has a number of podcasts for you. listen to nonfiction audit -- authors on the afterwards podcast and on q&a, hear wide-ranging conversations with nonfiction authors and others who are making things happen. book notes plus episodes are weekly hour-long conversations that regularly feature fascinating authors of nonfiction books on a wide variety of topics. in the about books podcast takes you behind-the-scenes of the nonfiction book publishing industry with insider interviews, industry updates and bestsellers list. find all of our podcasts by downloading the free c-span now app or wherever you get your podcasts and on our website, c-span.org/podcast >> house republican leaders held a news conference ahead of their meeting with president donald trump at his door row florida resort near miami. house speaker johnson talked about president trump possibly shutting down fema and the impact of the president's deportations, which have already

begun. >> president trump i don't even think i finished the front nine before he successfully forced the colombian president to take back their illegal immigrants. the days of america being walks all over our long gone thanks to president trump. which brings us here today to the sunshine state, the home of the 47th president, donald j. trump. here, there is a prosperous economy. beautiful sunshine, and endless freedom. and why are we here in florida? because florida was critical in delivering a decisive victory for president trump and house republicans and tonight, we will celebrate that historic victory alongside our president. we are in a heavily hispanic area with a diverse culture.

broad and diverse coalitions that support the gop america first vision. these coalitions support our agenda because we listened and we are giving them what they want for them and their families. we put them and their families first, not illegals. we promise that if they gave us the majority, we would lower costs and make their communities safer and i am confident that president trump and house republicans will continue to listen and deliver on those promises. putting americans first. i am so excited to work with the president. chairman hudson, and many others to grow our majority. i will now turn it over to our fearless chairman. >> you don't have to say another one. >> thank you so much.

i want to thank the chairwoman for hosting this event. thank you to speaker johnson. it is great to be here with all of you. the weather here is wonderful. over the next few days, will be indoors, laying out our vision and our plans for 2026 and i can tell you the nrc rcc house republicans, we are going to be on offense. we are off to a strong start, delivering for the american people. passing important bills like the legislation to support women's sports and the lincoln riley act. we will hold democrats accountable for their out of touch votes. this last election, more americans voted for a republican for the house of representatives. in fact, we won the largest share of the popular vote that we have won since 1928's over 100 years.

republicans won the popular vote at every level and president donald trump won all of the swing states yet thanks to democrat gerrymandering in states like illinois and new mexico and a midcycle redraw in new york, we still hold a slim majority. despite the media narrative and an historic election cycle, house republicans retain our majority. we flipped five seats with strong candidates who were a great fit for their districts as well as the three seats we netted in north carolina. youth hispanic, former police officer, former army helicopter pilot, ran on a law and order platform in a district that is racked with internal deaths and crime. tom barrett, also an army helicopter pilot and successful state legislator, won a seat in michigan and then our two candidates in pennsylvania. we are ready to do it again and it is a simple strategy.

we are going to go on offense. there are 13 democrats who won seats donald trump carried in only three republicans holding seats at kamala harris. so the battlefield was laid out for us to our advantage so we are going to deliver for the american people. and then we are going to hold the democrats accountable if they do not vote for the agenda of the american will want to see past and i am looking forward to growing this majority in 2026. at this point, i will recognize our host. >> thank, chairman. mr. speaker. first and foremost, i know you guys are really upset that we are here and not in d.c. this community is a very diverse community, a community that understands the evils of socialism. it is a community that understands that this is the greatest country in the history of humanity but we have got to

keep it that way. and what we have seen in florida is a transformation of hispanics, non-hispanics, everybody in this state realizing now what most of america realize, that the politics of the left have been destructive, the politics of the democrats do not work, that they bring disaster. they bring poverty, they bring insecurity, and they do not bring prosperity. and so florida, i think, south florida, is a great example of that. let me just take you back a few years. 1990 four, florida was known as, what, number one in violent crime in the country, yes. florida. the state legislature raised taxes every single year and it was rated as not a great place to own a business or start a new business. what happened?

for the first time in 120 two consecutive years of democratic control in the state legislature, the florida senate flipped in florida has never looked back again. the people of florida saved themselves and now, we are known as the free state of florida, the prosperous, secure, wonderful place to do business, to raise a family, a place where the world wants to come to not only vacation but to live in the world and the country wants to -- that is because of republican leadership. and the hispanic community in this state has been learning that time and time again. ronald reagan used to say that hispanics are republicans and they just don't know it. guess what? in florida, they know it and they are voting that way. they are acting that way which is why this is no longer a swing state. welcome.

