too long, the U.S. has been one of the largest importers of pulp wood and timber products. | ||
| This has led to the shutdown of many mills and the loss of way too many American jobs. | ||
| So I want to personally thank the President for continuing to fight to reduce unregulated imports from other countries and for standing firm to support American-made products by American workers. | ||
| Another piece of this bill that hits even closer to home is the historic investment in our border security. | ||
| This will protect our communities and support our law enforcement officers and agencies by keeping dangerous illegals out of our country. | ||
| As a wife of a Louisiana sheriff, knowing that this administration is working hard to stand behind law enforcement gives me a peace of mind. | ||
| It empowers our officers, federal, state, and local, to do their jobs because they know they have the backing of this administration and the Republicans in Congress. | ||
| It means the world to me to see the leaders who value the safety, well-being, and dedication to those who put their lives on the line for us every single day. | ||
| The One Big Beautiful bill is more than policy. | ||
| It's progress. | ||
| It's progress for small business owners, for working families, for rural communities, and for our law enforcement. | ||
| Again, thank you, Mr. Speaker, for having me. | ||
| Thank you to the President for seeing us. | ||
| Thank you for standing with us. | ||
| Thank you to the House Republicans for working hard to get this done, not just for today, but for future generations. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thanks so much. | ||
| It is about progress, Tony. | ||
| That's so well said. | ||
| And I'm so grateful for these fine Americans who stood here representing hundreds of millions of Americans in all the various endeavors. | ||
| And this bill, the One Big Beautiful bill, is geared for those hardworking Americans. | ||
| It is going to help all boats rise. | ||
| And we are so excited to get this thing over the line. | ||
| And I'll give you more updates on that. | ||
| In the meantime, Tony and Paul and Sam and Sheriff Stewart, thank you again for your time this morning. | ||
| Let me zoom out. | ||
| We'll just talk about foreign affairs quickly and then we'll zoom back in on the big beautiful bill. | ||
| I know the conflict in the Middle East is top of mind for everyone and it is for us as well. | ||
| Over the weekend, of course, President Trump fulfilled what was a bipartisan, long-standing national security priority by carrying out successful strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. | ||
| Everyone around the world applauded this expertly performed duty by our extraordinary unmatched military. | ||
| Some of them applauded loudly and openly and some of them quietly, but everybody except the evil regime in Iran knows this was the right thing to do. | ||
| It's important to remember who we're discussing here, okay? | ||
| Evil is the right word. | ||
| Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism on planet Earth. | ||
| The Iranian regime has been responsible for thousands of American deaths over the years and an untold number of maimings with roadside bombs all over the Middle East. | ||
| They have funded and propped up terror proxies like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, and their stated goal is the death and destruction of America and, of course, Israel. | ||
| That's why for decades presidents have talked tough on Iran. | ||
| They've talked tough. | ||
| President Clinton said, quote, I believe all the Western nations have an overriding interest in containing the threat posed by Iran, unquote. | ||
| President Obama, he said, I have stated that Iran will never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon, unquote. | ||
| President Biden, quote, we will not. | ||
| Let me say again, we will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. | ||
| But it was President Trump who did more than talk. | ||
| He acted. | ||
| And it was long overdue. | ||
| And his decisive action led to a weakened and vulnerable Iran that gives them no other choice than to come to the table, which they refused to do in good faith before. | ||
| The President secured a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, and despite the temporary disruption this morning, we believe that will hold. | ||
| Peace in the Middle East has never been closer within our grasp. | ||
| And that is something that we should all embrace and applaud. | ||
| And we were heartened to see even people on the other side of the aisle, right-thinking common sense folks, say that this was the right move. | ||
