The Speaker of the House fight is here. We walk through it piece by piece and explain it all. What is happening on the House of Representatives today? Subscribe to our podcast and become a member today! Learn how to protect your wealth with Noble Gold Investments.
00:00:37.000His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA. We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
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00:01:23.000We have right there a picture-in-picture look of the new Congress.
00:01:29.000It is the opening day of the 119th Congress.
00:01:34.000The American people spoke, and despite all of the prognosticators and experts, Republicans are going to control all three chambers of government.
00:01:44.000The House, the Senate, and the Presidency.
00:03:00.000It's very, very little margin for Mike Johnson.
00:03:04.000Now it's possible we could be in for a day of theatrics.
00:03:08.000There are Republicans who may vote against Johnson on the first ballot to show their independence, but then back him by the end of the day.
00:03:14.000Of course, every speaker vote takes about an hour.
00:03:17.000So these stunts could waste quite a bit of our time, but that is Congress for you.
00:03:22.000A lot of people are saying that if there's no speaker, it could prevent Trump from becoming president because the House can't conduct business, and so it can't certify the election results.
00:03:32.000In my opinion, I think this is actually very much mistaken.
00:03:36.000The Constitution clearly describes how the presidential results are certified, and it does not require the Speaker of the House because the Constitution says what to do directly.
00:03:47.000We went through this, by the way, with the last Kevin McCarthy carousel of votes.
00:03:52.000With the Kevin McCarthy carousel, remember, you can pass pieces of legislation without a Speaker.
00:03:59.000You can do emergency pieces of legislation without a Speaker.
00:04:03.000You can do anything without a Speaker.
00:04:04.000A Speaker is not technically necessary.
00:04:06.000A Speaker is not prescribed legislation.
00:04:09.000As far as the constitution of the House of Representatives, new members can be sworn in by anybody.
00:04:15.000A Speaker House does not need to do that.
00:04:17.000This is all just tradition and House rules.
00:04:20.000So, but I guess for tradition's sake, you need a Speaker.
00:04:26.000Trump, for his part, has loudly come out in favor of Mike Johnson, posting on Truth Social saying that, quote, a win for Mike today will be a big win for the Republican Party.
00:04:36.000That, if nothing else, may be enough to salvage Johnson because far more than ever, this is Trump's Republican Party.
00:04:44.000And any Republican seen as sabotaging his agenda will be primaried very quickly.
00:04:51.000So look, the circumstance in front of us, as the new House meets right now, the 119th Congress, is will Mike Johnson stay as Speaker of the House?
00:06:52.000Many of these House members that we had on our program, such as Byron Donalds and many others, They've said, we were not even involved in this process.
00:07:01.000And look, the final deal was better than it was, thanks to you, the grassroots, standing up.
00:07:05.000The final continuing resolution was better, but we still did not win the way we should have.
00:07:10.000A CR should have just been one page, we should have got a debt ceiling, and we got zero spending cuts.
00:07:17.000Members of Congress wanted to get home for Christmas.
00:07:23.000Members of Congress wanted to get home for a Christmas vacation.
00:07:28.000Nurses, airline pilots, ER doctors, police officers, firefighters, they all have to work on Christmas, but members of Congress did not.
00:07:39.000And so look, on this program, we're not going to lead the battalion and say, we must remove Speaker Johnson.
00:07:45.000But I will say passively, we just won a mandate election in November.
00:07:52.000This should be a no-question speakers race.
00:07:57.000But the reason it isn't is worthy of emphasis and reflection.
00:08:02.000Is that they've been trying to play games with every major issue against the will of the American people and against the will of the Republican Party for quite some time.
00:08:11.000Spending cuts, secure border, defunding the FBI. Instead, we have more money going to the FBI. We got nothing on the border.
00:08:18.000Remember when we were told by House leadership, we must give money to...
00:08:23.000We're not going to fund the government until we have a secure border.
00:08:26.000And that was all just a bunch of rubbish.
