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>> their own version of the resolution that would split up -- [inaudible] what we are going to see today and tomorrow, speaker mike johnson talking about one big beautiful bill that was on capitol hill and whether they can really enact what they wanted budget reconciliation and pass this legislation. we are going to be another

version. >> why is it important? >> they need all of these and as our viewers no, there are a lot of personalities so trying to get all of them united in one republican vote behind a bill, that's why they want to push forward in the legislation and agree with others. ...

>> and when it comes to the congressional budget, the ongoing cuts by the department of government efficiency certainly playing into that process and what the federal budget could look like in the weeks and months and years to to come. president trump on saturday at the congressional political action conference spoke about his efforts to to treatmentline the federal government. this is a little bit of what president trump had to say. >> we're removing all of the unnecessary and, incompetent and corrupt bureaucrats from the work force, that's what we're doing. [applause] and under the buyouts, we offered federal employees, more than 75,000 federal bureaucrats, hi of that, have voluntarily agreed -- >> across the country. thank you all so much for being here. [applause] and in just a moment, we're going to have the opportunity to

welcome our special guests for the day, the speaker of the house, mike johnson, and guy benson, who many of you know as a fox news contributor, but he is also a member of asp's advisory council. [applause] so guy and the speaker are going to have a conversation. and in this conversation they're going to touch on two topics that that are near and dear to the asp if's heart, core principles and public policy. at a a fp, we strive to bring principled solutions to the biggest policy challenges facing our country today. and we do that that by also bringing the voice of the american people to back up those solutions. the work that we do in grassroots communities across the country to engage and mobilize concerned citizens to have their voices heard in the public policy debate on the most important issues.

now p over the past two years our teams collectively have logged other one million miles under the soles of their shoes knocking on doors. we mapped it out, one million miles. [applause] we reached 30 million of to our fellow citizens, and that's just in the last two years. you know, we've been doing this for 20 years, and over the course of that 20 years, there's been one thing that's been consistent, and it's pretty important for today's conversation. when public policy is characterizedded by core principles, you get pretty good policy. and you get tremendous results for the american people. more freedom, more opportunity to live the american dream. so we're thrilled, and i know i speak on behalf of everybody who works with afp, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to hear how speaker johnson thinks about

these core principles and, frankly, thank him for his approach to public policy through their lens. but we also a know we have to put these principles into action. and can and so it's fori due talking to us -- fori tow talking to us we're -- fordue talking to us that we're having having this conversation today. the house of representatives are coming back into session to continue their work on the budget resolution. afp's number one priority this year is the extension of the trump tax cut toss avoid a massive tax increase on millions of americans at a time when they can least afford it. to do this, we launched a major $20 million campaign called protect prosperity, and it is through this campaign that we're bringing the voice of the american people to the hall as of congress to make sure that as this legislation works its way through congress, it doesn't just reflect the will of the people, but it also reflects these core principles.

this isn't easy work, and mistakes are very -- the stakes are very high. so to help us understand the path forward, please join me in welcoming our guests, guy benson, and the speaker of the house, mike johnson. [applause] >> thank you. appreciate it. thank you. [applause] thank you all for being here. big thanks to af if p here for hosting this really important event. looking forward to this conversation with the speaker. i want to start just on a personal note. i saw you post on social media over the last week i want to the say a photo with you with welcoming boys 2 men to the capitol. and a buddy of moon said mike if johnson is -- mine said mike johnson is on a journey. do you ever have moments, you're

on the plane with trump, you're at upc, do you ever think, how cool is my life? the accidental speaker thing has turned into an effective speaker if in reality. >> kid rock, jelly roll and i were talking about this summer -- [laughter] it has been a wild ride. these are consequential times. people can ask me all the time am i having fun in this position, and i just look at them and say i really don't have time for fun. i'm very much a wartime speaker and have been since they handed me the gale in 2023. this is -- gavel. this is not a job i aspired to, but i'm absolutely convincethat perk is coming back -- convinced. that america coming back. there are a new moments of respite. that was a great treat. i'm way older than most of you in the audience, but if you were in high school in the late '80s, early '90s, that's the soundtrack of my life.