welcome. i am under the weather because i come unlike you, was out in the miserable weather in d.c. last week. it is great to be home. i welcome each and every one of you. to you and the leadership team and to our colleagues, i hope you know what a profound honor it is to have the president of the united states here. but also have you in this group of leaders here to solve america's issues together and get the america first agenda turned into reality so thank you for being here. it is a privilege to welcome you to the great city. >> thank you. mario, thanks for hosting us and thanks to all of you. we are so grateful to be here. it is good to be in this free state of florida. i am a little under the weather as well. i think we all are. it was a long inaugural week. we had louisiana's annual mardi gras celebration right on the heels so four more days of that. my poor wife was dragged to nine

calls in a week and you're still recovering but we are glad to be here and really, really grateful that the new golden age of america has begun. it is an exciting time for the country. you all felt it, those of you who came from washington. the atmosphere has changed in washington and we are feeling that around the country. i came down to florida and was meeting with friends of the party and donors and folks in south florida and they feel it here just as we do all around the country. something has changed because there is a new sheriff in town and we are excited because we have unified government. we have president trump back in the white house. the work began the day after inauguration. i was summoned there early in the morning on tuesday and i met vice president jd vance and john thune in the senate, my counterpart, and we went to work immediately. we sat with the president for hours and brought in our leadership teams who work so hard to achieve this moment that we have now, unifying government

to fix the country. and all of that work has begun in earnest. we did leave it all on the field. all the house republicans worked so hard to ensure we kept our majority in the house. we believed we would get the majority in the senate. we believed we would return president trump back to the white house and it happened but we all traveled endlessly and worked endlessly. i did over 350 campaign events in 40 states and not enough miles to circle the globe 5.5 times. i keep saying that because i cannot believe it myself but that is what was necessary and we got the job done so now, we have to deliver on this agenda. everything has changed. you have seen that the president has accomplished more in his first week in office than joe biden did in four years and everyone is talking about it. the democratic party is in disarray. they have no obvious leader, vision, or agenda. their platform has to be rewritten whole cloth and they don't know how they will wander in this wilderness for the next couple of years.

it will be four years at least and then more because we are going to win and grow the house majority in 2026. historically, when the president takes the oval office, his party loses a number of seats in the house in the first midterm. that won't happen this time around because there has been a seachange and we will deliver on this agenda and that begins now so we are here for three days at president trump's beautiful club here. we all enjoy the time. we will be working the whole time and we will not get to enjoy much of it but that is by design. we will be in the long sessions with the house republicans, working through the agenda. you heard talking about the proverbial playbook we developed over the last year leading up to this moment and we knew what would happen and now, we are working out the final sequence so big decisions will be made in the next few days and we will align with the senate and our colleagues there and move forward on that agenda. the reconciliation process, the appropriations we have to wrap up, and the other issues so all

the republicans are rolling their sleeves up. there is a lot of work being done and there has been a lot of work done behind the scenes to lead us to this point and we are excited to deliver for the american people and we will. a lot is happening. most recently -- i'm sure there will be a question or two about columbia, the events of the last 36 hours. i think that was a signal. when the president engaged with the president of columbia about the situation there, come -- columbia did an about-face and decided they would cooperate and take back their citizens who came here illegally. violent criminals from other nations will be the first to be deported and countries must participate and as soon as columbia pushed back against the white house, i went immediately to social media. i was here in florida, meeting with donors and party officials and stepped out of that meeting and said the congress will

backup the white house and we will move as necessary on any country -- this was a message to columbia and anyone else, you have to participate. you have to take back your illegals who came here that come from your country and if not, then we will act and we will engage with sanctions or any other measures that are appropriate to back up the president's agenda. that is what the american people demand and deserve. we are going to secure that board and make america safe and secure again and congress will have no daylight between us and the white house on the issue so every nation around the world needs to hear us loud and clearly. this is not a game. we are going to take care of the american people. i will take a few questions. go ahead. >> one of the things you had to deal with is -- [indiscernible] the president said on friday that he insisted -- condition for aid. is that going to be a redline for you?

>> yes, we have got to work out the details. i have not spoken to the president about that issue since he said that. he will be here tonight for dinner with us and that is one of the topics of discussion. there are a lot of issues going on in california and we have been lamenting the lack of voter security for some time, election security. we were deeply concerned about it in this last election cycle and we saw three of our seats slip away from us in the weeks it took to continue in california when seemingly every other nation in america could get it done. it is inexcusable. gavin newsom provides a thing such a lack of leadership and -- in so many ways and it was highlighted by the disaster with the fires. it is so hard-working that california citizens are suffering because of a lack of state and local leadership on those issues. they did not manage the water well and everyone knew for decades that the eventuality that we have seen over the last couple of weeks since the fire disasters began was foreseeable.

they assumed the risk because of their crazy far left policies so we talked about conditioning the aid that will go there to policy changes. i think that is a common sense notion that is supported by the vast majority of the american people who do not want to subsidize crazy california leftist policies that are dangerous for people. what the terms are and the details of that, we will be working out but entwined in all of that is the concern about election security in california. voter id is a matter that comports with common sense. most american people see the value in it. over here. >> he does not have -- to negotiate. the second question is whether -- [indiscernible] going to receive members and

fell from the united. >> looked, i'm not going to get ahead of the president with regards to negotiations with venezuela or el salvador or any other country. i will just say that we will be dealing with this in the same manner as we did columbia. every nation around the world that venezuela is a good example. i mean, president trump noted that they opened their prisons and sent very dangerous persons to the u.s. and that is not acceptable. the biden administration opened the border wide and subjected the american people to all of these terrible -- it is a humanitarian catastrophe and a violent crisis for the american people and it must be addressed so president trump, you have seen that he will have a heavy hand and we will support him on that regardless of who stands up against him. go ahead. yes.

