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NewsTranscript
00:00Heads up. Heads up.
00:16So good morning, everybody.
00:18I first want to start off by praising Congresswoman Elise Stefan.
00:24Her work ethic and commitment will help us deliver President Trump's agenda and the American people's agenda.
00:34And we look forward to what she brings to the table.
00:39Now, let's briefly recap the weekend and discuss what we're working on this week.
00:44The fake town halls hosted by the Democrats are, quite frankly, pretty sad.
00:50Constituents are being deceived by the Democrats.
00:54Democrats actually should be ashamed of their tactics.
00:58And instead of holding town halls in their district, they've decided to not speak to their constituents, which they should be speaking to their constituents.
01:08They are causing confusion with others and hosting these fake town halls, yelling at a chair that nobody occupies.
01:18The Democrats, however, have found their vision.
01:22The Democrats have found their leader.
01:25And the Democrats—oh wait, no, April Fool's. I forgot it was April Fool's today. That was my attempt at an April Fool's joke.
01:32We know the Democrats have no vision, no message, and no leader.
01:35They're still lost. They're still out of touch.
01:39And they are still hell-bent on fighting against personalities, not the policies.
01:45Notice they don't fight on the policies. They fight the personality and they attack the person.
01:50But that's what you do when you're not winning on the issues.
01:54We keep giving the Democrats opportunities to join us on these common-sense legislation.
02:02And they will actually have two more opportunities to join us this week.
02:06A single judge should not have the authority to unilaterally issue rulings that affect the entire nation.
02:25Left-leaning judges are trying to stall President Trump's efforts to fulfill the American people's mandate.
02:35House Republicans are restoring balance to the judicial system.
02:41Standing up for integrity of our constitutional system.
02:47And upholding the checks and balances that safeguard our democracy.
02:52One of the most crucial safeguards of our democracy is our electoral system.
02:58An electoral system Americans have actually lost trust in.
03:04Because Biden helped more than 10 million illegal immigrants enter into our country.
03:11And he didn't do anything to ensure these illegal immigrants weren't voting in our elections.
03:19It's common sense that only U.S. citizens should participate in our election process.
03:28That's why House Republicans will pass the SAVE Act.
03:32We want to restore trust in America's election system and protect the ballot box.
03:40House Republicans are making America secure by passing the SAVE Act.
03:46If Democrats vote against this common-sense bill, and I assure you they will, you should ask them these questions in the hallway.
03:57Ask them, why do they want illegal aliens to vote in our election system?
04:04Why do they refuse to protect Americans' constitutional right to vote?
04:11Why are they opposed to securing our elections?
04:16Interesting questions.
04:17Why do they stand against the American people's mandate?
04:22I'll save you some time.
04:24They don't have an answer, because they're lost with no leader, no plan, and no vision.
04:31All they want to do is fight against our personalities.
04:37Now, I will turn it over to freshman rep, Attorney General Derek Schmidt, from the great state of Kansas, to give us his perspective.
04:55Thank you, Chairman McClain, and thank you all for coming out this morning.
04:57My name is Derek Schmidt, and I'm glad to be with you today.
05:00We have a couple of bills on the floor this week that I want to offer some perspective on.
05:05First, with respect to Representative Issa's bill, the Mill Road Ruins bill, the Nationwide Injunctions bill,
05:11I do think it's important to stay focused on what we are debating.
05:15We're debating the universe of remedies that are available to a single district court judge
05:22when a plaintiff walks into the courtroom and asks them to disable some federal action,
05:27either federal law, a federal regulation, or a federal action by a federally elected official like the President of the United States.
05:34We are not debating whether people who are aggrieved can walk into court and seek redress for themselves.
05:40We are not debating whether a district judge has the ability to resolve a case or controversy properly brought in front of them.
05:48But this notion that a litigant seeking relief for themselves can walk into any district court in the country where they have standing
05:55and ask a judge, and perhaps other litigants similarly coordinated and situated can go into a different district court and ask a judge,
06:02and another in a different district court and ask another judge,
06:05and only one of those district court judges has to find a sufficient basis to enter an injunction
06:11that applies nationwide grants relief to all of those litigants in every court
06:15and stops the actions of the President of the United States or the federal actor or a newly enacted federal law or regulation,
06:21that is an extraordinary power.
06:23And that's why it's been used sparingly throughout most of our history.
06:26It's a relatively new concept in the past half century or so.
06:29I think the second Bush administration faced about half a dozen of those.
06:33The number is very little because the definition is very little, but Harvard suggests half a dozen.
06:37There were 12 in the Obama administration.
