Today, on the first day of the 119th Congress, the House of Representatives voted to reelect Speaker Mike Johnson on the first ballot to continue serving as the 56th Speaker of the House. Following his election, Speaker Johnson delivered remarks on the House floor.
Here's the video; you can read his remarks below it:
Thank you, Leader Jeffries, and all of our treasured colleagues here in the House.
I’m grateful for this nomination, I’m grateful for this election, and for the confidence this chamber has placed in me. It is the great honor of my life to serve this body with all of you.
Of course, these are difficult days in our home state of Louisiana where I come from. We all know about the terrorist attack in New Orleans, it’s really shaken our state. People are reeling from that attack that took the lives of 14 innocent people and injured dozens more.
I want to begin appropriately today, if we could, I’d ask that you all would please join me in a moment of silence for the victims of this horrific act.
I believe in giving honor where honor is due, and all of us do well to honor our spouses. My wife happens to be here this time, she didn’t make it last time. It happened a little sudden.
We have our four children here – Hannah, Abby, Jack, and Will. All of us recognize there are no perks to being a Congressman’s kid. It’s all sacrifice, and our spouses put up with so much; endless hours and travel and all the responsibilities upon us, and we’re good to remind them how important they are to us and how we couldn’t do the job without them.
This is a momentous time in the history of our nation. As members of the 119th Congress, we are stewards of the great American Revolution that began 250 years ago—in 1775 and 1776. It will fall in the time of this Congress, the great anniversary.
In these two and half centuries, we have been reminded repeatedly that freedom is never free.
And we have stood tall as the greatest nation on the face of the Earth. It is without debate —the freest, most powerful, most benevolent people in the history of the world. It’s not by happenstance.
We are the ones who settled the West, we are the ones who ended slavery, laid the transcontinental railroad, gave women the right to vote, won two world wars, who landed on the Moon, and won the Cold War.
Throughout our history, we have done what no one thought was possible. Still, at 250 years old, our nation is actually a young nation.
This past fall, I had an opportunity to go to the G7 speakers meeting. It was held in Italy. It's the only international trip I took as Speaker over the last 14 months because I didn't have time to do it. But it was a quick three-day jaunt.
I met with my colleagues, the Speakers of the other parliaments, the great governments around the world. And we talked about that, how really special America is, how unique we are in our place on the globe, and how important it is for us to maintain that.
And as I talked to these colleagues from around the world, I thought, our closest allies, you know, who recognize how important we are, how important this body, this House is.
I thought about how is it that such a young country has become the so exceptional—so singular in its importance—that today stands as the world’s leader in liberty, economy, and culture?
100 years ago, President Calvin Coolidge answered that very question in his inaugural address. He said: “We best serve our own country, and most successfully discharge our obligations to humanity, by continuing to be openly and candidly, intensely, and scrupulously… American.”
Today, my friends, our nation is the envy of the world. Why? Because we have been marked by a spirit and a people who are explicitly that: we are explicitly American.
We don’t try to be like other nations, and we recognize that a strong America is good for the entire world. And everybody around the globe knows that.
We also recognize that the core principles that made America what we are, must still be preserved today. I call them the seven core principles of American conservatism but it’s really the seven core principles of America itself. Individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets, human dignity. These are the ingredients, the things who made us what we are.
In America, we know that human flourishing is best achieved by adherence to time-tested truths. We could list a number of those simple truths, here’s a couple: It’s better to give a hand-up, not a hand-out; that innovation thrives when bureaucracy dies; and that parents – not administrators – must be in charge of their children’s education.
The path of prosperity has long been paved with policies that put America and Americans first. And that is what we will champion in the 119th Congress. We have a mandate that was shown in the election cycle. The American people want an America first agenda. Sadly, for the past four years of divided government, too many politicians in Washington have done the opposite.
Open borders and over-regulation have destroyed our cities and stifled innovation. Inflation and weak leadership have left Americans poorer and they placed our country in a perilous position.
But in recent months, we have witnessed something happening, something that’s really remarkable. A political moment in modern history. A groundswell of Americans from every state, race, and religion who now demand that we put the interests of Americans first again. And we will.
This is a powerful new coalition of our country, it’s a coalition that insists that we purge the policies of “America last” and we bury them in the graveyard of history’s mistakes.
To that end, this Congress will renounce the status quo, and we will listen to the voices of the people.
We will act quickly, and we will start by defending our nation’s borders. That’s the number one priority.
In coordination with President Trump, this Congress will give our border and immigration enforcement agents the resources that they need to do their job.
We will secure the border. We will deport dangerous criminal illegal aliens, and finally finish building the border wall.
You said you’d work with us on that Hakeem, I’m counting on it.
And after four years of high inflation, we have a big agenda, and we have a lot to do and we can do it in a bipartisan fashion. We can fight high inflation, and we must.
We will give relief to Americans, and we will extend the Trump tax cuts.
We’re going to protect our industries from one-sided trade deals and we’re going to bring overseas investments back to America’s shores.