>> we have seen the inspectors general today. saying perhaps it should not even exist. is that a legal action? >> i have some expertise with fema from the louisiana. we are a disaster prone state and we have a lot of experience with that. in my experience, it is often the case that local workers and people who are working through fema do a pretty good job but often, it is the leadership at the top that can affect the outcome of how a disaster is handled. there has been a lot of frustration of course over the last four years without fema has been handled and i think the president's right to assess that. i think we are entering a new hero government and that is when the president says he wants to make the government more effective and we say we want to limit the size and scope of government, it means everything is on the table for reevaluation. this is a new moment for us to

reevaluate everything the federal government does and fema is in the crosshairs -- pardon the expression, because they are the microscope, because these disasters are front and center for the country to review and so i think that the task force the president set up by the executive order is an appropriate step and that is long overdue. it will be a 180 day evaluation with very smart people in the room who have a lot of experience in dealing with fema and i very much look forward to the outcome of that issue. i will tell you, from my perspective, the state of louisiana having a lot of experience with this, we have the governor's office of homeland security and emergency preparedness and they do an extraordinary job on a state level. they are very responsive to the people and our people are resilient and they look to the state officials to handle that. fema has been a partner but they probably could be a better partner so we are going to withhold the final judgment on what the analysis is from that group. i think the timing for that is important and we support the president's initiative,

obviously 100%, and we will assist from the house in any way we can to contribute to that effort. the president will, my understanding is he will be replacing those positions with new persons and sometimes, you need a fresh look. we want to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse in every way possible. inspector general's, when they are working on all cylinders and to their top level of effectiveness, they can be a huge part of that. i think the president appreciates that but sometimes, you have to have -- you know, begin a new page and start with a fresh start and maybe some new eyes and voices will be appropriate at this time. scott. scott. scott. >> [indiscernible]

>> i don't think so. you heard tom say very clearly the worst are first in what he means by that is dangerous, violent criminals, and we know who they are, you have already seen them being rounded up and deported. that is the top and first priority of the federal government. i'm glad we have a new secretary. think kristi noem will do an extraordinary job in that position and all the people that are being lined up have a very -- they are very clear i'd about what is -- eyed about what is required and what they voted for in the election. they gave president donald trump a mandate to fix this problem and no matter where i went around the country, blue states,

red states, everywhere in between. they are counting on us and the administration and the congress for that matter to back it up to get control of the situation and that is what is going to happen and i think everybody can take a deep breath and let this play out. we are going to restore law and order at any cost. it is a very simple thing. >> [indiscernible] >> when we get back, the budget committee will be -- the first week of february is the plan. marking the budget to set the resolution to begin and unlock and reopen the reconciliation process and that will be where the lion's share of these campaign promises that we made are fulfilled and that is what all the hard work here in the rooms, all of us negotiating and coming to consensus with one another on the terms of that, why that is so important. we will get all the republicans together on the consensus and put forward that bill that will check those boxes and make sure we are doing right for the american people.

the president has already begun. everything he started for the first seven days, he already started removing dangerous illegal aliens and standing up to terrorists, unleashing american energy, putting an end to the di and gender ideology madness. that is in seven days and we are just getting started and you are going to see so much of this codified in our legislative agenda and we will get the appropriations going on the reconciliation going. it is going to be a very busy first 100 days so you are all going to have to work as hard as we did. i am glad you are here. >> [indiscernible] >> i am not going to predict the outcome. first of all, which tariffs will be enacted and how it will affect prices, we will have to see. i think you are seeing a

measured approach by the president. tariffs will be part of the policy agenda from the white house. all of that, he said to us, will be in the executive branch and not the legislative branch so they will have unilateral authority over it but i think he will be wise in how he does that. i don't think you will see across the board tariffs in whole countries or industries. i think he's going to deal with the unfairness we see out on the world stage. china for example is a terrible trading partner. they abuse the system and steal our intellectual property. they are now trying to get a leg up on us in ais you have seen. it is a serious threat to us and our economy and security in every way so the president takes that seriously and i think that he will deal with that in an appropriate manner. we are free-trade advocates but as the president often reminds all of us, fair trade and we simply do not have that with some of the allies and adversaries we have

around the world so president trump will be the great equalizer. thank you all for being here. we will be talking with you in the next couple of days. >> [indiscernible] >> you want to address that? ok. listen, he did an about-face very quickly and that was appropriate and if you want to send his own presidential plane to pick up his folks, welcome that. it saves american taxpayers money. we think that is a great thing and i think other foreign leaders should send their presidential planes and pick up there folks who don't belong here. we are happy to send them back so i think it is a good trip. thank you. >> good to see you all