they look so much better than we, andi chose the wrong profession. but it was great to meet them. >> so right outside here there are the seven principles that you talk about. if you just remind us what they are, number one, and if then the question i have is, obviously, there is some opposition to a number of them on the left. are you concerned about maybe some underpining of faith in those principles within certain precincts on the right as well these days? >> yeah. so let me tell you the origin of this n. 2019 i was elected to be chairman of the republican committee, largest caucus of conservatives in congress. certainly the most conservative. and i was just a sophomore, but my background was in constitutional law. and and i had, as i like to say, a toolbox of totally unmarketable skills, but what came together at that time was this recalibration of who we were as a party. s this was two two years in the trump administration, and a lot of the turn -- furniture was

being moved around. i stood in front of all the a house republicans in the conference, the caucus at the time and i said there's been 158 of them, and i said, guys, if you had just a brief moment to have a discussion with a young millennial or young progressive to tell them why our philosophy and our principles are superior to theirs, what would you say? if you had to convince an entire library full of conservative thought from edmund burke to today down to a half page, what would you say? i saiding to me, i think it boils down to individual freedom, limited government, rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets and and human dignity. under each of those things there'd be lots of subcategories, and you could unpack it depending on the moment you're in. but that, to me, is the essence of who we are not just as a party, but who we've been as a americans. there's a reason america is the greatest nation in the history of the world. it's not really close. objectively, we're the most powerful, post success is.

, post free, most -- most free, most benever eleven nation that's ever been -- benevolent, and we don't want the lose sight of those principles as things change in our modern era. >> when you look at the election that just happened, right, there's always this is the most important election of our lifetime mantra. sometimes that feels closer to the truth than other times. this was a very consequential election, and we've heard president trump talk about a mandate. he swept the swing states, won the popular vote, did some things folks were not spented him to do -- expecting him to do. by the same token, i don't have to tell you how slim the majority is in your house, even the upper chamber as well. i know that feels like more breathing room, but still awfully close. how do you look at what the voters decided in november? does that constitute a mandate for the party genre? concern generally? and what does that that look like in terms of your priorities here? >> great question.

not only did president trump win the electoral college soundly, he also won the popular vote, 77 million votes. we got our highest votes total in the history of the house. we kid all that together. some would say, oh, you rode president trump's coattail, but i think it was a combination of things. i think a once in a generation, once in my lifetime kind of event happened where we had a record number of hispanic and latino shotters -- voters, all these people who had not historically been in our camp, and they came over not reluctantly, but enthusiastically. they were looking for an alternative. the left went too far. the woke, progressive nonsense, sort of like as i explain id in -- it in my mind, the pendulum. now it's coming back. president trump represents a force that is pushing it back to common sense. and the center-right kind of balance where we are, always have been in the nation. and we're going to be a force of that as well.

so we do see it as a mandate, we do see it as our responsibility to take care of business. i want you to know that i traveled the country nonstop last year to make sure we kept the majority and grew it, and every day almost literally that the we were not in session i was on the road, i did 350 campaign events, i logged enough miles to to circle the globe phi and a half time. i was four inches taller when i became speaker of the house, okay? [laughter] we did grow the majority, and by was so proud if because i had 220 the republicans and 215 re-- democrats. and then president trump began to cull the heard -- the herd. i called him, mr. president, you cannot do that. oh, mike, did i do that a? yes, you did, sir. that laugh we have a one-vote margin now. so for a big chunk of the first hundred days of the congress and perhaps beyond, this is not an easy task. but we're going to get it done. we have the most aggressive, important legislative agenda that we've had certainly in my

lifetime, i think, and when we get this done, it will be an extraordinary achievement because the margin is so so small. >> two related questions. one on the timeline for filling some of the aforementioned trump-created vacancies, right? a couple in florida, there's one in new york. as you think about a legislative agenda moving forward and you look at the calendar, what are you expecting, what are you anticipating in terms of getting those seats filled? if florida, i know that they're doing everything they possibly can. new york -- [laughter] with the stefanik seat, that's a different question, right? because the governance up there, they're not as a interested in helping you get some folks back into your caucus, right? i know they talk a lot about democracy, but they're pretty comfortable with a seat remaining vacant for as long as possible in upstate new york. >> that's true. florida, it'll be april 1. april fool ifses' day, don't put too much stock into that that. it will be two republicans, it's reliable. mike waltz and matt gaetz's

