[2:09]Is that what you call it? >> I'm from Atlanta. >> Does your husband Five minutes later.
[2:58]back, >> right? >> You're good.
[3:18]>> I'm good, man. I need more time. >> Where is it?
[3:57]Thank you. >> You're welcome. Testing one, two, three, four, five. Testing one, two, three, four, five.
[4:08]Testing one, two, three, four, five. Everyone good?
[4:15]>> Testing one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. >> Thank you.
[4:24]>> You're welcome. So many
[4:56]Go out. How are you?
[5:26]>> So, first um so there's a speaker of the lecture. You want me to take a picture of it so that you know who's who? >> Just saying you knew. >> That's incredible. Do they do that at most of these?
[5:37]>> Most of the press conferences they do. I mean, there's no guarantee. >> Uh, let me see. >> There's only one atypical. >> Okay. >> Um, in this room, you could be crawling
[5:51]around the floor. He has the piece of Scotty up away from him. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> He's there. Um, you crawl along the back along the below
[6:01]on the sides. >> Pretty easy going. Okay.
[6:18][snorts] >> Are you doing this? doing this regularly I'm And you met the four people on the staff
[10:18]the park. >> I think I saw Jeff and I saw him. >> Yeah, I met them
[10:29]and then the stairs on the stairs. stairs. The ones right on >> anywhere. Um, yeah. Any of those? You mean the stairs? >> The circle ones. >> The circle ones. Oh, yeah. Yeah, sure. No problem.
[10:41]>> Okay. No restrict. >> And then you use a flash. It's just can't use flash. And hearings most pressors you can't use flash. I mean, virtually everybody probably outside.
[10:52]I've never seen anybody do that. Might make sense of a film because sometimes the sun's in a bad position there. It can be pretty ugly there.
[10:59]>> What time of day it is? And then >> that's fine.
[11:14]>> You know, >> I mean, you think they would eventually get the feedback, they'd see what they look like and say, "Oh, that doesn't work." >> But I'm out in charge.
[11:25]>> That's a good That's a good uh job down the line a little bit. I would never >> know from the photos I get like what
[11:37]what I prefer. >> Anyway, good luck. Feel free to question. >> Yeah, absolutely. Great to meet. Thank you. >> Right.
[12:08]>> I don't know. Sounds like a forward. >> Perfect. Thank you. Absolutely.
[12:42][clears throat] >> My brother's language got a place in the Poconos. >> What? That's great. So, I mean, my family and my sister's family and my
[12:54]parents >> are going to be in there. >> Oh my god, that's a dream. That's really nice. >> But it's my um son's birthday on Wednesday.
[13:05]>> So, sometimes his birthday is on Thanksgiving. Wednesday. >> Yeah. Not this Wednesday. >> Oh, my mom birthday. >> So, yes, >> a birthday giving. Sometimes we call it
[13:16]Luke's giving because his name is Luke. But [clears throat] it's always complicated to do his birthday around that. So, we're gonna spend Gwen >> in Hershey.
[13:27]>> Not we're not, >> but there's other stuff to do. >> Wait a second. >> That seems almost mean. >> He doesn't want to do that. We offer
[13:39]>> he's he was like it's going to be like >> so we're like he wants to be >> like his
[13:49]>> and then we'll go to >> but I have to be a we're going to spend the night Thursday back >> but still
[14:05]>> it should be fun though. My brother's >> my brother-in-law has a bunch of like dirt bikes and fourwheelers. >> There's a bunch of trails by
[14:16]>> my brother's house. So >> yeah, he has a
[14:27]whole operation. >> My nephew 17 is like
[14:35]he's Kids are riding electric bikes. >> They have as much power as regular
[14:45]electric parents in our neighborhood thinking
[14:54]they're like >> and they have like they're really and like they'll do. >> Oh yeah. No, they're like they go
[15:06]>> crazy. >> Okay. So, you know the interesting thing about the scooter that my neighbor found
[15:18]out homeowners insurance won't cover any accidents related to electric.