| The ceasefire is fragile, but it is very real. | ||
| I spoke to the President this morning right before Air Force One took off from the tarmac. | ||
| He said it over to the NATO meeting, as you all know. | ||
| And we talked about his frustration with the temporary disruption and the ceasefire overnight. | ||
| And he told me he had just spoken to Prime Minister Netanyahu and encouraged him not to retaliate in any heavy way. | ||
| And I think that request has been heeded. | ||
| I told the President that I would immediately echo the same sentiment to my counterpart over there and my good friend, Speaker Ohana and the Knesset. | ||
| I did that. | ||
| I believe that Israel and the United States are locked arm in arm on this and that that unified front and that common goal is what is going to maintain peace. | ||
| So I just want to say overall this is America first policy in action. | ||
| This is, as has been said here already this morning, the penultimate demonstration of peace through strength. | ||
| This is what it means. | ||
| But you've got to have a strong commander-in-chief to make sure that happens. | ||
| Regarding the presidential authority, now naturally, of course, naturally, we've got some Democrats here on Capitol Hill who they have an allergic, knee-jerk reaction to anything that President Trump does, no matter how noble and good. | ||
| And they, of course, are opposed to his latest work to make Americans safer and bring peace in the Middle East, if you can imagine that. | ||
| Some have even called for his impeachment over this. | ||
| It's absolutely outrageous. | ||
| It would be comical if it were not so serious and stupid. | ||
| Let me be clear and be as clear as possible. | ||
| The strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities were clearly within President Trump's Article II powers as Commander-in-Chief. | ||
| It shouldn't even be in dispute. | ||
| Allow me to put my constitutional law hat on for a moment, because that's what I used to do, because both the law and the precedent are important for everyone to understand here. | ||
| This may answer a lot of questions that you might ask this morning. | ||
| The framers of our Constitution never intended for the President to seek the approval of Congress every time he exercises his constitutional authority under Article II as Commander-in-Chief. | ||
| Alexander Hamilton argued in Federalist No. 70, just for one example, that, quote, energy in the executive is a leading character in the definition of good government. | ||
| It is essential to the protection of the community against foreign attacks, unquote. | ||
| This is why the framers did not explicitly set restrictions on the president when it comes to using military force. | ||
| They understood something very practical about our matchless legislative body here in our Constitution. | ||
| The way the Congress was set up, they knew it would be a deliberative body, and they knew that process by necessity would take time. | ||
| And in an emergent and imminent situation, time is not something we always have the luxury of. | ||
| And so they wanted, in moments of danger and conflict abroad, for one single hand of authority to have that authority to act decisively and effectively. | ||
| Now we're hearing some talk about the war powers resolution. | ||
| What is that exactly? | ||
| Congress passed that legislation in 1973 under President Richard Nixon. | ||
| It bars the use of armed forces in conflict beyond 60 days without congressional authorization or a formal declaration of war. | ||
| A 30-day withdrawal period follows thereafter under the statute. | ||
| It also requires that the President inform Congress within 48 hours of use of military force. | ||
| Obviously, President Trump did that. | ||
| Obviously, in the modern era with the 24-hour news cycle on social media, nothing goes by unnoticed. | ||
| This might have made some sense in 1973, but I'm not even sure it was constitutional, and I'll tell you about that as well. | ||
| Many respected constitutional experts argue that the War Powers Act is itself unconstitutional. | ||
| I'm persuaded by that argument. | ||
| They think it's a violation of the Article II powers of the Commander-in-Chief. | ||
| I think that's right. | ||
| If you look back at the founders' intent, you read the Federalist Papers, you read the records of the Constitutional Convention, I think that is right. | ||
| And many more scholars believe the President is correct to use his executive authority in exactly the manner that he did over the weekend. | ||
| I am a jealous guardian of Congress's Article I authority. | ||
| We are the defenders of it here, and we take it seriously, and I always will be. | ||
