♪ >> democracy is always an unfinished creation. >> democracy is worth dying for. >> democracy belongs to us all. >> we're here in the sanctuary of democracy. >> great responsibilities befall once again to the great democracies. >> american democracies is bigger than any one person. >> freedom and democracy must be constantly guarded and protected p. >> we are still at our core a democracy. >> this is also a massive victory for democracy and for freedom. ♪ >> house speaker mike johnson addressed the fires in california and the house vote on transgender student athletes during a press conference on capitol hill. speaking alongside republican leadership. this runs 20 minutes.

>> good morning, everyone. thank for you being here. this week house republicans are supporting and protecting women and girls across the country. including in our efforts is greg steube's bill we'll vote on today that will prevent biologic males from competing in women programs by requiring sex in athletic competition be determined by genetics at birth.

and biological men compete against biological men. this is not to disrespect anyone. however, protecting women and girls from feeling comfortable in their locker room and sustaining sports injuries because of unfairway competition, we're losing out on unfair accolades because being not genetically able to beat a male is what is right and a line that must be drawn and americans are with us. today's vote is about our sisters and nieces and granddaughters and for me because i'm stuck with four boys, it's about our nieces who candidly could beat me in any of these sports but we were playing tennis in charleston and high school golf and soccer. moving forward this line has to be drawn and it's important women and girls have fairness and safety in sports and starts with measures like this. house republicans are committed to being a part of common sense and thank congressman steube for his leadership on this critical issue. with that i'll hand it over to

one of the new members of the house conference, the g.o.p. conference, congressman riley moore of west virginia. mr. moore: thank you. good morning, everybody. first i'd like to point out i'm very proud to be a co-sponsor of this piece of legislation. and this is a bill from the state i'm from, west virginia, that we actually already passed. and to a greater threat saved many from problems in the locker rooms. but one important thing to mention here, sex is not something that's determined at birth. it's observed. it's not determined by a school board. it's not determined even by this body. what we seek to do here is reaffirm something that's an absolute truth and that men should not be in girls sports or

women sports. now, as a father of two daughters, i can tell you very clearly that there is no scenario or situation where i would want to see my daughters competing against biological males. i also have a son and he's the youngest of everybody and quickly becoming the largest of everybody. there is a difference. there is an inherent difference. as i said, it's not determined at birth, it's just something we've observed and there's only one determinate factor in it at the end of the day that's in it and that's god whom we were all made in his image. so in my view, i think this bill makes a tremendous amount of sense and from a subsupport perspective, think about it, president trump ran on this. he ran ads on this. and i think the public has spoken very clearly about where they stand on this. i was honored to be down in

mar-a-lago just this weekend and talked about a litany of issues. he's very well aware of this as part of his winning message. and now we're going to go here and deliver on it in the house of representatives. thank you very much. i'll turn it over to whip emmer. mr. emmer: as a former hockey player and a coach, i've seen firsthand the powerful impact that sports can have, especially on young people. it's not just about the game or the trophies, though those are nice. it's about the lessons you learn along the way, discipline, the value of hard work and working together as a team, and the importance of setting a goal and seeing it through. but now, unfortunately, that space is being taken. we've seen the radical left take a playing field for female

athletes and turn it into a political minefield. what should be an opportunity for young women to thrive and compete has been clouded by an agenda that prioritized so-called inclusion over fairness. rather than standing firm for what's right and ensuring young women have the opportunity to succeed on their own merit, democrats have caved to an ideology that simply denies common sense. what's been the result? repeated cases of female athletes being exploited in their locker rooms, robbed of scholarship opportunities or injured playing the sport they loved all because democrats would rather cave to the radical activists in their party than stand up for the women they claim to champion. last congress, 203 house democrats voted against the protection of women and girls in sports. and while the bill passed the house, it ultimately died on chuck schumer's desk where it's been collecting dust ever since.