seat. elite testify nick's seat in -- stefanik's seat is different because, you're right, the liberal democrats run the state assembly, and they've not been kind talking to us there at the state capital, and they're toying with the idea of holding that seat open until the fall, perhaps it's one of the suggestions. >> delayed election for democracy? >> for democracy, yeah. don't forget about the fact that 750,000 upstate new yorkers would be without representation in the congress for no apparent reason. under existing new york law, that vacancy is supposed to be filled no later than 90 days from the date that it is vacated. so we'll see what happens. they haven't changed the law yet. if we get the budget resolution passed this week, which is the plan, then i think it's possible that that elise stefanik would go ahead and move on the her assign seasonment at the u.n. as the ambassador there -- assignment, once she gets new the confirmation process in the senate. and that would start the clock. let's hope we can get it filled

in time and hope that the law is respected by democrats in new york. >> and i want to come back to this week in a is second. but again, looking at priorities, you're starting to see some softness in the polling, for president, for the party. maybe a honeymoon that he never enjoyed last time. he's had it. polls are conflicting about whether that's starting to maybe taper off or not. but one consistent data point that we're seeing is there is still this extreme concern among voters about the cost of living and the price of everything. and, obviously, a mess was inherited, there's no question about that. but at some point you're in the driver's seat as a republican party controls the trifecta. what is it that you would say to voters who are wondering are they really focusing on what a matters the most to to us, which would be the cost of living, immigration, those to top to two? what about immigration on that number one issue that really, i think, was so harmful to the democrats in the fall? >> yeah, it was.

clearly, the president and all of us ran on the set of issues that were most important to the people. we have to secure the border, get the economy under control, are reduce inflation, we've got to get american energy dominance back and restore peace through strength, reduce the regulatory state, the bureaucracy is, the deep state. the president's done an heroic job with executive authority right out of the gates and accomplished quite a bit. doge is working overtime can and all these things are happening. now we have to codify it. so the reconciliation process is the key to getting that done. and for a lot of people who don't follow the machinations here, the reconciliation is the one exception to having to get 60 to votes, the 60-vote threshold in the senate. because we only have to have 53 republicans in the senate right now, doing something with a bare majority is the way to go, so we'll use the reck is silluation process to check at lot of the boxes and the promises that we made, and that is how we will get to the cost of living. the price of eggs is up high,

ask that is more to do with bird flu than anything else but, obviously, inflation continues to be a major problem. we need to make a sure small businesses have certainly, to make sure we don't have the largest tax increase in history which is what will happen by default if we're not successful in this mission to get taxes down, reduce regulations and free up the free market again. the way you ensure prosperity which is what we're all about is to get the government out of the way. reconciliation is the vehicle in which we're going to get it done. >> ease questioner said than done. the way that logistics work out, before you do that, we're at the afp if freedom embassy is, speaker mike johnson, our guest, and there's a few folks here that afp has recognized as a really high-level activists who have done a lot of work on the ground. let's start, i'm sure this is completely random, one of them happens to be from louisiana. everything is with us from your -- eric is with us from

your home tate. [applause] >> hi, mr. speaker. i recently graduated from our alma mater, louisiana state university. [laughter] and i'm focused on my future, hopefully building a career, starting a family in louisiana. the last few years have been difficult with the cost of energy, housing and groceries. wow would your principles and your vision help question many other louisianians achieve our goal? >> great question. see, lsu students are so bright. look, i'll concede that a you've got greater challenges than i had back in the mid '90s. there was a lot of headwinds right now. this election really was for all the a marbles. i mean, it was a crossroads for the country, and we won. so now we have the mandate, the opportunity to fix if all this. the best thing that we can do to ensure liberty, opportunity, security for you and your young family that you'll start is to get government out of the way. and that's what our team is for. at the end of the day, the republican party, we talked

about the core principles. at the end of the day, we're pro-family and pro-growth, right? and hose are the two ingredients that a make it easier for people to start out. my daughter's just graduating law school in may, and she just got married in june, so this is a live fire ebbs r exercise for my family, and she's the oldest of our four. i got one that is on the way to law school, i've got a son at the naval academy and a 14-year-old, so they're alling looking at me with the same anticipation. all right, dad, get this fixed. and we will. i keep going back to reconciliation, but that's the quickest vehicle we have to achieve these desired results. and if what we need is to get government out of the way. we need a smaller, leaner federal government that's out of your life so the free market can thrive. you allow job creators, entrepreneur, risk takers, the people that create the jobs to do more of what they do. and that you unleash that power of u.s. economy that has been supporterred by government regulation for too long. this is not theoretical.