| But exercising the authority to declare war isn't something we've done since World War II. | ||
| And everybody in this room knows since then we've had more than 125 military operations from Korea and Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. | ||
| They have occurred without a declaration of war by Congress. | ||
| Presidents of both parties have exercised that authority frequently. | ||
| A few recent examples. | ||
| President Biden ordered strikes on Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. | ||
| President Obama launched an eight-month-long bombing campaign in Libya to Al-Saddafi. | ||
| President Clinton initiated air patrols and airstrikes in Bosnia and a bombing campaign in Yugoslavia. | ||
| Every one of those actions were taken unilaterally and without prior authorization from Congress. | ||
| The bottom line is the commander-in-chief is the president. | ||
| The military reports to the president. | ||
| And the person empowered to act on the nation's behalf is the president. | ||
| The last few days have unfolded exactly as the law outlines and as history has demonstrated and as the framers of the Constitution intended. | ||
| I'm convinced of that. | ||
| Let me change subjects and we'll zoom in back to domestic affairs and the one big beautiful bill. | ||
| I will say it's very relevant to the discussion about global affairs because one of the things, as you all know, that the Big Beautiful Bill will accomplish is it will support our military funding. | ||
| While Congressional Democrats feign concern about the safety and well-being of U.S. service members, House Republicans are working to deliver legislation that actually accomplishes that and supports them. | ||
| I think it's really important that amid this global threat landscape, that we point out there's never been a better time for a piece of legislation, a generational once-in-a-generation opportunity legislation like the One Big Beautiful Bill. | ||
| This bill funds President Trump's Golden Dome to bolster long-range missile defense capabilities. | ||
| How many of you know that's kind of important right now? | ||
| It accelerates the modernization of our nuclear deterrent. | ||
| Couldn't have a better time for that. | ||
| And it revitalizes our defense industrial base. | ||
| Here's a few specifics. | ||
| $34 billion to expand the size and capabilities of our naval fleet to $25 billion for the Golden Dome. | ||
| $21 billion to restock America's arsenal of munitions and ramp up domestic production of rare earth and critical minerals. | ||
| $13 billion for nuclear deterrence. | ||
| $12 billion to enhance military readiness, among many other great provisions that I won't bore you with listing. | ||
| It's exciting stuff. | ||
| And the One Big Beautiful Bill is a generational investment in American military might. | ||
| And we need to get it to President Trump's desk as soon as possible. | ||
| I think we will. | ||
| With that, I'll take a few questions. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Chat. | |
| Considering how much this bill has changed, how are you going to be able to Your members on a vastly different talk so quickly about before characterizing what that's going to be like. | ||
| The president says you need to do here this weekend. | ||
| Are you going to keep members here without anything to vote on with no clarity on when the Senate's going to send that across? | ||
| Yeah, first thing first, I don't think we can say it's a vastly different product. | ||
| Don't prejudge it yet. | ||
| We're still awaiting the final details. | ||
| We've given space for the Senate to work. | ||
| They're a separate chamber, of course. | ||
| I've been emphasizing from the very beginning this is a one-team approach, the House and Senate Republicans working together in tandem with the White House. | ||
| There's no daylight between any of us on the ultimate goal and objective. | ||
| When we set what you all thought were audacious deadlines in the early part of the year, and I said we would do our bill by Memorial Day, many of you smirked. | ||
| I saw your faces. | ||
| You laughed at me when I said that. | ||
| But we beat it by four days, okay? | ||
| When we said we would get the whole thing to the President's desk by July 4th, and that was our objective, many of you also rolled your eyes. | ||
| But we are on target right now to do that very thing. | ||
| So if the Senate acts accordingly and they act according to what we expect right now, we work out the final details. | ||
| They would get that passed maybe by Friday, Saturday. | ||
| And I've told our members, we just had the big House Republican conference meeting, the weekly meeting, and I said, keep your schedules flexible. | ||
