In a big post on X (formerly Twitter) around the time that he was voted in as Speaker of the House by far more Republicans than many initially thought would support his speakership bid in the wake of a major spending spat, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson gave three pledges for what he would do as regards spending in the future. Those were seen as a concession to the conservatives in the caucus in exchange for supporting him.
Beginning the post, Speaker Johnson noted that the American people are demanding the government get its financial act together, saying, “The American people have demanded an end to the status quo, and a return to fiscal sanity. That’s why the citizens of our great country gave President Trump the White House and Republican control of both chambers of Congress.”
He continued, noting that the debt issue is a major one and Congress has failed, severely and repeatedly, to address it satisfactorily. He said, “If we don’t follow through on our campaign promise for fiscal responsibility, we don’t deserve to hold power. The national debt is a grave threat to America’s economic and national security – and no issue exemplifies the Congress’ failures more.”
He then noted that the GOP now has an opportunity to move the needle on that issue, saying, “Republicans have a real opportunity in the next two years to make meaningful spending reforms to eliminate trillions in waste, fraud, and abuse, and end the weaponization of government. Along with advancing President Trump’s America First agenda, I will lead the House Republicans to reduce the size and scope of the federal government, hold the bureaucracy accountable, and move the United States to a more sustainable fiscal trajectory.”
That’s when he got to his pledges. Articulating them one by one, he first said, “1. Create a working group comprised of independent experts – not corrupted by lobbyists and special interests – to work with DOGE and our committees on implementing recommended government and spending reforms to protect the American taxpayer.”
Then, getting to the second, he noted that federal agencies need to be more severely reviewed and audited and that he would create a group that does so. He said, “2. Task that working group with reviewing existing audits of federal agencies and entities created by Congress – and issuing a report to my office for public release.”
Third, he said, “3. Request House committees undertake aggressive authorizations and appropriations reviews, including providing additional resources where needed, to expose irresponsible or illegal practices and hold agencies/individuals accountable that have weaponized government against the American people.”
Concluding, Speaker Johnson wrote, “If we want to restore fiscal responsibility, we must start by being transparent about the dollars that are spent, address the issues we find, and then hold those accountable who have misspent funds. Republicans have a mandate to implement the America First Agenda, and as Speaker, this will be my priority.”
Responding to Johnson’s lengthy post, senior congressional reporter for Punchbowl News Melanie Zanona wrote, commenting on the commitments looking like they were delivered in exchange for the votes of holdouts, “Right ahead of the speaker vote, Johnson lays out a list of “commitments” related to fiscal responsibility. Ppl like Spartz, Norman, etc had been asking for assurances like these.”
Watch Tucker slam Johnson here:
Featured image credit: By Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America – Mike Johnson, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=139920652
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