but on november 5, voters elected a republican house, a republican senate, and a republican president. and in doing so, they delivered a mandate loud and clear, the time for the left's lunacy is over. the time for common sense is now. our republican majority doesn't take that mandate lightly which is why in the first 100 days, the republican trifecta, we're working to deliver on our promise to keep biological men out of women sports. i'm grateful for congressman steube's leadership on this issue and look forward to seeing the bill pass the house and ultimately the senate and be signed into law by president trump p. the only real question is which side of history do democrats want to be on? and with that i turn it over to our majority leader, steve scalise. mr. scalise. thank you, whip. once again, we have an agenda that's bringing bills to the floor to follow through on things we talked about during the campaign. these aren't just bills we're

seeing for the first time, some of them are bills we brought up last congress, but as the whip pointed out, as we would pass a lot of these bills, the senate under chuck schumer refused to take any of them up, refused commonsense is policies because they just wanted to continue bowing to the radical left. you saw with the laken riley act. i remember back last congress when we had the laken riley act, there were even some in this room that would question why are you bringing a bill like that if you know the senate isn't going to bring it up, isn't it just a messaging bill? no, we said it's the right policy, the right policy, and we're standing up for what's right, whether the senate will do the right thing or not. so ultimately, if you look what happened with the laken riley act, mike collins' bill not only passed again this time with more democrats support, so very bipartisan out of the house, as it was last congress. but now we have a willing senate

with senator thune as the majority leader willing to bring the bill up and that bill likely will be the very first bill that president donald trump gets to sign when he becomes the 47th president of the united states. so just like with some of the other bills, we're going to continue to stand up for what's right. this week you're seeing a few of those. one of the most commonsense bills that we've had is the bill that says men cannot play in women sports. i traveled all across the country during the election cycle and this came up everywhere you went. people don't understand why it's even an issue that congress won't resolve. and when you tell them, well, we passed a bill out of the house but the senate wouldn't even take it up, believe me, it was a factor in a lot of those races. when you talk to most people in america, common sense tells you men shouldn't be playing in women sports just because some on the far left want to continue to jam their ideology and whatever other kind of achieve -- things they want to

achieve and upset what title ix is all about, upset women sports and take away opportunities for so many young women across america, it's just not right. so we're going to stand up for what's right again and bring that bill to the floor just as we're bringing nancy mace's bill which says if somebody is here illegally and also committing assault and violence against women, that's a deportable offense. again, a similar bill we brought last time passed in the house and chuck schumer refused to bring it in the senate. i think we'll see a different approach from this new senate. when people say elections have consequences, the consequences are already being seen and felt in the terms of actual good policy, not only making it through the house but actually coming up on the senate floor for real votes now. and when you see president trump get sworn in next week, it's going to be an exciting day but it's going to be an exciting time for the country because it marks a new beginning for

america. now, we've been preparing for this moment for a long time. one of the biggest preparations is budget reconciliation, a bill we've been working with president trump on for months now. and working with our committee chairs on but now it's about to get real. we're talking about bringing a budget by february in congress, in the house and then ultimately setting up the opportunity to create a budget reconciliation bill that's going to be focused on getting our country back on track and securing america's border and producing more energy and lowering costs for families who are struggling, addressing these radical rules and regulations that add more cost to the inflation that's driving people to the point they can't even afford to put food on the table. we're going to be addressing those problems that we talked about during the campaign, and we're going to be bringing one big beautiful bill as the speaker talks about, and the president does, to address those problems and move that bill

quickly. so again, our quarterback leading that effort is our speaker. mike johnson. mr. johnson: thank you to all the leaders here. riley, welcome to the press conference. we're excited. when we meet next week it will be a great day in america. we're less than a week of president donald j. trump taking the oath of office and everybody is excited about the inauguration ceremony and the events that go on with it. there's a lot going on and we're continuing to work already. as you heard, congress has gotten a head start implementing the america first agenda. the president is going to come in with a flurry of executive and we are going to be working along side the administration in tandem to roll back the catastrophic policies of the biden administration. with -- we are returning common

sense. and see if it is reasonable and make sense. last year, 158 democrats and 203 let biological males. we'll remedy those problems this week. nancy mace by illegal aliens