| July 4th is always a district work period, as is tradition, so everybody can go home and celebrate the 4th of July with their constituents and their families. | ||
| But there's nothing more important that we should be involved in and can be involved in than getting the one big beautiful bill to the President's desk. | ||
| So if the Senate does its work on the timeline that we expect, we will do our work as well. | ||
| And I think everybody's ready for that. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Have you taken a big role in talking to some of the spectators that have specific issues, say, add to that or Medicaid cuts about what we're going to get asked about? | |
| Yeah, why do you think I look so tired? | ||
| Yeah, I've been talking to individual senators ad nauseum and sharing with them the conversations and the deliberations and the negotiations and the conclusions that we reached together here in the House, remembering that we worked on it for over a year on this side, and they've had to have a truncated work period of just a few weeks on this in reality. | ||
| So they're going through the five stages of grief on their individual preferences as we did over here, but again, we had longer time to process it. | ||
| I remain, as I stand here at this podium, I remain very optimistic that there's not going to be a wide chasm between the two products, what the Senate produces and what we produce. | ||
| We all know what the touch points are and the areas of the greatest concern. | ||
| We've got to get the SALT negotiation number right. | ||
| We've got to make sure the IRA subsidies are handled in an appropriate manner. | ||
| Look, you've got a number of provisions. | ||
| We want to make sure that we hold by our commitment that we are not cutting Medicaid. | ||
| The President has said that, and I've said that. | ||
| We've all said that. | ||
| We are strengthening the program for the people who are the most vulnerable populations who really rely upon that. | ||
| You're talking about the disabled, the elderly, young pregnant women, for example. | ||
| Those resources won't be available for those people who desperately need it and deserve it if young, able-bodied men, for example, are on the program and not working. | ||
| So we introduced a work requirement on the House side. | ||
| It's wildly popular with the people because it follows common sense. | ||
| If you're going to be on the public wagon and you're able, you should try to help pull it. | ||
| And all we did was put in there, as you all know, a 20-hour work requirement per week, 20 hours. | ||
| You guys work 80 hours, I'm sure, right? | ||
| Give me a break. | ||
| And they're complaining about that. | ||
| You either have to be working, you have to be looking for a job in a job training program, or volunteering in your community. | ||
| For heaven's sakes, do something constructive. | ||
| That is something that everybody nods their head in agreement at a town hall and says, yes, do that. | ||
| Why didn't we do it already? | ||
| So what we've done is strengthen the program. | ||
| I hope and believe, I pray, that the Senate will follow that same theme and not do anything that we couldn't pass on the other side over here. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Last question. | |
| Second. | ||
| So you mentioned a couple of things as far as the ceasefire goes. | ||
| You said that in the complaints progress. | ||
| You also mentioned the Opposition Anti-Warpowers Act. | ||
| I wanted to ask you, if this is hard for any people that do them that you can take action to address concerns from either side that Trump was unconstitutional in his actions, or perhaps think about it? | ||
| There's a lot there. | ||
| Look, the reason the ceasefire is fragile is because you have Iran as one of the parties, and they have demonstrated for us over the decades that they are not to be trusted. | ||
| You know, Ronald Reagan said trust but verify. | ||
| We're now in a posture where we verify and then trust, okay? | ||
| And that's where we are. | ||
| They have not been truthful over the years. | ||
| They have not been reliable for their word. | ||
| And they have in many, so many ways they've been a very irrational actor on the world stage. | ||
| So it's fragile just because of the parties involved. | ||
| But what I would say about our role here in the Congress is that there were a couple of resolutions floated. | ||
| One of our Republican colleagues, Thomas Massey, has got over 50 Democrats who had signed on to his War Powers Act resolution he wanted to bring to the floor. | ||
| They were filing those resolutions as privilege resolutions, which means they must be heard within a certain number of days, as 15 days of legislative business. | ||