[15:29]You can buy a ride or something. >> Yeah, but it's expensive, right? Isn't it expensive? >> Your homeowners insurance. So, so what the reason my neighbor found out about
[15:40]this is because his son was on his electric scar >> and like my typical like eighth grade idiot boy had a they were having a contest how far they could go in their
[15:52]scooters with their eyes closed >> and he smashed into the back of some person's car. shocking that that would happen
[16:02]>> but got like really messed up. Had a concussion everything and also messed up this guy's car. >> So the guy So they they found the guy and they said this your car like a Darwin award. >> Yeah, totally.
[16:14]>> But they tried to submit it to insurance and the insurance compan. >> So they I mean it ended up it was only like a couple thousand to fix the guy's car. No, no, but you I mean it's not it
[16:24]wasn't like 30 grand >> still as the parent, >> right? But like if you're you know you can do something a lot worse. >> So they sold it. They got rid of it. It
[16:36]just wasn't. >> Now if your kids are idiots like my neighbor as well. >> I look up and I'm like
[16:54]>> Yeah, I know. I love >> I realize >> I love that story. Yeah, that's really funny. >> I mean, if you knew this kid would be >> Your kid doesn't hang out with them.
[17:05]>> No, they hang out. >> My My son wouldn't do that. >> It's kind of
[17:20]like a good amount of >> Oh, yeah. No, it was like they messed with this guy's car >> and his son like his son had to go to
[17:29]the hospital. >> We can laugh about it now. [laughter] >> Yeah.
[17:45]York just My mom came in.
[18:03][laughter] >> My husband broke my teenagers.
[18:20]>> And like just like swung him around and he like They were like, "Yeah, she's like a rope
[18:31]around his belly." >> Yeah. end this whole
[18:57]service, >> right? I figured Beautiful
[19:23][snorts] place.
[19:57]No, I didn't. >> Me, too. vacation.
[20:13]>> Yeah. I'll give him
[21:04]I was paying about [snorts] twice that. Yeah.
[21:27][clears throat] >> Yeah.
[22:10]Also, it's not that very easy.
[22:36]>> Occasionally, Guess I think
[23:09]this I'm not sure.
[23:48]Sometimes >> Oh, I got mobile here.
[24:13]It's very >> terrible,
[24:26]>> right? I shot an event on Sunday. This is like an indoor some daylight.
[24:51]You have different temperatures. Not very nice.
[25:31]Yes. [clears throat] >> Actually,
[26:02]Well, one day they might cycle, >> which I never heard of.
[26:27]>> [clears throat] >> It's purposeful.
[27:03]word. >> Don't worry, Queen. We got your
[27:14][laughter] >> Do you want me to take your coat? >> No, it's okay. I'm not going to make you hold my phone. [snorts] I got it. >> There's a counter I can put it all under. waiting for the other one.
[27:38]>> Um, I left early. I think I got it from a couple
[28:13]at the end of winter. I got it for >> the good news.
[28:39]>> I was going to say I should do that. He has a lot of [snorts]
[29:10]>> good. I might have to. >> Okay. [snorts]
[29:22]If they can give you some discretion now. >> [snorts]
[29:57]>> I forately don't there. Hey.
