House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., addressing the lower chamber Friday for the first time since being reelected after a dramatic floor vote, said a groundswell of Americans in November demand that Congress put their interests first again.
Republicans, with one of the narrowest House majorities in U.S. history, reelected Johnson by a 218-215 vote, with Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky being the only GOP holdout. Thus, they were able to begin the process of ushering in President-elect Donald Trump's "America First" agenda.
"The path of prosperity has long been paved with policies that put America and Americans first," said Johnson, whose speech aired on Newsmax and the Newsmax2 online streaming platform. "And that is what we will champion in the 119th Congress. We have a mandate, and that was shown in the election cycle. The people want an America First agenda.
"Sadly, for the past four years of divided government, too many politicians in Washington have done the opposite. Open borders and overregulation have destroyed our cities and stifled innovation. Inflation and weak leadership have left Americans poorer, and they have placed our country in a perilous position."
Johnson said in November, though, "a political moment in our modern history, a groundswell of Americans from every state, race and religion who now demand that we put the interest of Americans first again."
"And we will," he said. "This is a powerful new coalition of our country. It's a coalition that insists that we purge the policies of America last, and we bury them in the graveyard of history's mistakes because it was a big mistake. To that end, this Congress will renounce the status quo, and we will listen to the voices of the people."
Johnson, who was able to persuade GOP Reps. Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Keith Self of Texas to earn reelection after they initially voted for other candidates, said the House will act quickly by first tackling the crisis at the southern border.
"That's the No. 1 priority," he said. "In coordination with President Trump, this Congress will give our border and immigration enforcement agents the resources that they need to do their job. We will secure the border. We will deport dangerous criminal illegal aliens and finally finish building the border wall."
Johnson also gave a nod to Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency, to be led by Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk and multimillionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
"As heirs to the American Revolution and the descendants of patriots who defied tyranny, in the coming months we are going to pass legislation to roll back the totalitarian fourth branch of government known as the administrative state," he said. "We're going to drastically cut back the size and scope of government.
"We're going to return the power back to the people. And in coordination with President Trump and his administration, we are going to create a leaner, faster, and more efficient federal workforce. We need to do that.
"Our people do not deserve to be ruled by millions of bureaucrats they've never voted for and never met and can never hold accountable. They deserve a government that is led by those they've elected to lead. That is how Article 1 [of the Constitution] is supposed to work. That was the idea of the Congress. And we will return to that principle."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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