| And I don't have the power to stop a privilege resolution. | ||
| But I did talk to Thomas, who is a colleague and a friend. | ||
| I talked to him on the floor. | ||
| We never agree these days. | ||
| I'm not sure where his philosophy is coming from. | ||
| But anyway, I talked to him on the floor last night and I said, listen, in light of the ceasefire, if the ceasefire holds, obviously you would agree that your War Powers Act resolution is now a moot point. | ||
| And he said, yeah, it probably is. | ||
| So we may not have to act upon that. | ||
| I hope we don't, because I think it would be a terrible look and it will not pass the House because it's inappropriate and that's not a proper use of the law anyway. | ||
| The President has clearly, clearly fulfilled his responsibility under the War Powers Act, assuming that that act was even constitutional. | ||
| So, yeah. | ||
| One nice one. | ||
| Left. | ||
|
unidentified
|
On to the subject of Thomas Massey. | |
| If he does face the fire challenge there as Trump is thriving, will he defend it or anything like that? | ||
| That's the hardest question I have this morning. | ||
| I'll be totally honest with you, okay? | ||
| Look, the Speaker's job, my role, my role with my party cap on, is I'm the leader of my party here, and the Speaker leads the incumbent protection program, right? | ||
| That's what we call it. | ||
| I've got to make sure everybody gets re-elected. | ||
| I travel the country non-stop, relentlessly raising money to ensure that that happens. | ||
| But I certainly understand the president's frustration about the colleague you named, and he and I talk about that quite a bit. | ||
| Can't quite understand what the rationale is, but if you're here and you're on, you're wearing one team's jersey, and every single time you vote with the other team, you know, people begin to question what your motive is and what your philosophy is, and why you're so consistently opposed to the platform, the agenda of your party. | ||
| So I'll leave it at that. | ||
| I talked to Thomas about this very frankly because I said he's a friend. | ||
| I want him to come to his senses and work with the team. | ||
| And I try to work with him every day to do that, as I do everybody here. | ||
| So that's my answer this morning, okay? | ||
| Thanks so much. | ||
| Appreciate it. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you so much. | |
| You're awesome. | ||
| They told me she was coming next. | ||
| C-SPAN, Democracy Unfiltered. | ||
| We're funded by these television companies and more, including Mediacom. | ||
| Dear Future, we're on a mission to make small-town America bigger than anyone ever dreamed. | ||
| That's why at Mediacom, we're always pushing the limits, increasing speeds, improving reliability, and we'll do whatever it takes to make it happen. | ||
| MediaCom supports C-SPAN as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front-row seat to democracy. | ||
| There are many ways to listen to C-SPAN radio anytime, anywhere. | ||
| In the Washington, D.C. area, listen on 90.1 FM. | ||
| Use our free C-SPAN Now app or go online to c-SPAN.org/slash radio on SiriusXM radio on channel 455, the TuneIn app, and on your smart speaker by simply saying play C-SPAN Radio. | ||
| Hear our live call-in program Washington Journal daily at 7 a.m. Eastern. | ||
| Listen to House and Senate proceedings, committee hearings, news conferences, and other public affairs events live throughout the day. | ||
| And for the best way to hear what's happening in Washington with fast-paced reports, live interviews, and analysis of the day, catch Washington today, weekdays at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern. | ||
| Listen to C-SPAN programs on C-SPAN Radio anytime, anywhere. | ||
| C-SPAN, Democracy Unfiltered. | ||
| On Wednesday, President Trump holds a news conference at NATO headquarters in the Netherlands. | ||
| This comes just days after the U.S. launched strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, followed by an announced ceasefire in the Israel-Iran conflict. | ||
| Watch live at 9 a.m. Eastern on C-SPAN 2. | ||
| C-SPAN Now, our free mobile video app, or online at c-span.org. | ||
| Democracy is always an unfinished creation. | ||
| Democracy is worth dying for. | ||
| Democracy belongs to us all. | ||
| We are here in the sanctuary of democracy. | ||
| Great responsibilities fall once again to the great democracies. | ||
| American democracy is bigger than any one person. | ||
| Freedom and democracy must be constantly guarded and protected. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We are still at our core a democracy. |