we did it, of course, in the first trump administration. i was here as a freshman in 2017 when president trump started, and we reduced taxes and regulations, and we had the greatest economy in the history of the world precovid. every boat was rising, and then we had these disruptive events. we know the formula, and we'll help everybody who is starting out. i would say hang in there and don't leave louisiana, okay? if. [laughter] of. >> all right. thank you, eric. and from your neck of the woods and your alma matter to one of the most important battleground states in the country, wisconsin. i know a a fp's very focused on a very important judicial race up there in a matter of weeks. mike is a small business owner in wisconsin. what's to your question for the speaker? >> speaker johnson is, i am a small business owner from milwaukee, wisconsin. my wife and i own a hospitality group with six restaurants, some small breweries and 190 employees. you know, it's super important to us to continue the tax cuts. i know it is important to you as

bell.. -- as well. there's some differences in opinion between the house and the senate and republicans even in your house. what's your plan to try to bridge that gap so we can continue? we need if it. we need to keep hiring and growing or we're dying. so what's your plan the to bridge that gap? >> well, thanks, mike, for the question, and thanks for -- i know you did some heavy work in wisconsin, i'm sure. in this audience, if you're here, you were part of that. and wisconsin was a huge state for us this time around. what we need to do, i'll give you a little more detail about reconciliation because it sounds like a lot of9ty concept, but the details really do matter. what we need to do for small business owners is get government out of the way and give you certainty so so you can plan and invest appropriately, so that you know what's going to to happen six months from now or more. the reason that we're putting the tax cuts and jobs act a extensions, one of the seminal achievements of the first trump administration, the reason that's in reconciliation is because as we noted, those tax

cuts are going to expire at the end of this year if we don't fix it. and the reason we have to do it early in the process and not wait until later is because everybody needs to see the effects of that, like, asap saw, right? if you're a small business owner, this is a very challenging time because you don't know what to expect, the markets don't know what to expect. so putting that clarity in as early as possible is critical for everybody who is in a position like you are. so the way to do that is with one big, beautiful bill, okay? that's the president's phrase, and i've adopted it. in fact, i have it a tattooed on my chest, i can show you. [laughter] it's that important. why? some of of my carriest friends -- dearest friends, they've been pushing the two-bill strategy in the senate. i want you to know my math much more complicated mt. house than the senate. for the first time in our lifetime, senate republicans have a wider marin than we have in the house, okay? if i also have 160 additional

personalities than they have to deal with, and if i have a much more diverse caucus. i've got people who are elected in deep red, rural states. and then i've got people who are elected in districts that a kamala harris won on the ballot by 10 or 11 points. those republicans look at an issue set with very different lenses. their philosophy and principles are are the same, but their constituencies are very different. my job is the find the equilibrium point and advance the ball as a far down the field as we can for conservative principles and get 218 votes. i've got a soft i caucus that they don't have to contend with in the senate because the state and local tax issue the is huge for people in new york, new jersey, california. there's no red state senators that have that issue to contend with. and we have multiple caucuses and interests that i've got to contend with. so finding the right point for all those dials is going to be

the trick over the next several weeks. we'll get there, and the on -- sooner that we do, the better it's going to be for you and every business owner. that's going to lock in and codify the certainty that you need to be able to do what you do best. >> i saw a headline today in politico, mike johnson's moment of truth. you've hat had a few of those. moments of truths maybe, but it is a big one this week because step one is this floor vote maybe tomorrow, maybe later in the week. committee was sort of a sigh of relief there, but you got a lot of cats to herd. to the everyone's onboard from what the reporting suggests. are you confident, and how would you, how would you measure that level of confidence that you're going to get this through? this is step one, right is? getting to the vehicle with literally no margin for error because i think there's at least one member who's a no.

