The new Speaker's vision for America.

0:00 Speaker 1 We have a very special guests. W ABC. You have a very special guest calling in. It’s the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, and we have a few questions for him, and mister speaker. Welcome to Kats and Cosby. Welcome to w ABC.

0:19 Speaker 3 Well, thank you, it’s my great honor. I hate to break up the birthday party.

0:23 Speaker 2 I thought you were the.

0:24 Speaker 4 Birthday present, mister Speaker, I have. That’s very nice.

0:28 Speaker 1 Well, we’ll transmit some cake through the.

0:33 Speaker 4 Yeah, these day and age, you can do anything with technology.

0:37 Speaker 1 You’ve done everything that stock Trek doesn’t except transmitting cake.

0:41 Speaker 4 Absolutely, mister Speaker, it’s great to have you here. You know, let’s start sort of with your vision. And also, we saw so much division that was happening, of course before all of this, before you became the speaker. I think everybody in the country was relieved when you got voted.

0:57 Speaker 2 In very quickly.

0:58 Speaker 4 What kind of relations should do you have with the Democrats too, with Hakeem Jeffries.

1:03 Speaker 2 Where are things going with that?

1:05 Speaker 3 Well, I’ll tell you what. It’s been a tumultuous time in Congress. I think everybody can see that. And we walk through a dark valley together as the House Republican Conference. But when you walk through a valley, you always emerge on the other side. And we are very optimistic right now about where we’re headed. We’ve come out of that.

1:22 I’ll put it this way, and I’ve said this to some of our close friends who have watched and observed of close. The desolation that was wrought in that period was so complete that it broke everyone down to kind of their own individual core. And the opportunity that presents is that everybody’s emerged kind of with this new spirit

1:38 that we understand we really have to work together, and I think that gives us a real opportunity. We were stuck together, you guys, for ten straight weeks, and former Speaker John Bayner always had a rule, you don’t keep Congress together for more than three weeks at a time because they’ll start to get frustrated and ring each other’s

1:53 next and we saw that everybody’s broken up. Now we’ve gone home for Thanksgiving, they’ll get a reprieve. We’ll come back and regroup and we’ll run this agenda. And I am very very bullish on the days ahead in the future for the country.

2:03 Speaker 4 What are some of the priorities for you, mister speaker, because of course I know you’ve just taken over.

2:08 Speaker 2 By the way, you wasted no time.

2:09 Speaker 4 I love the fact that right after you were selected, you were voted in, you came right out and said, listen, there’s no time for us swearing in ceremony. We got to get to work, and you did a resolution on Israel within hours.

2:22 Speaker 2 It was amazing we did.

2:23 Speaker 3 We had to get right back to work. The house was effectively closed for business for about three straight weeks, and there’s no luxury of complacency here the hours late. The crisis is great on so many fronts, and we had to address it. So we came out immediately with Israel.

2:36 We came out right after that and passed, by the way, a five partisan Israel support package that was the amount requested by Prime Minister net Yahoo my friend, and we added a pay for and that was kind of a seismic shift in Washington. Normally we do supplemental spending without any pay for wars, but we recognize right now one

2:55 of our primary objectives has got to be handling our nation’s dead. We can take care of our obligations, but we do it in a fiscally responsible manner. We have a thirty three point six trillion dollar debt, and so when you talk about our priorities and principles, the House Republicans are absolutely united on the fact that we’ve got

3:12 to drive that down. The Treasury Department just announced about two and a half weeks ago that we’re going to have to borrow one point five trillion dollars over the next two quarters just to keep the government in operation.

3:22 This is not sustainable, so we have to fix it. While we’re doing that, we’re going to fight for more American made energy so we can get back to energy independence and dominance that we had several years ago. Secure our southern border. That’s a big thing for the people and chain the way Washington works, because ultimately we have

3:39 to do that to fix this problem and restore trust in the institution that we all served in and loved.

3:44 Speaker 1 We’ve been yelling loudly I have, especially on Fox Business, Fox News and WABC here that Chairman Powell keeps raising the interest rates and he’s hurting the country instead of increasing our output on oil and bringing inflation down that.

4:05 Speaker 3 Way, Well, that’s exactly right. And if you saw the beginning of this Congress. The first bill that we passed as a as a House Republican majority was HR one, and there’s reason it was our first priority. First bill.

4:17 It was on energy security, because we understand if you unleash American energy production and exploration again, then that ties directly to our national security. And a strong America is good for not only US, but for the entire world, for stability around the world. So you cannot overstate the importance of that. I have some real disagreements with how

4:36 the FED has handled interest rates and all of this, you know, the spending policies and all the rest. And I think now even people who just a few months ago, certainly the last couple of years, were espousing this crazy modern monetary theory idea, this unicorn economics. You know, the facts are being collected. Now that data is collected, they

4:55 can’t refute it. That is madness. We have to have fiscal restraint and begins with being good stewards of the taxpayer’s resources. And that’s what you’re going to see from our team from this point forward.