06:39There were something like 70 in the first Trump administration.
06:42It got down to 14 under Biden.
06:44Now we've had at least 15 so far in the first two months of this Trump administration.
06:48It is an extraordinary remedy that is being abused.
06:52And so it's time for Congress to step in if the courts won't do it and restore balance so that this rare tool is, in fact, used sparingly.
07:01And that's exactly what this bill does.
07:03With respect to the SAVE Act, which also will be on the floor this week,
07:06I have some experience, perhaps a bit unique.
07:09I was Attorney General of Kansas when we were in a position of our state having enacted a nearly identical statute,
07:15the first in the country that adopted a different acronym for it.
07:18But it was the same thing, Documentary Proof of Citizenship, at the time of first registering the vote.
07:24It was interesting because at the time that was adopted in Kansas almost 15 years ago now,
07:28it was a broadly bipartisan measure.
07:31It was supported overwhelmingly in our legislature.
07:33It was supported by Democrat leadership in the legislature.
07:36And then, for some reason, folks in the other party had to change their part.
07:40They turned on it.
07:41They became bitter opponents and actually wound up backing the litigants who challenged it in court.
07:46We defended that all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, which denied cert in the case.
07:51We didn't handle the case all along.
07:53It was handled by others in its early iterations.
07:55We had a computer record we had to deal with, a perfect record that we had to deal with.
07:59But here's the important point for this week.
08:02What the court said is that federal law preempted the state from requiring proof, documentary proof,
08:10more than just somebody's word on an affidavit, that they are a citizen lawfully qualified to vote just once.
08:17Just once, not every time, just once at the time you show up to first register.
08:21We have the ability to fix that federal law by withdrawing the preemption.
08:26That is what this bill does.
08:28It actually replaces it with a requirement.
08:30Look, it really is this simple.
08:32This is about enforcing the law that is already on the books that prohibits noncitizens from voting,
08:36particularly in federal elections.
08:38We don't say you've got to be 21 years old to drink and, therefore, when you show up and want to go in the bar,
08:43you sign an affidavit saying, I'm 21.
08:45You say, show us your ID.
08:47Show us documentary proof.
08:49Surely we should have at least that standard in place for protecting the sanctity of our elections.
09:01District courts issued more universal injunctions and temporary restraining orders during February 2025 alone
09:10than in the first three years of the Biden administration.
09:14The American people's trust in our court system has hit a record low, according to recent ballot voting.
09:22And even Chuck Schumer is touting that he helped confer 235, quote, progressive judges who are, quote,
09:31ruling against Trump time after time.
09:35Somebody should advise the Senate minority leader that that is the problem.
09:40Judges are supposed to be blind as to who's in front of them and just apply the law.
09:45You don't appoint judges to advance your political agenda.
09:49This admission and the sheer number of rulings against President Trump's policies should raise major red flags
09:57for every American who values our Constitution and the separation of powers.
10:02While Schumer cheers clearly these partisan rulings that tie the hands of the President of the United States
10:11who blocked the agenda of 77 million Americans.
10:15Republicans are working to root out bias in our legal system and stop nationwide injunctions
10:21that threaten the separation of powers that our founders intended.
10:25It's absolutely ridiculous that a district judge in San Francisco can issue an injunction
10:31stopping the President from reducing the size of the federal government workforce in Washington, D.C.
10:37It makes no sense whatsoever.
10:40That's why we're going to pass Congressman Issa's No Rogue Rulings Act this week
10:45to rein in activist judges, to return district courts to their appropriate role,
10:50and to restore constitutional balance to the three branches.
10:54The policies of 77 million Americans, that 77 million Americans voted for,
11:00should not be held hostage by one unelected district court judge.
11:05It's as simple as that.
11:07By passing Congressman Issa's bill and Congressman Chip Roy's SAVE Act this week,
11:12House Republicans are once again returning common sense to Washington
11:17and delivering on the mandate the American people gave us in November.
11:21And with that, we'll leave you.
11:24Thank you, Webb.
11:26We have another full week working through our legislative agenda
11:31while we also are urging the Senate to continue moving on the budget reconciliation process.
11:37This week, they will be taking up the budget we sent over weeks ago.
11:42And, of course, when you look at where the budgets are,
11:45we went through a lot of work within our conference,
11:48meeting with members that represent all different factions within our conference
11:53to come up with the ultimate targets that were laid out in our budget
11:57to direct 11 different committees in the House to take action in reconciliation.
12:02The Senate needs to go through that same process.
12:05They've got similar dynamics in the Senate.