will deport those who fit that description and involved in these horrific. and greg steube's act will ensure that female only sports. i have two sons and two daughters. and we see the difference, of course. everyone does. the american people sent a clear message in november. they want us to return to common sense and see if democrats have heard that message. we have and we are happy to lead on that. with regard to taxes, i wanted you to read a new report from the national association much manufacturers just published this morning. if we the trump tax cuts expire, we are at risk of losing 6 million total jobs and $540 billion. we cannot fail to extend the

trump tax cuts. and we will be seeing more studies like this come out where people are urging that we get this job done and we will. republicans are united. and we are going to set the conditions to do that. if we don't extend the trump tax cuts. and will be hallowed out. we cannot allow that to happen and the reconciliation process is moving in a very aggressive pace. we set out a calendar with very specific target dates. the idea is to have the budget, the underlying piece of the reconciliation process done by late february. we would have the reconciliation bill voted on the house floor before easter and the entire thing and to the president's

desk by memorial day. a very aggressive timetable for things we will be putting into that legislation and those discussions are ongoing. i would anticipate lots of detailed questions. i'm not going to tell you. this is an internal politics and discussion and things we are doing in reconciliation as the majority party and allow room for that to breathe and decided organically and i won't be talking about details until they are finalizedded. i would encourage my colleagues. lots of things. lastly, a word about the southern california wildfire, we are watching with heartache the people in southern california who are just devastated by this disaster. the leader and i come from louisiana, we deal with floods,

hurricanes and wildfires as well. we all feel that. and americans that are affecting desperately need help. but we have concerns with the governance of the state of california, state and local. and there is compliesity involved and the scope of the disaster, that is something that needs to be carefully regarded. you have heard the word conditions on aid. first of all, the fires are still raging and no one knows what the costs will be. it takes time to make estimates. and that process will go forward. and the way it works, the administration will submit a request to congress. that goes through the office of management and budget. that is a long process we have gone through many times. it is plea mature for anyone to say what that number will be and what the scope of that

supplemental legislation will entail. i spoke to president trump 90 minutes ago. he is planning to make a trip himself to california and we will follow the administration's lead on this. wref to make sure there are safeguards on the precious treasure of the american people. there are natural disasters, but if they are made much worse by human error and deliberative and stated as such at the time, i think that is something that needs to be carefully regarded. reporter: i know you talked about to figure this out, how does the disaster in california and the approximate unknown price tag that is going to come in make it harder to get to

budget reconciliation. $100 billion for the carolinas last fall and there are going to be earthquakes and hurricanes. doesn't that complicate this inherently. and somebody is going to say we need money for that and doesn't it complicate it? the speaker: what the fema administrator said in media reports. fema is well funded right now. we just did that in december. we filled up the disaster disaster relief fund and the disaster loan refund. they have funds. yes, good question. and how can we be good fiscal stewards of the public's treasury and fulfill the responsibilities of the federal government? it's a delicate balance. a lot of my colleagues feel the

same. we should be paying for disaster relief. it will be part of the reconciliation discussion and debate. no one wants to leave any american who is in need in but we have a $36 trillion debt and we have to balance these needs and it's about priorities. and the federal government can and should put money away and working on deficits. we have to turn that around. you will hear thoughtful discussion and back room debate about how we can change that trajectory. it doesn't mean we are going to leave any americans without the appropriate need and supplemental disaster aid from the federal government but it has to be done. i don't have all the answers, but it is part of the

discussion. yes, sir. [indiscernible] the speaker: stay tuned on that. this is one of the things. i'm not sure there is consensus but one of the ideas out there. we don't want to play games in any way. this is not politics. we need sound public policy and we need states to have common sense. they have not done that in california and i won't relegitimate but there will be a lot of that said. "l.a. times" retracted its endorsement of the mayor of los angeles. welcome to reality. i think this is a conversation a lot of americans are going to be having and demand of congress,

real safeguards and real accountability when we send out disaster relief. this is -- we are going to look at this honestly and not political. we have to do the right thing for the people when we'll get back to you all soon. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org. >> house democratic leadership also spoke about the california wildfires and speaker johnson's comments about putting conditions on aid to the state. members commented on the transgender athlete bill that passed the u.s. house.