00:08:27.000It was a bunch of balderdash, a bunch of nonsense, a bunch of horse-pucky.
00:08:33.000And so then, of course, the counter-argument is, okay, then who?
00:09:27.000There is an anonymous letter right now circulating around Congress over the last few days all regarding very valid criticism that we share.
00:09:37.000A group of conservatives and potential opposition votes against Speaker Johnson are circulating a document laying out a scorecard that lists out multiple failures of this last Congress.
00:09:48.000While the author remains unnamed, it hits the talking points being shared by Johnson's critics.
00:09:54.000How Republicans have repeatedly added to the nation's debt, passed aid to Ukraine without the support of the majority, the GOP majority, reauthorized FISA, In particular, they took issue with how the last government spending bill was handled ahead of Christmas.
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00:12:47.000Not because, I mean, look, you know that they're going to do their thing in D.C. where they spend a bunch of money and don't do any spending cuts.
00:12:53.000We're not involving President Trump in the negotiation process of this monstrosity bill, the incoming president, and all of a sudden, here it is, 1,500 pages, and we have Ukrainian bio labs and censorship industrial complex and just nonsense and rubbish all throughout this bill that was just thrown at us at the last second.
00:13:12.000We said, oh, we have to read this thing.
00:13:32.000When people say, well, you know, it's a really hard job and all this, but telling the truth takes zero talent.
00:13:40.000Telling the truth is not something that requires a PhD in physics.
00:13:47.000Telling the truth is elemental to a free society.
00:13:51.000And you in the audience are fired up right now because when you are told there is no choice, you say, wait a second, what kind of prisoner of another binary that does not exist do I have to be?
00:14:09.000How many times are you told, well, you have to vote for this trashy bill because there's no time?
00:14:15.000Well, there's no time because you waited to the last minute.
00:14:19.000So there's no choice and there's no time, there's no option, so therefore we must go with what's in front of us.
00:14:25.000And this is what creates widespread distrust, widespread rebellion against our institutions.
00:15:05.000Yes, because President Trump's in a very difficult position.
00:15:09.000I'm not going to say I even agree or disagree.
00:15:11.000I told the team I'm very indifferent about this entire thing.
00:15:13.000I don't have strong opinions either way in the sense where I totally sympathize and understand that removal is based on a track record like what to do for us.
00:15:24.000However, removal is probably not very wise at all.
00:15:27.000And let's say President Trump said, I want Mike Johnson gone.
00:15:31.000Let's say President Trump said, I want Mike Johnson gone.
00:15:34.000That will infuriate every single moderate that he needs with a two-seat majority, a two-seat majority to pass his premier legislation.
00:15:43.000So Lawler and Jason Smith and all of them would then get infuriated at President Trump and not vote for any of the pieces of legislation that President Trump wants.
00:15:53.000Don Bacon, they would all say, President Trump, go pound sand.
00:15:56.000We're not going to vote for your border stuff.
00:15:58.000We're not going to vote for your tax stuff.
00:15:59.000We're not going to vote for any of it.
00:16:02.000And then you don't even have a replacement.
00:16:59.000And the base, you, the backbone, the spine of the Republican Party, the vanguard of the nation, you're not buying those excuses much anymore.
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00:18:36.000Matt, congratulations on your new show.
00:18:38.000And also, Matt, tell me what is going to happen in the speaker fight.
00:18:43.000My suspicion is that Mike Johnson will be elected speaker, that it will likely be today, and I would anticipate either the first or the second vote.
00:18:52.000That's because for my friends who are concerned about Mike Johnson's inability to deliver single-subject bills, his inability to put downward pressure on any spending, to open up the process where you can read the bills with sufficient time to analyze their impact in advance.
00:19:08.000Mike hasn't done those things, but to vote against him now It does not create an ecosystem to change that dynamic.
00:19:18.000That will have to be done after President Trump's certification and after President Trump is in office.