12:07They've got fiscal hawks, moderates, the same kind of issues that they're going to have to resolve.
12:13But ultimately, it's only when the House and Senate come together
12:16are we going to be able to deliver that big package for President Trump
12:20to get this economy back on track for the American people.
12:23And ultimately, that's who we're fighting for.
12:26We're fighting for those hardworking families who've been struggling too long
12:29under the weight of the failed far-left policies of President Biden that are still lingering,
12:35the Democrats when they were in charge when they added trillions in spending,
12:39inflation, interest rates, all the things that are still crushing families.
12:44We are finally starting to address those things one at a time.
12:48And it's taken time, but we're two months in.
12:51You can already see the progress.
12:53But there's a lot more work to do.
12:55And so we're not slowing down in our majority.
12:57We're not slowing down with the bills we're bringing.
12:59Of course, this week, the No Rogue Judges Act, I think it's been laid out really well.
13:04The abuses that we've been seeing with some of these district court judges
13:08that just feel their role is to try to stop the duly elected president of the United States,
13:13and Donald Trump, because he disagreed with his policies,
13:16as opposed to carrying out their duty to interpret the Constitution and the laws of this country.
13:21And if they're going to overstep their boundaries,
13:24should they be able to have literally at a district level an ability to change the law for the entire country,
13:31when ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court is going to have to decide many of these big issues.
13:36But we're taking that up.
13:38We're also, of course, going to continue to fight for the integrity of the vote,
13:41to make sure that people that have come here illegally by the millions cannot register and vote,
13:47and that there will be actual safeguards and consequences for people who come to this country and vote illegally.
13:54So we're going to bring that bill again, give everybody an opportunity to state their position on that as well.
14:01But as you look at reconciliation, one of the things we're looking to do
14:05is to finally start to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending.
14:10Obviously, the mandatory spending side is what we look at heavily on the reconciliation side.
14:15But we've been working closely with the President's DOJ Commission.
14:18And for anybody who didn't see it, I thought it was a very refreshing exercise to watch
14:23Elon Musk and all the other leaders of DOJ come together and do, in essence, a town hall meeting,
14:29talking about the methods and the methodology and the sophistication that is being used
14:36to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending.
14:39You know, when people fill out their taxes in just two weeks,
14:43you know, there's a lot of anger and frustration when people send their money into Washington,
14:48and they wonder when they hear these stories of, you know, the billions of dollars in wasteful programs.
14:54These aren't just anecdotes.
14:56As Elon and the DOJ Commission members have been finding out,
15:00it's rampant throughout every agency in federal government,
15:03whether it's just inefficiencies, which is bad enough, or flat-out fraud, abuse, and corruption.
15:11They're identifying billions and hundreds of billions of dollars in waste that can and should be rooted out
15:18because every dollar of waste here in Washington, number one, is deficit spending
15:23that we would not be adding to our deficit.
15:25But it's money that can be reinvested to make programs work the way they were intended
15:30by Congress and by the President.
15:33And so to see how serious they take these jobs,
15:36and many of these people are very accomplished in their own rights,
15:39people that have their own careers, and are stepping aside and doing this work
15:43to make government work better for all the people of this country.
15:47I was very encouraged by it. I wish everybody in the country saw it.
15:51Because when you watch how the left is trying to demonize not the waste in government,
15:56I wish the left was as fervent at going after waste in government
16:00as they're going after the people that are trying to root out the waste in government.
16:05Elon's given up a lot to do this.
16:08As an individual, you see the personal attacks, death threats that are being made against him.
16:13That's real. And it's disgusting and disgraceful.
16:17But it also shows he must clearly be touching on something to the core.
16:22How much waste is out there that somebody would threaten his life
16:26because he's trying to find out and root out that waste?
16:29So we're going to continue working with DOJ to root out the waste,
16:34to lock as much of it into law as possible.
16:37If we can fit in a budget reconciliation, we surely will.
16:40If it's going to come later in a rescissions package,
16:43then we're going to do it as best as we can to achieve those real savings
16:46for the taxpayers of this country who are counting on us to deliver.
16:49The man who's delivering our agenda in the House, Speaker of the House, Mike Pence.
16:54Thank you, Leader. Thanks to my colleagues.
16:56Good morning to all of you. It's another busy week on Capitol Hill.
16:59Let me address these two very important pieces of legislation that are upon us.
17:03I'll just give you a little more info and then take questions.
17:06I want to thank our great colleague from Kansas, former Attorney General.
17:09He knows that at which he speaks. And Congressman Schmidt gives a great voice to this.
17:15We're talking about this problem of rogue rulings.