5:05 Speaker 1 Mister speaker, do you have a good working relationship with Hakim Jeffries, Because I don’t think the American people want extremism with on either the the left, water right to affect the way America goes.

5:19 Speaker 3 No, it’s a great point. Hakeem has become a very good friend of mine, and I trust him. I think he’s a good man. He and I see things from very different policy perspectives. Of course, our core principles may be a little different, but I know in his heart at the day he wants what’s best for the country,

5:35 and I do too. And so you saw that. And before I took the oath of office, when I gave the speech from the House floor from the Speaker’s rosterum there, I said that right at the outset that I look forward to working with Hakim. And over the last few weeks, it’s been a bit of a whirlwindy guys, since I

5:50 took the gavel twenty four days ago. I think it was no rest for the weary. But along that path, many times along the path, Hakim and I have had one on one meeting and frank discussions. To your point, I think that’s really important for our institution, for Congress to work. We’re never going to agree on some of

6:07 these policy positions, but we have to do it in an agreeable manner even when we disagree, and I think that’s important to keep the ball moving forward for the American people.

6:15 Speaker 5 Oh, mister speaker ed Cox here a chairman of the Republican Party. I see hacking Jefferies a little bit differently because we won eleven seats in twenty twenty two and their competitive districts nine competitive districts, of which we have eight, and he is determined to win those backs.

6:33 Speaker 1 So we are nose to those.

6:35 Speaker 5 With him here, and we’re determined to hold on to them.

6:37 Speaker 1 Eg Cox, That’s a separate problem we have in New York State, where you guys worked very hard and you got a bipartisan what was it.

6:48 Speaker 5 We won the highest court here in a special master READI of the districts, and Lee’s elden did very well in the right places.

6:56 Speaker 1 Lee’s gone. It’s a big but overall, the governor is overruled by two thirds in the Assembly and two thirds in the and the Senate, and they put in their own judges in the Court of Appeals, and they’re going to overrule you now, and you’re gonna be in trouble. See, youn’t have to be able to deliver eleven seats.

7:16 Speaker 5 Well, we’re gonna go back in the court to fight after they finished re jerrymandering, and we’re going to go up to the highest court again and we’ll fight it out and make sure that we have fair districts.

7:26 Speaker 3 Governor Patterson, hey, let me say missay On that I just wanted to add. Haikeim and I can get along. I’m a happy warrior. I believe in the old rig and tippo’neal model where you don’t hate each other at the end of the day. But boy, you know, they would fight like the devil on policy. And that’s what

7:41 we’re doing. And we are going to retain those of those seats from those incredible members of Congress that the Republican Party sent to us from New York. That was one of the reasons we all know that we won the majority. Those are our majority makers, those members, and I’m coming up there as early as next week to

7:57 do events in those districts and help them retain their seats and then grow our majority. So we’ve got to defeat these guys in the ballot. Don’t mistake me for uh. The way we fight, we’re going to win it.

8:07 Speaker 4 And by the way, you have to come join us in studio. If you come to here next week, you got to come.

8:11 Speaker 3 Join us, that’d be awesome. I don’t know what my schedule looks like. They fill it up moment by moment, but that would be a great joy.

8:16 Speaker 5 Well, we’re looking forward to having you here in New York and thank you very much for coming here and working with our members of Congress.

8:22 Speaker 1 Okay, Governor Or David Patterson, any comments.

8:27 Speaker 2 I would just say that both parties have.

8:30 Speaker 5 At different times in this state’s history, made a mockery out of the reapportionment system, but.

8:36 Speaker 6 This time was a Democrats governor, So let’s be clear about that. And I’m the House Democrat, and I’m saying that it’s a Democrat party that subverted the state constitution. They were set aside and trying to do it again.

8:49 And the only way we’re gonna have checks and balances in our government is if you have the houh representatives in the Senate in Republican hands for the protection of this great country.

8:58 Speaker 2 Yeah, mister speaker, go ahead.

9:00 Speaker 3 Well I would agree with that sentiment. Look, I think that we have to adhere to the rule of law. Ultimately, at the end of the day, we adhere to the Constitution and we respect those principles, and we’re fighting for that.

9:10 In states all around the country, they’re into reinportionment and the redistricting. You’ve got to you’ve got to follow the law, not have Jerrymanderin, not have political games, but do it in a right and fair way. And I think some of these things will be resolved in the courts in the months ahead, and that’s going to be very important

9:26 because it will help determine who holds that House majority. And I believe our principles are the ones that will provide more opportunity in liberty and security for more Americans. And I’m so excited about taking that message on the road.