[31:03]I see. >> [snorts] [snorts]
[32:42]>> Usually I'll say >> [snorts]
[33:09]>> released. So that these women >> [snorts]
[33:39][snorts] >> Uh, good morning everybody. Hey, it's [clears throat] good to see you back. After 43 long days of the Democrat
[33:48]shutdown, we are finally back in regular legislative session. We have been very anxious to to get here. We spent uh the last 6 weeks um in our districts. Most of the most of the members of the House,
[34:00]at least the House Republicans did, at least six weeks they spent in their district, uh, and many of them will tell you and they've said publicly and privately, they did some of the best work of their career because they were right there with their constituents at
[34:12]home in their in their districts, in their their counties, and their parishes, in our case in Louisiana, working with their constituents and helping them navigate the consequences of the Democrats pointless political
[34:22]games in the shutdown. Um they they uh they did some really important work and we are ready and eager now to get back to the legislative session work the other side of this job so that we can
[34:32]deliver on our promises to the American people. The Republican party has been doing this and we will continue. We're going to continue to reduce the cost of health care. We got big plans to do that. We going to continue reducing
[34:42]prices and the cost of living for American families and of course to finish the rest of the appropriations government funding process. uh we've been needing to do that and we are uh we
[34:53]are already working around the clock to accomplish those objectives. But with so many pressing issues on our plate just very frustratingly to us, the Democrats
[35:03]are delaying that work even further with a political show vote. They're forcing a political show vote on the Epstein file. So, we're just going to address that right at the top here this morning
[35:14]because they've spent so much time, the Democrats have spinning the facts and trying to confuse the people that I wanted to come in this morning and just clearly explain for the people back home
[35:25]how we got here and why this vote is happening right now. First, a quick review of the relevant history here. For four long years under the previous administration or the Biden Harris
[35:36]administration, Democrats insisted there was no border crisis. Remember they told you that that wasn't a problem at all. They they dismissed inflation as transitory. That's what they told us. They they told the American people not
[35:47]to believe what we could all see with our own eyes that there was an obvious mental and physical decline on the part of President Biden individually. And now seemingly overnight, these same cast of
[35:58]characters, they've taken a sudden and urgent interest in the Epstein investigation. Suddenly, it's all in the name of transparency. That's what they're trying to tell us. But the truth is the biggest proponents of this
[36:09]discharge petition were never actually interested in transparency or ensuring justice or protecting victims of this unspeakable tragedy, the Epstein evils.
[36:21]And and how do we know that? Because the Democrats had every one of the Epstein files in their possession for the four long years of the Biden administration.
[36:31]The Biden Department of Justice had the files the entire time and not a single one of the people who were so loud and animated right now. They never said anything about it for all those four years. None of them held press
[36:43]conferences. None of them demanded the release of the documents. And under Biden's DOJ, when they when they prosecuted uh just Epstein and Gelain Maxwell, not a single one of these Democrats or any of the proponents of
[36:54]the discharge ever made any noise about that at all. So, it's fair for the American people to ask the question, why now? Why suddenly are they so so interested? They have such an urgent
[37:06]interest in the Jeffrey Epstein matter. The truth is simple and straightforward and obvious for anyone who is willing to look at it objectively. Clearly, this is
[37:15]a political exercise for Democrats and a few others sadly and it is as deceitful and dishonest as their pointless stunt to shut down the government. Same same
[37:26]ideology behind this. Democrats are trying to use the Epstein matter as a political weapon to distract from the own party's failures. And in a desperate
[37:36]attempt, they're trying to somehow tie President Trump to to the scandal. President Trump has nothing to do with it. He has said himself he has nothing
[37:44]to hide. And um and and that's clearly what they've been trying to do. They're trying to attack President Trump. This is what they've done. They weaponized the justice system uh over the last
[37:55]several years to go after him. and this is their latest attempt and they don't have a platform or a principle to defend on the Democrat party side. So they put all their eggs in this basket and that's
[38:05]why you hear endlessly about Epstein, Epstein, Epstein. Everything's about Epstein. Now, this was an unspeakable tragedy. We said that and we have great compassion for the victims and I'm I'm
[38:16]heartened that I I met with the victims. Our House Oversight Committee members met with the victims and they deserve justice. It has been too long delayed. not just justice for for what they were
[38:26]made to endure, but also we need answers on why it took so long for the Department of Justice itself to do that job under previous leadership. Republicans, meanwhile, are are working
[38:38]in earnest to deliver transparency to the American people, and we're working to do that in a responsible manner that does no further harm to these innocent people and the victims who have been who
[38:48]have been wrapped into this. There are few fe a few key facts here that everybody needs to understand. First, I mentioned the House Oversight Committee doing its work. That is a bipartisan
[38:58]effort. They are already producing far more than the discharge petition even anticipates. Chairman Comr is is our chair of oversight. [snorts] Some of the biggest bulldogs in Congress serve on
[39:10]that committee. You all know and I've I've mentioned this so many times. They have been on the Republican and Democrat side. They're deeply dug in. They've been working around the clock. They worked even through the government shutdown and there were tanches of documents that were released even over
[39:21]that period. So far, by last count, it's over 65,000 documents, Epstein file documents that are now out in the public for everyone to review. That includes tens of thousands of pages from the
[39:32]Epstein estate and and that includes Epstein's flight logs, his personal financial records and ledgers, uh his daily calendars, and so much more. And
[39:42]none of that is even written or included in the discharge petition. So, in other words, the oversight committee is doing far more than the discharge even anticipates. And the most valuable information thus far has come from the
[39:53]Epstein estate files. That was produced because of the work of the oversight committee that is doing that in a professional robust manner using the full subpoena authority of the US
[40:04]Congress. From the very beginning, our side has been insistent that this matter must be handled very carefully and with utmost caution and care for the victims.