17:18And, you know, the Democrats, our colleagues here,
17:21they talk all about this so-called constitutional crisis that they see around every tree.
17:26They don't like President Trump's policies.
17:28And so that's their catchphrase they use for everything.
17:32There really is a constitutional crisis that's developing.
17:34It's not the one that the Democrats plan, though.
17:37Listen to these numbers, and we've shared them before.
17:39Sixty-seven percent of all injunctions issued by district court judges against a president
17:44since the year 2000 were issued against one man, and his name is President Donald Trump.
17:50Ninety-two percent of those injunctions against the president were issued by Democrat-appointed judges.
17:55There's a problem. I've mentioned before.
17:57I was a constitutional law litigator routinely.
17:59I've run into judges that I would describe as activists.
18:03But it was much more rare than it is now.
18:06And it's a problem that has been noted needs to be addressed.
18:11Under the existing framework, one singular district court judge out of 677, I think,
18:16anywhere in America can subvert the will of the duly elected president
18:20for carrying out his constitutional duties, and they're doing that.
18:24And so we've got to step into this.
18:26Despite the American people's wholesale rejection of Democrat ideas of the ballot box,
18:30you have activist judges who are abusing the system to legislate on the fence.
18:34That's effectively what an activist judge is.
18:37This is not how the system our founders designed is supposed to work.
18:41Under our Constitution, we have three co-equal branches of government,
18:45each with the ability to provide a check on another.
18:48And we do have that authority.
18:50Democrats seem to have forgotten that.
18:53I mentioned at a press conference or a gaggle,
18:56and maybe it was last week with all of you, I can't remember.
18:59There were so many of these.
19:00But somebody asked me repeatedly about impeachment,
19:04and they asked me about our authority under the Constitution.
19:07What authority do we have under Article III?
19:10The Congress is given the authority to determine, define, fund all lower courts.
19:16Only the Supreme Court has mentioned itself in the Constitution,
19:19and the lower courts are within the purview of the Congress.
19:22And I was asked, and I offered the answer, yes, yes.
19:26I mean, we could defund those courts.
19:28I wasn't saying, let me clarify, I wasn't saying that we're doing that.
19:32I was trying to describe what the Constitution says.
19:35Go read it for yourselves.
19:36We have broad scope.
19:38We have all authority over those lower courts, okay?
19:41We're not defunding courts,
19:43and we're not doing anything other than limiting in this legislation
19:48the ability of a judge to issue a nationwide injunction
19:52because that is the problem that has gotten totally out of control.
19:55And we need this check on the judiciary,
19:58and I think we're going to prove that on the floor.
20:00One activist judge should not issue a nationwide injunction against the President's policies,
20:05and these district courts have to stay within their constitutional balance.
20:10The next act we talked about that will be on the floor is the SAVE Act,
20:13and we've been here and done this.
20:17We never got it through the Senate last time,
20:19but this is the second time in less than a year
20:22congressional Democrats will have the opportunity to do something
20:24that 87 percent of the American people demand that Congress does.
20:28Only U.S. citizens should decide U.S. elections.
20:31It is in federal law, but it is not always enforced,
20:34and you need further enforcement.
20:36Why? Because we have to make sure that the law is compliant.
20:40This will require a reasonable measure of having an I.D. to prove your citizenship.
20:48Democrats say it's already illegal to vote as a citizen,
20:51but that doesn't mean that you don't need further enforcement.
20:54We don't rely on the integrity of teenagers trying to purchase a six-pack at the liquor store.
21:00We require them to provide I.D. to prove they're old enough to make that purchase.
21:05We require I.D. for almost everything in society,
21:08and almost everybody has one.
21:10And we're just saying that this is a very simple common-sense measure.
21:13States are far from even asking to verify citizenship status on voter registration forms currently.
21:20We have to fix that.
21:22And the states can't just rely on the integrity of the registrant.
21:26We need a safeguarding system.
21:27So the SAVE Act closes that massive loophole.
21:30It codifies President Trump's executive action to secure our voter registration process.
21:35It protects the voices of American voters.
21:37If we don't have free and fair and safe and secure elections, then we have nothing and a Republican.
21:43So that's where we're moving forward, and we'll see where the Democrats stand on it.
21:47Mr. Speaker, President Trump this week in an interview with my colleague Kristen Walker said
21:51that when he repeatedly brings up the idea of running for a third term, that he is not joking.
21:56You are a constitutional law expert.
21:59Is there a legal constitutional path for him to seek a third term,
22:03and would you support him if he went down that road?
22:06Well, I just told everybody to read the Constitution.
