Johnson suggests that Trump will want 'one big, beautiful' reconciliation bill
House Speaker Johnson: Reconciliation is the way to get campaign promises done
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., discusses being re-elected as speaker, pushing Trump's agenda forward, Congress' priorities, certifying the 2024 election and the New Orleans terrorist attack.
Newly re-elected House Speaker Mike Johnson is determined to push President-elect Donald Trump's agenda forward as he reveals how the president-elect wants Congress to handle the reconciliation debacle.
"I think at the end of the day, President Trump is going to prefer, as he likes to say, one big, beautiful bill," Johnson admitted to "Sunday Morning Futures" host Maria Bartiromo.
The speaker went on to add that he’s talked to the president-elect extensively over the last few months, trying to determine "the pros and cons of the two different strategies," one reconciliation bill or a "skinny reconciliation bill."
"There’s a lot of merit to that [one reconciliation bill] because we can put it all together, one big up or down vote, which can save the country quite literally, because there are so many elements to it," Johnson said.
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"It’ll give us a little bit more time to negotiate that and get it right," he continued.
Johnson expressed that one reconciliation bill will "have a lot of pieces" and address a lot of the concerns Americans voiced during the election, such as securing the border and economy.
In order to "revive the U.S. economy," Speaker Johnson stressed the importance of "preventing the largest tax increase in U.S. history," warning that it could happen automatically at the end of next year if Congress doesn’t get its "ducks in a row."
As important as they are, tax cuts aren’t the only priority for the House GOP as they look to assist Trump in getting the country’s economy back on track.
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Johnson explained that Republicans want to "incentivize" American companies to manufacture in the U.S., dismantle the "regulatory burden" and red tape that’s "smothering" the free market, root out the "deep state" and restore American energy dominance.
"So a lot of moving pieces, a lot of things to negotiate, a lot of opinions on all that. So, we’ll be working long, long hours with whiteboards, making sure every Republican is on board," he said.
Though the speaker will be working with the "smallest margin in U.S. history" for the first hundred days, he's confident that Republicans will deliver for the American people.
When asked about the timeline for one reconciliation bill, Johnson said it could be on President Trump’s desk by May or as soon as April 3 if everything moves in the "right sequence."
"We’ve made a lot of campaign promises. President Trump did as well and reconciliation is the way to get it done," he explained.