[40:15]We want maximum transparency. We have always been about that. We want every single person who had any cintillaa, there's any cintillaa of evidence that they were involved in the Epstein evils, they need to be brought to justice and it should have been done a long time
[40:26]ago. We need to find out who those people are. But in the meantime, you have to remember there are real people's, innocent people's lives at stake here and young victims who don't want to be dragged into this political
[40:38]game because it could hurt further uh what they've already endured. they would be made to suffer more harm if Congress is not careful in what we're doing. And unlike our very important work that's
[40:50]underway in the House Oversight Committee, the Democrat-led discharge petition would carelessly dump thousands of documents without proper protections for the innocent. I I brought a chart in here this morning. I I I want to
[41:01]illustrate for you what we are concerned with. Now, I was a federal court litigator. The members of our House Judiciary Committee, Republicans in particular, have many of these concerns. You have chairman Jim Jordan and and
[41:12]attorneys like Chip Roy is running for attorney general of Texas now. You have Brad Kn who's a former federal prosecutor. Many members on the committee, Andy Biggs is running for governor of Arizona. We've they're they're lawyers and they understand that
[41:23]the way the discharge petition was drafted is haphazard and dangerous. This is why we have been opposed to this point. Okay? And I could be here for a long time going through all the details of it. But the big concern we've all had
[41:35]all along is that the House bill, if it's passed in its current form and it was signed into law, it is dangerously flawed. And our problem and our frustration is there's no way for us in
[41:45]the House to amend it or correct these problems because the authors of the discharge will not allow it. And that's one of our great frustrations. Let me just very quickly we have we have a a a
[41:56]legal document that the lawyers we have all drafted to explain all this. But let me give you quick quick five quick maybe the top five concerns about it. And there are more. But as drafted the
[42:07]discharge petition it fails to fully protect victim privacy. I'm going to read you an excerpt out of our our legal document we put together to explain all this. Congress should give the attorney general broader authority to redact all
[42:19]the victim information. The discharge doesn't do that. This would prevent the release of information that could be used to unmask victims who have chosen to remain anonymous. Now, you have some
[42:29]very brave women who have come forward and and put their names and faces out there and and done press conferences and explain that justice is overdue and and our hearts go out to them and they they they are heroes. But you have as many as
[42:40]a thousand women by some of the accounts who may be caught up in this and the vast majority of them have not come forward probably for obvious reasons. They don't want to be unmasked. But the
[42:51]discharge petition doesn't have adequate protections. It it risks revictimizing those who were trafficked and exploited. And and the courts have recognized this concern. By the way, I'll read you a
[43:02]quick excerpt. On August 20th of this year, Judge Richard Burman in the Southern District of New York issued an order denying the DOJ's request to release Epstein grand jury materials,
[43:12]noting, quote, "Names and identifying information of victims appear in the subject materials," unquote. Judge Burman then quoted a letter related to the victim's concerns which
[43:22]stated the following quote. Transparency cannot come at the expense of the very people whom the justice system is sworn to protect. Unquote and importantly the judge quoted a letter from one of the
[43:34]victims in the proceeding. She is named as Jane Doe 2. She said this. This is one of the victims. quote, "I beg the court to make sure it is of the utmost
[43:46]priority that in any sort of release all and every detail that could possibly reveal our identities be redacted. The victims of Epstein's evils deserve that
[43:57]protection and the discharge does not currently provide it." Okay. Number two, the discharge petition could create new victims. Okay. because [clears throat] it requires the DOJ to release
[44:08]information even in cases where the DOJ or the FBI has already reviewed it and determined it is not credible. It is false information. Doing this and and requiring this to