>> there may be more than one. this is a prayer request, just pray this for through for us. as we were talking a while ago, the thing about having a small majority is it brings great clarity. the it's clarifying, you know? i don't think anybody wants to be in front of this train. i think they want to be on it. and people come at it with genuine conviction about the the debt and the deficit and and about a these issues. i'm often reminded what ronald reagan reminded us. i'd rather get 80% of what i want than go over the cliff for flag waving. we have to recognize that an aircraft carrier is not turned on a dime. it takes 3 miles to turn an aircraft carrier. it took us decades to get in the situation we're in, it is not likely we're going to fix everything in one pell swoop. but if we can make great strides and begin to change the

trajectory of the carrier, we can turn it around. and if we to that well and demonstrate to these new demographics that it truly is our principles, our core conservative principles that lead to human flourishing, it is our fellows that are -- principles that are better for them as a individuals, families, community, the state, the nation as a whole, then we will be able to hold this governing majority for years to come. this can be an his to odor thetic moment, and this is the first step in what will be many steps. it's day by day. >> so if your analysis that it's going the happen/prayer request comes through this week, i guess part one of the question what would the timeline then look like to get to then the reconciliation piece which would be harder, right? this is just getting on to something this week. then it's like, okay, when does the final bill that would become law look like. what timeline are you looking like for there, and then one that has to bed asked is, if something -- maybe there's a wrinkle this week and there's a stumble, is there a plan if b,

or is it this or nothing? >> i've got a whole playbook, but i'm not going to tell you that. we're going to score on this one, okay? but when the resolution passes, as you know, this is just sort of the opening, the starting gun, basically, for the real reconciliation process. and so that is scheduled out, and i put out a very aggressive timetable, a schedule for the reasons we've discussed. we need to do this quickly. >> 2017 you took too long. republicans took too long. >> that's exact exactly right. we didn't get to the tax peat piece until late in the year, and the benefit of what we did was not fully realized before that midterm election. only twice in 85 years has a newly-elected president had a his party grow or add a seats in the house in that first two-year cycle. so we're going to have to defy history, and we will. i think we've got the right ingredients to do it, but we've got to the perform. so if we do it early to meet that aggressive timetable, what we're going to do is pass the resolution and through the rest

of february and all of the month of march you'll see the committees, what happens is we give instructions to 11 different house committees and and areas of jurisdiction on all these issues, and they've got to work through and find their equilibrium points in those subgroups, bring it up to the full group, get it on the floor. my calendar has us passing this by probably the first week of april and getting it to the senate so they can the do their work on it -- >> after a april 1st, perhaps? >> of after april 1st, you see how that works? if i've got more votes. and in this works, we get it to the president's desk by early may. that would be enough time for this to become part of the law, to get the certainty that everybody needs and for the american people to begin seeing the benefit of this so that it's reflected in the election outcome and all of our lives. >> just a couple or e more here. i've had, you mentioned senator cruz, i had senator if thune on the show recently. still making, to my ears, robust, interesting case for the two-bill idea.

when you push back on them in private, you say, look, here's my math and here's why one big, beautiful bill makes sense is on the house side, are they receptive to it, or are they still saying, no, actually, your wrong? >> no, this is a very friendly debate. these are all close friends, and there's no daylight between the house and senate republicans, and that's very important. i mean or there's no animosity at all. we're all trying to accomplish the same exacts mission, they just see it from different lenses in the senate than we do in the house. and if when i lay out the complexities, ted, lindsey and john, none of them can refute that. they just go, oh, that's tough. thanks a lot. [laughter] so, look, i think what happens if they pass their resolution last week and whatever they're calling that that, that's a plan b, that's fine. i said you have to allow the house to lead on this by necessity. we need to. we have to. i have the more complicated equation to to solve. here's another thing too that everybody needs to remember, and this'll mean if something to

folks in this room. we have new revenue inputs that really ought to be factored into this. the tariffs policy that the president's pursuing is going to be scored by the congressional budget office as a number, sol some significant number. 10% tariffs on china could be a large number, just that that alone. and then what doge is doing, cutting down and size and scope of government pretty dramatically are resulteds in a massive force savings. they found almost $60 billion to be equipment estimated already, and they've only been doing it for a few weeks. so elon is in the middle. he's gotten in the belly of the beast. i met with him a couple of weeks ago in his office, monday before last, and he was explain what he's doing. and he and i got increasingly excited. i know you're excited because you think of this as a scientist and a data analyst. i think of it as a constitutional law attorney and historian. elon are, what we're going to do here is restore the original spent of the framers of the constitution. because they envisioned a small, efficient federal government.