22:07There's a constitutional path that you have to amend the Constitution to do it, and that's a high bar.
22:13You know, the President and I have talked about this, joked about it.
22:17He's joked about it with me on stage before.
22:20You know, we take him at his word.
22:21I understand why so many Americans do wish that he could run for a third term
22:24because he's accomplished so much in his first 100 days that they wish he could go on for much longer.
22:29But I think he recognizes the constitutional limitations,
22:33and I'm not sure that there's a view about to amend the Constitution.
22:36Mr. Speaker, do you think that the President should move forward tomorrow with tariffs, with imposing tariffs?
22:43He's made very clear that he's doing this in the executive branch under his executive authority,
22:48and it doesn't involve Congress in that way.
22:52Look, you have to trust the President's instincts on the economy, okay?
22:57Why? You know, this isn't blind faith.
23:00Remember what he accomplished in the first administration before COVID.
23:03We had the greatest economy in the history of the world, not the U.S., the whole world.
23:06Every demographic was doing better because we cut taxes, we cut regulations,
23:11and we made a better economic environment for everybody to succeed.
23:15And he is going about that same plan to bring that about, and tariffs is a component of that.
23:21And we'll see how it all develops.
23:24I mean, the reciprocal tariff policy is one that makes a lot of common sense.
23:29You look at the trade disparity between many nations, and much of this began after World War II,
23:34and the rationale apparently was, well, we need to rebuild Europe,
23:38and America emerges as the great superpower, so we should have this imbalance.
23:42It's fair. You know, this is what we need.
23:45Well, that carried on for generations, and we're well beyond World War II now.
23:49And this is a different world. It's a much more integrated, complex economy.
23:53And the President is absolutely right when he says that we have to think about America's interests first,
23:59because if we don't, we're not going to maintain our status as the great superpower.
24:03And when he says, let's have free trade and fair trade, I think the reciprocal tariff policy makes sense.
24:09If somebody has 100-plus percent tariff on imports of U.S. goods, and we have virtually nothing,
24:16why don't we settle that balance?
24:18If we raise and match their tariff policy, I think ultimately what happens is you get back down to a free trade agreement,
24:24that these countries that are engaged in this disparity, this raw deal for Americans for so long,
24:30it will get their attention, and that will, I think, reduce their tariffs on us.
24:34Then you get back to a free and fair trade situation.
24:39So, look, we'll see what happens. I think it's going to go forward, and it may be rocky in the beginning,
24:45but I think that this will make sense for Americans. It will help all Americans.
24:49So, yes, Scott.
24:50Last question.
24:51Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
24:52President Trump says that Elise Stefanik will be rejoining your leadership team
24:57and that you are very enthusiastic to be having her remain in the House.
25:01What role will she be playing on your leadership team, given that she has already relinquished her past leadership role?
25:08Yeah, we're trying to sort that out.
25:10Elise is a dear friend, trusted colleague.
25:13She's a super talent, and she brings – has always brought a lot to the table.
25:17She stepped down from her conference chair role and on her board and committee assignments.
25:23She was in line to have a gavel on some of those, and the circumstances changed.
25:27So recognizing her talent, I said I would love to invite her back immediately to the leadership table.
25:32All leadership posts are filled at the moment, so we're trying to figure out some creative role for Elise to play.
25:37Because, you know, I think that helps the whole body.
25:40I think it helps the conference and puts her in a position where she can be of her highest and best use.
25:45Scott, as you know, every single day as Speaker, what I try to do is make sure all of our members are of their highest and best use.
25:51We try to match skill sets with positions, and it's an imperfect thing, but we work through it.
25:56And, you know, what happened with Elise is we're dealing with,
26:00and we're going to make her a very valuable and important member of this conference, as she always has been.
26:05And I'm excited about that. I am. I'm glad to have her.
26:09Last question.
26:11On the topic of activist judges, does the legislation touch on using artificial intelligence at all in this regard?
26:18And, you know, semantic analysis of artificial intelligence is very high.
26:23And, you know, is it theoretically possible to be able to use AI in a judiciary capacity?
26:30Wow.
26:33I think they're going to replace all the lawyers before they do the judges, and I'm worried about that.
26:37I'm a recovery attorney myself.
26:39I don't know. That's a great question.
26:40They say AI is going to change everything.
26:42I certainly hope that we don't have AI determining the outcome of cases like that.
26:46I think you've got to rely on the system and rely on human judgment for these things.
26:50But we'll see. That's a very new role question.
26:52I don't have the answer yet.
26:53Thank you all so much.
26:54I appreciate it.