00:19:23.000And I knew when we put a little pressure on Speaker-designate McCarthy to give us some concessions, concessions that put key conservatives on committees where the product, at the end of the day, we hoped would be more reflective of where our voters are.
00:19:39.000That was because Joe Biden was president.
00:19:41.000And there was no real eagerness on the part of the Republican base to get to the Joe Biden agenda, whereas now there's great hope and opportunity that a lot of Americans see in the Trump agenda.
00:19:54.000I've suggested to my colleagues that the best way to make Mike Johnson the best version of himself is not to put him through the ringer today, but instead to start talking about the policy concessions fiscal conservatives need in the upcoming budget bill.
00:20:10.000And you'll hear it called reconciliation, which it always seemed like a weird word to me, reconciliation, because that's like when you're getting back together.
00:20:18.000But the reality is this bill often creates a lot more tension than reconciliation.
00:20:22.000But there'll be demands for border policy in there, tax policy.
00:20:26.000There'll be a desire to reduce spending in a lot of the agencies that have had mission creep, like the Department of Education and the EPA. And, you know, our hope is that you get a speaker willing and confident But let me tell you something, Charlie, if this had been a close one, I would have been there.
00:20:45.000I have a certificate of election that I think still would have worked today, but I spoke to Mike Johnson last night, and he exhibited great confidence that after President Trump spoke with a number of our colleagues and excited them around a unifying agenda, that today would be largely ceremonial.
00:21:02.000So yeah, you could have actually showed up and voted today, if I'm not mistaken.
00:21:11.000I had a flight booked and everything, but the speaker gave me a ring and said he felt as though that people's concerns had been heard, that they were being addressed, and that they would have a unified Republican team coming out of the day.
00:21:23.000So, Matt, let me speak on behalf of the audience.
00:21:25.000We have about 3,000 emails that have come in in the last 30 minutes, and it's 99% against Speaker Johnson.
00:21:48.000When we voted for Speaker Johnson, he was for single-subject bills, he was against the war in Ukraine, and he wanted to curtail federal powers of surveillance beyond the constraints of the Constitution.
00:21:59.000And he reversed his view on all those things and then constructed this terrible spending bill.
00:22:07.000That if you believe Mike Johnson is a gutless wonder, that once President Trump is dictating the agenda, Johnson will be merely a vessel for that agenda.
00:22:17.000He has shown he is not going to be a change agent for the House of Representatives.
00:22:21.000Now, where I will disagree with your monologue earlier when you said, well, nobody else wants the job.
00:22:32.000You know, they're going to vote for Mike Johnson today as a show of unity.
00:22:36.000But nothing, I mean, those two guys ran for speaker in 2024. That's typically an itch that doesn't go away with one scratch.
00:22:44.000So what can be done through this process to try to ensure the next six months are better for President Trump?
00:22:53.000So let's say he does end up getting the speakership.
00:22:59.000Is there any concessions from rules changes or packages?
00:23:03.000Because Matt, a lot of those concessions that you were able to deliver after the vacation of Kevin McCarthy were actually never followed through upon.
00:23:15.000The only concessions that are durable are personnel concessions.
00:23:19.000When someone says, oh, I promise this bill we'll get a vote, I promise we'll get a vote on term limits, I promise that we'll have spending cuts, with the right accounting tricks and the right political excuses, people can always weasel themselves out of those commitments.
00:23:33.000The commitments we got from McCarthy that are durable to this day, putting strong conservatives on the Rules Committee, putting people like Andrew Clyde on the Appropriations Committee.
00:23:45.000And when those folks first get on, they don't have the seniority or at times the juice to drive the agenda of those committees.
00:23:51.000That's why Lauren Boebert came on my program on One American News last night and said, if Johnson would agree to make Chip Roy the head of the Rules Committee, a lot of those fiscal hawks Would fly in formation behind him in supporting Johnson.
00:24:06.000Johnson was indicating that he wasn't interested in any quid pro quo on personnel.
00:24:10.000But if I were the holdouts, I would be holding out for getting the people who are not financially compromised by the lobby corps or special interests into some of the key budget positions.