remember, most of the power is pushed down to the states, right? that's important for maintaining the checks and balances and all the rest of the things we need. but they wanted a federal federal government that was small and efficient and effective and accountable. and the accountability piece will be ensured by the duly-elected representatives of the people and the congress. we have oversight. the problem is for decades, as we know, we haven't been able to do that job well. even though we've requested the data and the insight, it was hidden. how many of you know that

bureaucracy was not cost -- forthcoming, right if they're not transparent. that's the problem. that's the depp state we talk about. so they were hiding from congress. we didn't know that usaid a was funding drag shows in peru or whatever, you know? transgender operas in colombia, whatever, you know? it's madness. but elon has cracked the code. he is now inside the agencies. he's created these algorithms that are constantly crawling through the data, and as a he told me in his office a, the data doesn't lie. we're going to get the information, transform the way the federal government works at the end of this, and that is a very exciting prospect. it is truly a revolutionary moment for the nation. >> being here at the freedom embassy, i think something that's on a lot of minds in this room, on this team is how can the grassroots at a afp if help. because there are a lot of different pressure points in this fight upcoming. a a fp was involved in 30 million voter contacts in the last cycle alone. there's muscle there. what's the role for groups like this one? maybe this one specific create in this road ahead or on this journey forward. >> i have afp tattooed on my back. very important, very important. lots of tata a toos. no, look, this organization does it better than anybody, and i mean that sincerely. i remember finally the work of afp when i was a legislator in louisiana. i did a short stint in the legislature before i ran for congress, about 14 months. and during that time we had a some really a heavy things that were happening, tax initiatives and other stuff. and fap got directly involved at

the grassroots level and did some of the most effective mailers i've ever seen to state representatives, state senators' homes. and i saw them flip on the floor of the legislature, this is a real story, okay in so it matters. the grassroots component is critical, and what you can do is what afp does so well leading on this, let your elected representatives in washington know how you feel about this. let house and senate members know this is important. one of the most effective ways to do it is to share your story. share your story about a your small business and how the tax cuts in the last trump administration helped you grow and thrive. talk about the challenges that you're facing now and why we can reduce the challenge by further deregulating your industry, right? talk about the challenges that your family has with inflation and the cost of groceries and all that. make it real, make it personal. when you're a constituent of one

of these folks, it does make a difference. talk about how your tate's an open border state and it's been disastrous for your community. you add those things in and make it personal, make it specific, it's very difficult for elected officials to just turn a bind eye to that. and when you add the reinforce ifments and the resources and the power of afp behind it, it's a very effective hinge -- thing, and we're counting on it. >> we've got to wrap here, but i have to ask you this. not to brag, but i think i have a pretty good president trump impression. yours is better, i will say that. have you ever done it for him? >> not directly, but he certainly -- [laughter] >> not yet. >> he certainly nose about it, okay? imitation is the greatest form of flattery, okay? [laughter] >> so true. speaker mike johnson, everyone. thank you so much for coming, really appreciate it. [applause]

♪♪ >> this afternoon a discussion on indiana trust law and the ross r -- antitrust law and the cost of living with remarks from reese davids of kansas. from the progressive policy institute, watch live at 2 p.m. eastern on c-span2, c-span now, our free mobile app, or online at a c-span.org. ♪ ♪ c-span: 100 years ago this past august was the beginning of what's often been called the great war. world war sr. had military casualties of over 9 million and millions more civilians. a professor if at bard college has written nine books since

2003 on subjects that include german history, or russian history, the ottoman empire, communism, world war ii and one titled july 1914. this last book will be the focus of our conversation with professor mcme can. world war i was triggered in late june of 1914 by the assassination of arch duke franz ferdinand and his wife stove in boss -- stoveny -- sophie. >> the book july 1914: countdown to war, on this episode of book notes +with our host, brian lamb. book notes+ is available is on the c-span now free mobile app or wherever you get youred podcasts -- your podcasts. ♪ >> c-span, democracy unfiltered. we're funded by these television companies and more including comcast. >> you think this is jus