WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders said voters on Tuesday gave them a “mandate” to enact the most conservative policies possible after they won unified control of the federal government in January, but declined to provide details on what exactly those policies will be they tried to implement and stage.
“The American people want us to implement and deliver this first program for America,” said Speaker Mike Johnson. “And we must do it while we have the energy and excitement, starting on the first day of Congress in the new year.”
The Louisiana Republican said the election results showed Americans want lawmakers to focus their attention on “secure borders” and preventing “terrorists and criminals from entering the country.”
“They want and deserve low prices for groceries and gas,” Johnson said. “They want us to once again demonstrate strength on the world stage, not the weakness we have predicted over the last four years. They want an end to wokeness and radical gender ideology and a return to common sense in our children’s classrooms, corporate boardrooms and government agencies. We’ll make sure it’s all true.”
Not yet at 218 years elderly
The Associated Press, the news organization that States Newsroom relies on for race calls decades of experiencehe had not called House Republicans since Tuesday but was expected to do so in the coming days.
GOP politicians have won 214 seats so far, just shy of the minimum of 218 needed to maintain a majority, though they will need a few more seats to maintain a safe and sound margin after President-elect Donald Trump nominates several of his colleagues for positions in his next administration.
Democrats are there is expected to persist at least 205 House seats, and the AP has yet to call 16 races. This will leave Republicans with a slim majority when the next Congress begins in January, with little room to lose votes from centrist or far-right members.
According to the AP, GOP lawmakers will have 53 U.S. Senate seats next year after flipping seats previously held by Democrats in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Johnson said during a news conference on the steps of the Capitol that he expects the GOP to have a larger majority than its current 220 seats in the next Congress.
But he cautioned that every Republican vote will matter because the party likely won’t have a significant majority.
“Every vote will count because if someone gets sick, has a car accident or misses a plane, it will have an impact on votes in Parliament,” Johnson said.
He said Republicans in Congress are working closely with Trump, who is scheduled to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Wednesday before Johnson travels to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida this weekend to discuss details of his legislative agenda with him.
“President Trump will meet with President Biden at the White House. That’s why it was suggested that he wanted to visit Republicans in the House of Representatives,” Johnson said. “We are therefore making arrangements for him to meet with us, potentially tomorrow morning, before he goes to the White House. And it would be a great meeting and moment for all of us. There is a lot of emotion and a lot of energy here.”
Details of upcoming reforms
Maintaining unified control of the government will allow Republicans to operate the complicated budget reconciliation process to pass legislation without having to obtain the bipartisan support that is typically required to overcome a Senate legislative filibuster with a 60-vote majority.
Johnson said the party intends to apply the process to all policy areas consistent with instructions that will allow lawmakers to make changes to revenues, spending or debt that are not “merely incidental” to the $6 trillion federal budget.
“We have a number of very specific plans to do this, and the details will be finalized in the coming week,” he said.
Johnson said he didn’t want to “go into any detail about any of the specifics of the reforms” after being asked whether Republicans would get rid of the Education Department, one of Trump’s campaign promises.
“There are a lot of ideas on the table, but we need to work together, build consensus and work with the Trump administration on the sequencing of reforms and how to do them,” Johnson said. “So I’m not preparing to give details on that. But you can stay relevant.”
Last updated at 1:48 PM, November 12, 2024