00:24:52.000On everything from immigration policy to a Mother's Day resolution, you typically need 60 votes into the Senate to proceed on to anything of substance.
00:25:03.000And here, there is a unique kind of breakthrough on the Senate filibuster that only requires 50 votes plus the vice president if it is budget policy.
00:25:16.000There will be an analysis done of everyone's ambitious goals and ideas for this piece of legislation that already folks are working on this month to see what is true budgetary policy versus what is a policy that is not spending.
00:25:35.000And then that will be excluded from what is negotiated.
00:25:38.000Now, our friends, the border hawks, will say, darn it, we want every bit of amnesty reform in this bill, and that will be challenging.
00:25:46.000And then you'll have some of the fiscal hawks saying, well, we won't vote for it unless we get the trillions of dollars cut that Elon Musk has talked about with Doge.
00:25:55.000And my suspicion is That the big spenders still occupy a sufficient majority in both the House and the Senate once you peel away party labels and that they will resist that greatly.
00:26:05.000So I think that President Trump has got the debt limit to deal with.
00:26:10.000That could be a function of the reconciliation bill.
00:26:13.000It's going to be everybody trying to get their priority in this one thing.
00:26:17.000And ultimately, this is so bizarre, but the Senate parliamentarian is the person empowered to determine Yeah, and so let's dive deeper into that.
00:26:35.000The Senate parliamentarian, when do they weigh in?
00:26:38.000Potentially they could weigh in once the bill's already passed the House.
00:26:49.000Lobbyists and special interests will go and work the Senate parliamentarian's office to try to get a specific idea or proposal either deemed included or excluded.
00:27:00.000And so before you even get a ruling from the Senate parliamentarian, you'll have committee chairs and other people who are just vessels of special interests show up to representatives and say, oh, well, we'd love to include this Amnesty reform, but we've heard the Senate parliamentarian isn't going to allow it under what's called the Byrd Rule.
00:27:19.000That's the rule that empowers the Senate parliamentarian to make this calculus.
00:27:23.000And then when things fall out of the bill as a consequence of the Byrd Rule, they are inaptly described as the Byrd droppings of the reconciliation.
00:28:03.000The majority deems that for the reconciliation to pass, this is what's in, this is what's out.
00:28:08.000Probably J.D. Vance could do that as the constitutional presiding officer of the Senate.
00:28:12.000He could just go and, by function of the Constitution, seize that power from the Senate parliamentarian.
00:28:18.000To do that, we would then have to awaken all of the senators with smelling salts after they've They clutched their pearls and passed out aghast with the violation of norms.
00:28:28.000But we're either all prisoners of the Senate parliamentarian or there has to be some exercise of the power of the majority to get our accomplishments into this first critical piece of legislation.
00:28:52.000I've got the Matt Gaetz show on One America News.
00:28:54.000And the same day my show premiered, One America News was added to Sling and was also added to the Dish Network.
00:29:01.000So we're in 10 million more homes than we were the day before I started.
00:29:04.000And I'm really excited about the growth of the network and the opportunity to have the discussions that I used to have with lawmakers on the floor and in committee for the entire country to see.
00:29:14.000So folks can get the OAN Live app as well or follow me on X at Matt Gaetz.
00:29:18.000And we'll make sure to include you in the conversation.
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00:36:46.000Okay, our coverage continues of the speaker fight on the floor of the House of Representatives.
00:38:22.000Let's play cut 50. It's one of my new favorite pieces of tape here.
00:38:25.000Kamala Harris swearing in the new Senate majority with JD Vance.
00:38:29.000Play cut 50. Do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which you are about to enter?
00:40:27.000What are we going to do if we don't have Mike Johnson?
00:40:30.000And I don't foreclose the possibility there's a better speaker out there, although a lot of people seem to misunderstand what a speaker does.
00:40:39.000They want the guy who's most ideologically copacetic, and that's not what he does.