[44:19]come out could ruin the reputations of completely innocent people such as those who have made may just have known Epstein but knew nothing of his crimes
[44:28]or or whose names he exploited. Think of this. innocent people whose names he exploited and used to try to get close to his intended victims. Their names may
[44:38]be in these files and they had nothing to do with this. And so by just haphazardly releasing it, you're going to destroy their reputations. Releasing information containing the names of innocent people would subject those
[44:49]innocent people to a guilt by association. It would create an entirely new group of victims who have no means to clear their names. That's a concern of Congress and it should be should be.
[44:59]Number three, the the discharge in its current form fails to prohibit the release of child sexual abuse materials. That is a term of art. It's called CESAM. Okay? It's defined in the US
[45:10]code. The discharge is so haphazardly written because remember it's just a political exercise for these guys. They don't seem to care about this, but they cited the wrong section of the US code.
[45:20]So when they try when they say that they're, oh, we don't want child pornography to come out, child sexual abuse materials, of course, we don't want that released. They wrote this thing so quickly that they they cited the wrong section. So, you know what
[45:31]that means? It it means that it doesn't really bestow any real legal authority on the attorney general to redact those materials and that would compel the DOJ
[45:40]to release that stuff into the public. Every single person in this room knows that's wrong and you should stand against it. But that's what the discharge says. Number four, it jeopardizes the future federal
[45:51]investigations of the United States. Why? because the discharge only allows the attorney general to redact limited portions of records that could publicly
[46:01]uh identify individuals who are promised confidentiality. In this scenario, you're talking about whistleblowers. You're talking about confidential informants who came forward and gave information and evidence in exchange for
[46:13]agreeing uh to have their their their identities not revealed, violating confidentiality. Imagine the chilling effect that that would have on future investigations. Who's going to want to
[46:24]come forward if they think Congress can take a political exercise and reveal their identities? Who's going to come talk to prosecutors? It's very dangerous. It would deter future whistleblowers and informants. And and the release of that could also publicly
[46:36]reveal the identity, by the way, of undercover law enforcement officers who are are uh working in future operations. Dangerous stuff. And they seem not to care. And by the way, I'm going to remind you again, we went to the
[46:47]authors. We asked the authors of the discharge to change this and they said jump in the PTOIC. All right. Uh number five, national security concerns. Okay. The discharge requires the attorney
[46:58]general to release within 30 days quote classified information to the max maximum extent possible. This ignores the principle that declassification
[47:10]should always rest and always has rested with the agency that originated the intelligence. Why? so that they can protect their critical sources and methods. It is incredibly dangerous to
[47:21]demand that officials or or employees of the DOJ declassify materials that originated in other agencies and intelligence agencies. I could go on. I I won't be here all morning, but there's
[47:33]a lot of problems. There's also a whole a lot of legal scholars, and I'm among them who are concerned that um that you've got problems with u with grand jury secrecy. Uh we we know rule 6E of
[47:44]the federal rules of criminal procedure prohibits the release of grand jury materials, but the way the discharge is drafted, you can make an argument that it requires all that to come out. And that is a serious problem. Grand juries
[47:54]are not adversarial. Okay? There's no opportunity there uh for cross-examination. You can't disprove evidence. You can't uh challenge the evidence in any way. And if Congress
[48:04]goes in and breaks that seal and just starts releasing sensitive grand jury uh materials and allegations like that, it raises a risk that the grand jury process will be politicized in the
[48:14]future. And that's a that's a a whole other danger that we could talk about all day. I I'm going to I'm going to wrap this up and just say that Republicans support maximum transparency. We always have. The