We’ll defeat the harmful effects of inflation, and we’ll make life affordable again for America’s hardworking people.
As leaders of a nation with vast natural resources that God has blessed us with, it’s our duty to restore America’s energy dominance. And that’s what we’ll do.
We have to apply commonsense, and we have to stop the attacks on liquefied natural gas and pass legislation to eliminate funding for the Green New Deal.
We’re going to expedite new drilling permits. We’re going to save the jobs of our auto manufacturers and we’re going to do that by ending the ridiculous EV mandates.
And as heirs to the American Revolution and the descendants of the Patriots who defied tyranny…in the coming months, we’re going to pass legislation to roll back the totalitarian, fourth branch of government known as the administrative state.
We’re going to drastically cut the size and scope of government. We’re going to return the power back to the people. And in coordination with President Trump and his administration, we’re going to create a leaner, faster, and more efficient federal workforce. We need to do that.
Our people do not deserve to be ruled by millions of bureaucrats they’ve never voted for, never met, and can never hold accountable. They deserve a government that is led by those they’ve elected to lead. That is how Article One is supposed to work. That was the idea of the Congress and we will return to that principle.
The American people have called on us to reject business as usual and throw out the status quo. We must and we will heed their call.
This is especially important as it comes to our nation’s military.
For too long the Washington establishment has sought to appease and accommodate our nation’s adversaries. They have tried to replace our military warriors with social justice warriors. It does not work.
And while we are still the most powerful fighting force in the history of the world by God’s grace — the same establishment has eroded the capacities of our Army and Navy and diminished the readiness of our Air Force. We have to put an end to this madness.
My friends and my colleagues, I think we should all unite in this idea. It’s now time to reinstate fear in our enemies, refocus our mission on lethality, and realign our commitment to peace through strength right now.
We have to prioritize the things that matter most. We have to make adequate investments in defense. This is the most dangerous moment since World War II. And everyone around the world is looking to America and looking to this body to ensure that we maintain the peace.
What we’re proposing now is simply as President Trump likes to say a return to common sense. And he’s exactly right.
That message resonated across the country. I am very thankful, personally that this very body is filled with men and women who are committed to that change, to return to common sense.
We can do this together. We should. It is our responsibility to do so.
When I first took this gavel, many of you heard me say that I don’t believe in luck or coincidence. I believe in the idea of providence.
This morning I participated with many of you early this morning in the 119th Congress interfaith prayer service. It was held at St. Peter's Catholic Church. Many of you were there.
It was an ecumenical service, in a bipartisan service, which was great. My good friend Hakeem Jeffries, began by reading with the Old Testament. He read out of Deuteronomy 10.
Then I was asked to provide a prayer for the nation. I offered one that is quite familiar to historians and probably many of us. It said right here in the program, it says right under my name, ‘it is said each day of his eight years of the presidency, and every day thereafter until his death, President Thomas Jefferson recited this prayer.’
I wanted to share it with you here at the end of my remarks. Not as a prayer per se right now, but really as a reminder of what our third President and the primary author of the Declaration of Independence thought was so important that it should be a daily recitation.
Let me just read you that prayer. It it goes like this, Thomas Jefferson's prayer for the nation It's entitled: Almighty God who has given us this good land for our heritage. We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves, that people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will bless our land with honorable ministry, sound learning and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties and fashion into one united people, the multitude brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues endow with thy spirit of wisdom, those whom in thy name, we entrust the authority of government. That there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the Earth. In times of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail, of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. That was Thomas Jefferson's prayer.
We will not fail. We cannot fail. We are all in this together. Our nation is counting on us to band together and solve these problems and get this done.
I’ve said before that I believe that God has elevated each of you to your positions of leadership, and it’s an act of providence that you all have been placed in your specific roles, in this specific moment, at this historic time —at this 250-year inflection point of the greatest nation in the history of the world. It is no small thing.
We are also witnesses to the providence that spared President Trump from the assassin’s bullet, remarkable as that was—and to the new coalition of Americans that has risen from every creed, color, and cul-de-sac, who want us to put America First.
Our people are asking for a thriving economy, a rebuilt middle class, strong borders, and a strong military. And we can deliver that.
See, these objectives and these aims don’t have an “R” or “D” behind them — only U-S-A. That’s what we’re about.
In just a few minutes, we’re all going to take an oath – the same one oath, for one nation, and under the banner of one great American flag.
This is an opportunity for us to protect our shared American heritage, to maintain the conditions needed for self-government, and to defend what Hakeem said earlier — the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Working together, we have the potential to be one of the most consequential Congresses in the history of this great nation, so long as we work together, we do the right thing, and we put America First.
As we think about all we’ve accomplished in the past 250 years, we can only imagine what life will be like 250 years from now.
Whatever the future may look like, if we do our jobs now, we can help ensure that our civic virtues will endure. That this nation will still be an example to all the world for its greatness and its example of self-government.
And that, in spite of our great challenges---and even our disagreements and our healthy debates--- this extraordinary institution, the People’s House, will still be standing strong.
Thank you all, and God bless America.
