Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Johnson (LA-04)
WASHINGTON — This morning, at the first weekly House Republican Leadership press conference of 2026, Speaker Johnson discussed yesterday’s House Republican kickoff policy summit, Congressional Democrats in disarray over the ousting of Nicolas Maduro, and the constitutionality of the Trump Administration’s successful actions in Venezuela. Speaker Johnson also addressed the tragic passing of Congressman Doug LaMalfa.
“Every Democrat, remember this too, voted for record tax increases, while every Republican voted for record tax cuts and refunds to the people,” Speaker Johnson said. “And we hope everybody remembers that simple fact the next time the Democrats start talking about trying to make life more affordable and all this. There’s only one party actually doing that, it’s the Republican Party.”
Watch Speaker Johnson’s full remarks here.
On the House Republican Agenda 250 policy forum:
We began our fateful year yesterday, as I mentioned with the Agenda 250 policy forum. It was very efficacious, very productive. Nearly every member of the conference attended, very beneficial time that we had together. And the team behind me is ready to hit the ground running, to continue delivering on our mandate. And all of our members are committed to that. There’s a great sense of unity in the House Republican Conference. I think I can say, unlike I’ve ever seen before, resolve, locked arm in arm, understanding what’s ahead of us, what we need to continue to accomplish, and we’re bullish about doing that.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said a lot over the holiday about what we’re to anticipate in the new year. He’s echoing some of the things that we have been saying and feeling when our constituents are already beginning to feel. In one of these interviews, he said, “2025 merely set the table. The feast and the banquet will be in 2026. It’s going to be a blockbuster year.” And I think he’s exactly right. Our Working Families Tax Cuts, the big beautiful bill, those provisions will hit American households and wallets, and you’re going to see all boats begin to rise. And while Democrats continue to wither, Republicans will continue to demonstrate that we are the only team capable of restoring American greatness. We don’t just talk about it, we do it. And you know, it’s our legislation; if it was not for these bills, let’s not forget, American families would have experienced the largest, most crushing tax increase in the history of the country in 2026, all those Trump-era tax cuts would’ve expired, and we’d have had $5 trillion of taxes just descend upon all families in this country. We stopped that and we turned it back the other direction. Thanks to the Working Families Tax Cuts, that will be avoided completely. All American families are going to receive the largest tax refund they ever have. And that all begins very soon here. Every Democrat, remember this too, voted for record tax increases, while every Republican voted for record tax cuts and refunds to the people. And we hope everybody remembers that simple fact the next time the Democrats start talking about trying to make life more affordable and all this. There’s only one party actually doing that, it’s the Republican Party.
On Democrats being in disarray over the ousting of Nicolas Maduro:
I want to make one more point about our meeting yesterday, both House Republicans and House Democrats, as you might have noted, held closed door conference wide meetings this week. House Republicans discussed how we can continue to drive down costs for working families, make our streets and neighborhoods safe again, and restore American dominance on all fronts. And meanwhile, by contrast, what were the House Democrats doing? They held an emergency meeting to determine how to think about the successful ousting of an illegitimate narco-terrorist dictator who killed dissidents, poisoned Americans, and plunged 90% of his country into abject poverty. Nicolas Maduro, who the Biden administration placed a $25 million bounty on, is no longer terrorizing the people of Venezuela anymore….They understand this as acutely as anybody. But because the action was taken by President Trump, Democrats are apoplectic. They claim they didn’t like Maduro either. But because President Trump took action, as was noted earlier, they’re now critical of it. They’re going to cut off their own nose to spite their face. This is the modern Democrat Party. Instead of a caucus wide therapy session, how about Democrats acknowledge that it’s fundamentally good thing for freedom loving people around the world that Maduro is gone?
On the Trump Administration’s actions in Venezuela:
The U.S. military operation in Venezuela was decisive and justified. Nicolas Maduro was responsible for the deaths of Americans after years of trafficking illegal drugs and violent cartel members into this country. And this is undisputed, and everybody knows it. These are crimes for which he’s been properly indicted in a U.S. court, and an arrest warrant was duly issued. And now he has learned what accountability looks like under President Trump. The U.S. is no longer going to allow criminal regimes to profit from wreaking havoc and destruction on our country. That’s what the American people voted for. They wanted to return to the rule of law and sanity at the border, and they wanted this kind of nonsense and dangerous activity to stop. Republicans are putting Americans first and succeeding where others have failed. The operation demonstrated the unmatched precision, effectiveness, professionalism, and capacity of the U.S. military. There’s no fighting force on the planet capable of doing what we can do. And you should sleep well at night knowing that you live under the blanket of that protection.
Our brave military was in and out of Venezuela and two and a half hours, and there wasn’t a single American casualty. It’s really something that everybody should respect and applaud. And because I’m sure you’ll have questions. Let me be clear, the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war. There’s no dispute about that, of course, but we are not in a war in Venezuela. The Constitution also vests the President with the power as Commander in Chief, that he can use to deploy military forces to address threats to the U.S. and enforce our laws. And that’s exactly what happened here. The War Powers Act that is cited by Democrats, it only requires notification to Congress within 48 hours of the initiation of hostilities. That does not require prior approval. And they properly notified Congress. I mentioned publicly, Secretary Rubio called me at 4:00 AM to notify the Speaker of the House of what was taking place and why. By the way, they submitted that to us in writing. They checked all the boxes of everything they were supposed to do, despite the claims by some of my colleagues. Under the War Powers Act, there’s just not a requirement that they do anything else.
On the tragic passing of Congressman Doug LaMalfa:
We woke up yesterday as it’s been mentioned this morning, to very tragic news. Our dear friend and colleague, Doug LaMalfa, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 65. We were on the way into our gathering, our retreat that we had planned for policy planning strategy purposes, and I quite literally found out about it on the way in, and it really shook us. Doug was a great man. He really was, truly a great man. He was a lifelong resident of Northern California and deeply loved the people he represented. He was a fierce fighter, as you’ve heard for his state, its vast natural resources and its beauty and the people he represented. And there are stories coming out from his constituents about how dedicated he was to the people he served, and how in that vast area of Northern California that he covered, he would drive hundreds of miles to go meet with just a handful of constituents. People would ask him about the wisdom of being on the road so much. And he said, I represent them just as much as I do the people in the big city, and they deserve to have their rep. And we just love that, that spirit about him.
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