[48:26]president of the United States supports maximum transparency. You've heard him say it in his own words, but he has had the same concerns that I've just articulated here and and we've talked about that. All of us have had these
[48:38]concerns and we we understand that we have a responsibility to innocent people and victims that is not properly guarded by the discharge petition and that's why we're so insensed about that. Uh we've
[48:49]got to make sure that that u that we we disclose the names of anybody who aided or conspired in any way with Jeffrey Epstein. But at the same time, you've got to make sure that innocent people
[49:00]are protected. So we we have to do this in a way that doesn't violate victim privacy, that doesn't create new victims, that doesn't disclose the names of any whistleblower or informant, that causes the release of grandeur materials
[49:11]or child sexual abuse materials or undermines our national security. And I think everybody of good conscience and common sense would say, of course, of course you have to do that. But here we
[49:21]are. So the discharge position got its 218th signature and it is going to go forward. it is going to pass because it only takes 218 and and and we know that the Democrats have disregarded all these
[49:32]concerns and they're going to move it forward anyway. So, uh all the people of good conscience here say we've registered our concerns. We we we stated our opposition as long as possible, but
[49:42]we're also for maximum transparency. So, what am I to do as a leader in a situation like this? I call my counterpart in the Senate, Leader Thun, and I talked him through this with him and shared our our deep concerns. And of
[49:54]course they share those concerns as well. And so I'm very confident that when this moves forward in the process, if and when it is processed in the Senate, which there's no certainty that that will be, um that they will take the
[50:05]time methodically to do what we have not been allowed to do in the House to amend this discharge petition and to make sure that these protections are there. The
[50:16]authors of the discharge have not allow us to do that here. That's the rules here. But in the Senate, they can correct it. So under that uh circumstance because of that we know there's serious deficiencies. We know that uh the work of our colleagues in
[50:28]the Senate can address that and will. They're very conscientious and concerned as we are about all this. As we've insisted from the very beginning, Republicans are the only party trying to make a material difference in ensuring maximum transparency. Oh, by the way,
[50:40]I'll just tell you, I put the bill on the floor of unanimous consent last Wednesday night. And guess who objected to it? The Democrats. Okay? If they were so if this is so urgent and they were so
[50:50]concerned about getting this done and seeing uh justice be done and all that, they would not have blocked the request. Okay, this is about politics. They they they blocked our unanimous
[51:01]consent motion to expedite their bill and and and made us waste all this additional time so they could have a show vote today. Republicans are ready to get the job done to move forward so we can continue to get on to these
[51:12]important issues of dealing with what the American people demand and deserve for us to deal with. And and so I want to leave you with this thought. Everybody should think long and hard about uh who here is acting truthfully,
[51:23]honestly, and in good faith. It is not [clears throat] the Democrat party that has obiscated and blatantly lied for the last four years about all these things. It is not the Democrats who shut down the government for their own selfish
[51:34]political purposes. It is not the Democrats who blocked the passage of this discharge a week ago uh because they wanted to have a a political moment. It is the Republicans who are acting in good faith. And I I believe
[51:46]the American people are going to see that and understand it. Um I I'm going to I'm going to vote to move this forward. I I think it could be close to a unanimous vote because everybody here, all the Republicans want to go on record
[51:56]to show there maximum transparency, but they also want to note that we're demanding that this stuff get corrected before it is ever uh moves through the process and is completed. Um, I
[52:08]sincerely hope my Democrat colleagues will show the same level of urgency and enthusiasm when it comes to tackling the real issues facing the country that we got to get to. And that's what we really wanted to talk about this morning. Uh,
[52:17]affordability issues are real and and um and and the Democrats themselves created the crisis. Remember, over the last four years, the B administration, they spent like drunken sailors, and when you throw a bunch of new money into the system, it
