House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Newsmax on Tuesday that the big, beautiful budget bill that Congress hopes to have on President Donald Trump's desk by July 4 is "checking all the boxes" that the president promised while campaigning for his second term.
"We have to make sure the American people don't experience the largest tax increase in U.S. history, which is what would happen by default after the end of this year if we failed in this mission," Johnson told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren." "So, everybody here understands the importance of that. Everyone understands they're not going to get 100% of what they want individually in this bill. This is a consensus-building exercise every day, as I like to say. We're getting there, and I think we're going to get this thing done."
Johnson said the House is "checking all the boxes" that Trump promised, including "no taxes on overtime [and] no taxes on Social Security," as well as "no taxes on, for example, interest on car loans that are made in America."
"A number of those things are woven into this bill, and we've made all the math work so we can do that," he added.
The Louisiana Republican also set the record straight on what the House GOP's plans are for Medicaid and said the savings to shore up the program will come from rooting out "waste, fraud, and abuse."
"Don't believe the misreporting and the hype that the Democrats are trying to put out there," Johnson said. "Even before the bill text had come out, they were running ads and put billboards up around the country suggesting we were cutting Medicaid. It's simply not true, and we were able to get the ads pulled down because they were based on false information. The bill text was just filed on Monday, yesterday morning, and people are going through that and understanding what we're actually doing is securing Medicaid. We're shoring it up. We're going to make sure that these essential programs are there for the people who genuinely need and deserve it."
"Medicaid is intended, remember, as a safety net for young pregnant mothers and the elderly and the disabled and vulnerable populations – not for able-bodied young men without dependents," he continued. "Those are the kinds of people we're taking off the program, the illegal aliens who are on the program. We're going to root out fraud, waste, and abuse and that's where the savings are going to be found. So, we're actually making the program stronger for the Americans who need it."
Additionally, Johnson commented on extending the Trump-era tax cuts, calling them "critical for the economy" going forward.
"We believe this is going to be jet fuel for the economy," he said. "It will also send a very important signal of stability to the bond markets and the stock market to let people know that Congress is on the job. We're taking care of this."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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