9:38 Speaker 1 I’m a speaker at Cox.

9:39 Speaker 5 You you pass a continued resolution, that dead ceiling comes up again in February, in the middle of the primary.

9:47 Speaker 1 So what is your strategy with that.

9:49 Speaker 3 Well, the strategy is to get the job done before all of that. Of course, you know what we had to do with that continued resolution. You’ll know because you observe this. It took decades to get into the budget mess that we’re in, the lack of adherence to the law, the Budget Control Act, of nineteen seventy four has very

10:04 specific provisions on timing and how this process is supposed to work with regard to appropriations the government spending, and it just simply hasn’t been followed for many, many years. And so what we wind up at the end of every year is some massive omnibus spending bill right before Christmas where Congress spends one point seven or one point

10:22 eight trillion dollars with three thousand pages of legislation no one’s read. We broke that fever for the first time, and memory we were able to get beyond the Christmas holiday, push the deadline into mid January and then early February to allow more time for the appropriations process to complete.

10:38 I think that’s going to be a good thing for stewardship, and it’s going to ultimately allow us to control spending. But here’s the big news. We are going to change the way this is done going forward. I have vowed to my colleagues we’re not going to be in this situation ever again, which means early in February we’re going

10:52 to begin on the next fiscal year and you’ll see the process work much different.

10:56 Speaker 1 Right, mister Speaker, one of the big the problems that we have is our borders. Yes, has there been any discussion with you and how came Jefferies?

11:09 Speaker 3 There has actually about some provisions that need to be agreed upon. Listen, even the White House recognizes we’ve got to have policy change at the border. In my view, they opened it up. I mean, I think that’s what the evidence shows. I served on the House Judiciary Committee before I became Speaker, and we had many hearings with

11:25 Majorcis and Merrick Garland and everyone in charge of this, and it’s very clear that policies are what have created the catastrophe there, so we have to change it. So we’re going to use every leverage point that we have going forward in these negotiations on supplemental federal spending and all these other provisions to ensure that we can get

11:42 real sensitive change at the border, because I believe that is a root cause of so many of the problems that we’re facing in this country. And I think most of people agree with us. So the polling’s on our side, the resolving is on our side, and I’m very confident that we’re going to be able to effect real change

11:57 there in the coming weeks.

11:58 Speaker 1 And months, mister speaker, the most important meeting has happened in the last week or so is the meeting in San Francisco between China and President Biden. And it seems like they put out two different press releases, one for China, one for President Biden. Did you have a representative at the meeting or have you been briefed on it? Getting

12:21 the truth?

12:22 Speaker 3 Well, they didn’t invite the legislative branch. We were all just deep in the weeds in the trenches, trying to prevent the government from shutting down, trying to get the spending the continued resolution negotiated. So we watched it from Afar, and to be honest, that was so deep in the weeds and all that a speaker, that I wasn’t able

12:38 to follow every detail of it. What I did see was the highlights, which are very disappointing. In general, I will say that it is a true statement, and anyone who looks at this objectively has to agree that President Biden is projecting weakness on the world stage. And I’m from the Reagan school. He always said we maintain peace

12:54 through strength, and he was exactly right, because if you project weakness to invite aggression. It’s a dangerous time right now to be inviting aggression upon our country. And that’s why you see China, Iran, Russia, all of our adversaries around the world just doing what they’re doing, being very provocative.

13:11 I thought it was shameful that we gave standing ovations out there by these CEOs and tech companies to a communist leader of a nation that persecutes its on people and is causing havoc around the world and is trying to be a peer to peer adversary with the United States.

13:24 This is not a game and we have to take it very seriously and everybody.

13:27 Speaker 4 We are speaking to the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson here on Katz and Cosby, mister Speaker to that point. I’m also thinking about Iran, because here we have President Biden has not been enforcing the sanctions on Iran on oil. Of course, the oil we know is helping to fund the war machine, hamas as Ball, all

13:46 these others. Also we saw this week that he looks like he’s continuing this waiver where they might get access to another ten billion dollars. Is there anything that Congress can do vis a vis Iran and what’s happening over there.

14:01 Speaker 3 We are certainly trying. I just believe that is absolute madness what the White Houses do, and how in the world, which you risk further empowering Iran, which is the largest states stinction of terror on the planet. It obviously is to your point, Hamas and Hesbalaar proxies of Iran. They are the ones that are effectively funding and fueling the

14:21 atrocities against Israel and unsettling the entire world order because of it. So we have to take a strong stand. I mean, this is again not a game. The way that we handle these foreign policy matters, these sensitive issues is critical to the stability of the globe. That’s not an exaggeration. So what we’re trying to do in the

14:39 legislative branch in Congress is forced the hands of the White House. The problem is those of us who believe so adamantly about this are only the small majority in one chamber one house, and we have to get Senator Schumer and the Democrats who run the Senate to agree with us to affect that change. But we’re trying to

14:56 apply every point of pressure that we can to the White House and pleading with them to change course, because we’ve got to have a strong stance here. Yeah.

