WASHINGTON – House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that Republicans are “ready to deliver” President-elect Donald Trump's agenda after his election victory, insisting the GOP won't make the mistakes of last time and will be much better prepared for a second-term Trump White House.
Standing on the steps of the U.S. Capitol with the House GOP leadership team, the speaker said there would be no time wasted before work begins on Trump's “America First” agenda of securing the southern border, projecting strength on the world stage and ending “wokeness and radical gender ideology.” He expects Republicans will lead a unified government, even though House control is still too early to call.
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“We are ready to deliver on America's mandate,” said Johnson.
“We will be ready day one. We are prepared this time.”
With the Capitol as a backdrop, he said, “We’re going to raise an ‘America First’ banner above this place."
Trump will meet with Johnson at the Capitol on Wednesday while the president-elect is in town for his visit to the White House, and Johnson said he will be spending the weekend with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida as they prepare for the new year.
Congress returned Tuesday to a changed Washington as Trump’s hard-right agenda is quickly taking shape, buoyed by eager Republican allies eyeing a full sweep of power on Capitol Hill while Democrats are sorting out what went wrong.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who saw his party's control of the chamber vanquished by Republicans, said the election wasn't what many Democrats had hoped for, but he would speak with Trump soon.
"We should regard this election not merely as a defeat, but more importantly as a challenge,” he said.
Even as final election results are still being tallied, the House and Senate leadership is pushing ahead toward a second-term Trump White House and what he's called a mandate for governing, with mass deportations, industry deregulation and wholesale reductions in the federal government.
Trump is already testing the norms of governance during this presidential transition period — telling the Senate to forgo its advise-and-consent role and simply allow recess appointments of his Cabinet nominees — and he is staffing his administration and finding lawmakers willing to bend those civic traditions.
“Trump’s going to deliver his deportations, the drilling, the wall — it’s going to take all of us getting together,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a conservative member of the House Freedom Caucus.
But first, the House and Senate leaders will hold internal party elections this week for their own jobs. Most of the top Republican leaders depend on Trump for their political livelihoods and have worked to draw closer to the president-elect to shore up loyalty.
In the Senate, the leadership race to replace outgoing GOP Leader Mitch McConnell is turning into a test of Trump loyalties, with the president-elect’s allies — including billionaire Elon Musk and Make America Great Again influencers — pushing the senators to elect Sen. Rick Scott of Florida.
But Scott has not been the most popular candidate for the leadership post, and senators had been rallying around the two “Johns” — Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranking GOP leader, and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.
All three Republican senators vying to replace McConnell have rushed to agree with Trump’s plan for quick confirmation of presidential nominees. The outcome of Wednesday’s private balloting behind closed doors is highly uncertain.
In the House, Johnson wants to retain the speaker’s gavel and told colleagues in a letter last week he is ready to “take the field” with them to deliver on Trump’s agenda. But he is expected to face detractors behind closed doors.
While Johnson only needs a simple majority during Wednesday’s private voting to become the GOP nominee to be speaker, he will need a 218-member majority in January during a floor vote of the whole House.
A low vote total this week would show the leverage Freedom Caucus members and others have to pry concessions from Johnson, much as they forced then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy into a prolonged vote for the gavel in 2023.
Johnson’s troubles stem in part from his slim numbers, which are narrowing as Trump taps House Republicans to fill his administration. Trump has already asked Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to be ambassador to the United Nations and Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., to be his national security adviser.
The speaker said he doesn't expect more departures and Trump “fully understands and appreciates the math here.”
All told, it’s a fundamental reshaping of not only the power centers in Washington, but the rules of governing, as Trump returns to the White House in January with a potential GOP-led Congress that is far less skeptical or wary of his approach than eight years ago, and much more willing to back him.
“This is going to be a very challenging time,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
She described the “horrific immigration policies” that Trump promised voters and she insisted the progressives in Congress will provide an “effective check” on the new White House, much the way Democrats did during his first term by fighting efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and other policies.
At the same time, Jayapal warned Trump will have “many fewer restrictions."
First tests will come during the “lame duck” period of the remaining days of this Congress, the eight-week sprint until Jan. 3, 2025, when the new lawmakers are sworn into office.
In the weeks ahead, Congress faces another deadline, Dec. 20, to fund the federal government or risk a shutdown, and conservatives are redoubling their pressure on Johnson not to cave on their demands to slash spending.
The House and Senate also will consider replenishing the Disaster Relief Fund to help provide aid in the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
And with President Joe Biden preparing to exit and Democrats relinquishing their hold on the Senate, there will be pressure to confirm more judicial nominees and to usher out the door any other bills that could possibly become law before Trump takes over.
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Farnoush Amiri, Mary Clare Jalonick and Stephen Groves contributed to this report.