00:40:45.000He's really a conductor, a traffic director, a guy who puts together coalitions and raises money.
00:40:52.000As long as he's not undermining you, he's probably okay ideologically.
00:40:57.000But again, what's the plan, Andy Biggs?
00:42:59.000I think we'd be in a much better position if we had more congressmen.
00:43:03.000And I think if we had Kevin McCarthy, as much as I have problems with Kevin McCarthy, and I certainly do, I think we would have won more seats because he's a very savvy operator, even if he does make me want to pound my head into the wall sometimes.
00:43:23.000And that means acting as adults and trying to achieve 90% of what we want rather than 0%.
00:43:33.000Here is the update right now, is that as we're here live, four Republicans, Biggs, Cloud, Gosar, and Harris, have not responded to the speaker vote.
00:43:44.000And of course, Carson is Democrat as well.
00:43:46.000They then get to go at the end and kind of do some melodrama.
00:43:49.000I would not be surprised if this goes to a second and third ballot.
00:43:53.000Kurt, let's assume that Johnson does survive.
00:43:57.000Should there at least be a forcing function of more concessions and more agreements to try to make sure we don't get another continuing resolution?
00:44:06.000What compromises could legitimately be offered?
00:44:09.000Well, look, I would love to get back to regular order, but that's going to take more than...
00:44:16.000Look, I think that's going to take more than four or five people forcing it.
00:44:20.000I think you need a commitment on the part of the entire Republican caucus.
00:44:25.000And unfortunately, we don't have that.
00:44:29.000Today, I'm vaguely annoyed with the guys who aren't jumping on board, but let's understand the root of the problem is a lot of these appropriator Republicans, Republicans who are hardcore conservatives right up to election day, then they come back to Washington and it's off to steak dinners and hanging with the lobbyists.
00:44:49.000We need an ideological commitment to putting the America First agenda that the American people voted for with Donald Trump and overwhelmingly in the Senate into effect in the House.
00:45:02.000You know, I think we saw some beneficial stuff happening over in the Senate where we got focused on people who were trying to be glory hogs.
00:45:16.000I mean, Joni Ernst, before she brought the spotlight on herself with this whole Hamlet act over Pete Hegson, did you know she was a giant squish who supported the Lankford immigration abomination and the Cornyn gun control thing?
00:45:57.000And I've got to say, my sales are huge after the last two days.
00:46:02.000Because this book, which I did in conjunction with a lot of people who are deeply in the know, talks about the internal threat that we have here.
00:47:09.000So you could have potentially Speaker Jeffries.
00:47:12.000However, you could do a motion to vacate, which they would do, and then they could reconvene if they realized their math was all wrong because they still outnumber him.
00:47:19.000So there are two other votes that are now outstanding of people that have not decided to back Mike Johnson.
00:47:30.000This should be a no-brainer, everybody.
00:47:33.000And no, I'm not saying it in a lecturing way.
00:48:36.000Lee Zeldin, that's the only other play, because nobody in this entire wretched, cancer-filled, tumor-infested institution It's going to fix it.
00:48:54.000And so people say, well, what's the plan?
00:51:16.000But there would not be a red House of Representatives.
00:51:21.000There would not be a Republican House of Representatives if it was not for President Trump.
00:51:25.000He pulled that majority across the finish line.
00:51:31.000All right, we have Jack Posobiec with us as we are waiting for the final call.
00:51:35.000Jack, what is your analysis of what is happening right now on the U.S. House of Representatives floor?
00:51:41.000One here is that, you know, we're seeing the same type of pressures that came out with the McCarthy fight, which turned into the initial sort of consensus pick of Johnson.
00:51:54.000Johnson was, you know, I don't think on anyone's short list prior to any of that.
00:51:58.000A lot of people, you know, thought that McCarthy would just sort of stay as Speaker to begin with.
00:52:03.000That being said, I think it's very clear that at this point, Johnson has not done what he needs to do to win over the entire caucus.
00:52:15.000That's why you're seeing these defections as we are right now.