15:04 Speaker 4 Absolutely, what about cracking down also on colleges too, you know some of these things, some of the protests we have seen and social media, it’s been really frightening, mister speaker.

15:13 Speaker 3 Well, it has, and you’re going to see as we continue to hackle over finalizing that supplemental aid package to Israel, which is about fourteen point five billion dollars, you will see some policy initiatives i think attached to that in the next stage. We want to crack down on some of that’s happening. Look, we believe in free speech, We

15:31 believe in the free marketplace of ideas. As conservatives, that’s a critical principle to us. But at the same time, you cannot have universities and radical radicalized college presidents and doctrinating students and having them go out and engage in this activity that is turning violent on some of these campuses.

15:47 I’d like to I’d be curious, for example, to know these universities, in these schools that are collecting federal funding. I’d like to know about their contribution records. Are they receiving money from around backed proxies or some of these other organizations that would be of interest to Members of Congress who are sending them funding. We’ve got to look

16:05 at this very carefully, and we’ve got to affect change in every.

16:07 Speaker 1 Way that we can. But to speaker, I understand a lot of foreign governments are giving a lot of money to us. Some of these universities that are in concrete aiming like.

16:16 Speaker 3 Kids they are. I think that that’s beyond dispute. We don’t know the details. Are probably enough of the details of that at some of these universities, but I can tell you that there is an increasing amount of interest on the part of many members of Congress about those details.

16:32 It matters. And I’ll tell you what. Moms and dads who are out there across this country who are sacrificing to send their kids to these colleges and universities, they think they’re getting educated. They’re finding out now it’s more indoctrination than education. And that is a great frustration of the people of this country. And we really need to

16:50 look at what we can do to change those policies and change that trajectory. It is not healthy for our republic and.

16:55 Speaker 4 Everybody we’re talking to the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, Judge Weinberg, you have a question.

17:00 Speaker 6 Mister Speaker. I’m very concerned because you raise the issue of indoctrination. I’m very concerned about tech talk, which is controlled by the Chinese communists, and what they’ve been doing to our young people who seem to get all their views and all their news from TikTok. It’s all about shaping a narrative as an anti American narrative.

17:19 Speaker 3 What say you, Yeah, I agree with you, Judge. I don’t think there’s any dispute about that. And you know, they have very powerful lobbyists on Capitol Hill and they’re trying to protect their market share and their interests. But they, in my view, they have a very a very negative influence upon our culture, our society, particularly our young people.

17:38 It’s a dangerous thing. And if you look at the disparity with how they use that tool in China and how they use it and exploit it in America, you can see very clearly what it’s about in China that the young people are limited to. I think it’s like an hour a day and all they get is positive

17:53 reinforcement propaganda, stuff about hard work and how great China is and how evil everyone else is, and over here complete trash, most all of it right that our kids are exposed to. So it’s something that parents have to be very wary of. They need to monitor their kids’ intake.

18:07 In the meantime, I think lawmakers need to look very carefully about what we’re going to allow on these platforms because it is a again, one of these root causes to so many societal ills.

18:17 Speaker 1 Mister speaker, last question. One of our biggest concerns that we’ve talked to you about in WABC here is Washington is for sale, and it’s so much money of rolling into Washington. What can we do about legalizing the money that’s coming into USh.

18:35 Speaker 3 Well, that’s a big important question, and there’s lots of details, and we could spend a half hour drilling down into some of the subparts of that, but I’ll just tell you as a general notion, I think the members of Congress have to commit on both sides of the aisle to restoring truth and transparency and trust in this institution.

18:52 You know, we’re in a constitution or a public We’re only two hundred and forty seven years into this grand experiment, and self governance, and the founders when they set it up, I didn’t know how long it would last, but they did know that one of the important ingredients of maintaining a constitutional public would be the people’s faith and trust

19:07 and the institutions that govern them. Right now, we’re at record low levels of trust, and that’s a serious, probably an existential threat to the continuance of our country. So I’m focused on that. Many of my colleagues are. We’ll be looking for ways to increase transparency and trust, and I think that’s going to be a common theme going forward.

19:25 Speaker 1 And it’s checks and balances too, on what’s going on in Washington. Mister speaker, I want to thank you for coming on today and WABC and our microphone, which goes around the world welcomes you anytime. And thank you.

19:40 Speaker 2 Yeah, thank you very much, and thank you for joining me on my birthday too.

19:44 Speaker 3 Happy birthday, Happy birthday. What a great day. God bless you all.

19:47 Speaker 2 Thank you such