00:52:17.000And he's really only there because of Trump's endorsement.
00:52:22.000And so without Trump's endorsement, essentially he could be removed at any moment because he just doesn't have the staying power on his own the way that you would have seen with potentially some of these speakers in the past.
00:52:35.000That were more, you know, that had more time in leadership.
00:52:39.000And so, you know, there's an interesting argument to be made that actually, perhaps Johnson is better for Trump to be there, or for Trump to have him there, because he's on that tight of a leash.
00:52:50.000And so we're watching to see how this shakes out, because of course we know that if we get the fact, I don't think that we're going to see like a Democrat speaker or anything like that, but certainly there are some interesting parliamentary tricks to watch out for.
00:53:55.000If you don't have the votes, if we don't have the votes, To put in another speaker, to get someone else up there, then you've got to look towards a deal.
00:54:26.000Is it something, by the way, on H-1B, which has been a hot button issue for quite some time now?
00:54:32.000Obviously, the administration, when President Trump is inaugurated here in 17 days, will have the ability to rule on H-1B as pertains to some of these rules at DHS that control various Levels of salary, but perhaps a legislative fix could be something on the table, too, and secure those commitments.
00:54:52.000So you look at these holdouts potentially as the proxies of the voice of the base and say, what do you want?
00:55:00.000What deal do you want them to carry forward to you?
00:55:04.000And then you can also be taking to Twitter.
00:55:46.000We're not doing the thing anymore like the Trey Gowdy era where we just sit back and, oh, they've got us taken care of and he's going to go and take care of it for us.
00:56:30.000He's going to go into the speaker's balcony and have a little bit of a powwow, a little bit of a meeting to try to work on the two defectors.
00:56:41.000That's Marjorie Taylor Greene next to Thomas Massey.
00:56:45.000Thomas Massey, who I know a lot of people try to attack him.
00:56:48.000I I say two defectors because Massey's not going to move.
00:57:25.000Again, Jack, what is your analysis here of how things are going to proceed?
00:57:31.000Well, I just have to comment, because I saw Thomas Massey on, I guess, Matt Gaetz's inaugural program last night, and he dropped the glasses.
00:58:22.000I mean, this shows you, but one of the biggest pieces, Charlie, that we need to be focused on big picture here for the Trump administration coming in is that the majority is so slim.
00:58:34.000So when it comes to these big ticket items that the administration wants to push forward, that whoever, and I do think that Johnson will end up getting it.
00:58:44.000I hope that there are some great concessions for the base.
00:58:47.000I think there's a great package that's put together.
00:58:49.000But looking forward, there's going to be some big fights, and there's only going to be a few folks that it takes to hold up so many of these things.
00:59:00.000And I really think that that's going to be something.
00:59:02.000The stuff that you're seeing today, basically, folks, when it comes to the question of Johnson, it's going to be this way for every single big fight over the next two years.
00:59:12.000Jack, in closing here, let's say we get Speaker Johnson.
00:59:15.000It seems that that is the way this is going.
00:59:20.000I think he'll clean up Mr. I don't know anything about the self guy or Norman.
00:59:25.000What does this mean for President Trump and his agenda?
00:59:27.000And what can we learn from prior mistakes of Congress?
00:59:32.000Look, it shows you that Mike Johnson, in the time that he's been speaker, the short time, the brief time, he needs to do more for the base.
00:59:42.000He needs to do more to show the base and show everyone that he's on board with the president's agenda.
00:59:47.000And what he really should be doing is becoming a champion.
00:59:51.000For the president's agenda there in the House.
00:59:53.000Look, President Trump gave him this job, and it's his job in turn to reflect and fortify and deliver on the mandate that was given to President Trump and the Republicans writ large in Congress in the past election.
01:00:10.000One of the things that I'm going to say up front, by the way, that I'd love for Mike Johnson to do, whether it's today, whether it's tomorrow, that he retains the speakership, And sit down with Mayor Bowser, and we need to see a real security plan for this inauguration.