[52:28]makes inflation rise, right? Republicans are ready and eager to continue our work to clean up the mess that the Democrats made. We've been doing that already and we're going to continue to do it. joining the leadership team this morning
[52:39]to discuss our record setting success and our continued efforts to bring back affordability to lower the cost of living to lower the cost of healthcare and have abundant American energy are
[52:50]two of our Republican colleagues who are leading the charge on this issue and and chairman Brett Guthn you'll hear Guthrie you'll hear from in a moment from energy and commerce uh will speak with you and and uh Congressman Nick Beg of Alaska
[53:01]great state of Alaska is going to address it as well but I'll first turn it over to our our uh our chair of our conference ML you
[53:11]thank you. Well, good morning everybody and and welcome back. So, let me start with this. House Republicans will not allow Democrats
[53:21]um to distract us and we will not allow any more obstructions to stop us from doing the work of the American people because the American people sent us here
[53:32]to do a job and that's what we intend to do. The Democrat shutdown never stopped us. The countless witch hunts against President Trump never stopped us either.
[53:42]And the latest discharge petition is just another Democrat distraction. And I can assure you that won't stop us either
[53:51]because the American people actually expect us to do our jobs and not to distract and obstruct. For more than 40
[54:02]days, Democrats inflicted needless pain on hardworking Americans. And I ask you this, for what? For what? Did all of
[54:11]these Americans suffer pain? They did it to use the American people's pain as political leverage. And let that sink in for a second. And don't take my
[54:22]word for it. Take Katherryn Clark's word for that. They they they use the leverage for $1.5 trillion dollars of a wish list for for for that that
[54:31]Americans families just simply can't afford. But Democrats, they didn't get a single one of their demands because
[54:40]House Republicans actually stayed united. And now we're taking that momentum into the fight that matters
[54:50]most to the American people. This week, House Republicans will pass consequential bills to make energy costs more affordable. [snorts] Bills that
[55:01]will lower energy costs for hardworking families. Build bills that will build on the work that we've achieved to unleash American energy that we passed in the
[55:11]working families tax cuts. bills that increase energy production, which you'll hear from um Nick uh Representative Beggage and and and Chairman Guthrie
[55:23]that cut red tape and drive down prices for every single American. And contrast that to what will the
[55:32]Democrats do? They will almost certainly certainly vote no. But ask yourself why. Why? It's because their radical left
[55:43]won't let them vote yes. So again, we want Republicans want to bring down energy costs. That's why we will vote
[55:51]yes on the bill. Democrats have a lot of talking points, but but their actions will say no, we don't want to bring down energy costs for
[56:03]Americans, and they will vote no. Right? So, at some point, y'all need to ask the Democrats, when will your actions match
[56:13]your words? Because they don't. The contrast is crystal clear. Republicans will always fight to make energy more affordable for the American people. Now,
[56:24]the Democrats, they'll talk about it, but when the rubber meets the road and they have to vote, watch how they vote. They will absolutely vote no. So while Democrats prioritize the wishes of their
[56:36]radical base, we will keep moving forward forward with our agenda that actually lowers costs for the American people, forward with solutions that
[56:46]makes America affordable again. And we will move forward with the momentum the American people entrusted us with. Because House Republicans aren't here to
[56:57]play politics, or we aren't here to obstruct or distract. We're here to deliver affordability and low cost.
[57:07]We're here to drive down energy costs and we're here to make America more affordable again. And with that, I will
[57:17]bring up our chairman, uh, Mr. Brett Guth. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. Good morning, everybody. Thanks for uh for being here today. It's it's an interesting time. It's a challenging time, but extremely
[57:28]interesting time in the American energy industry. If if you um look at the last generation, we've had a generation of flat generation. We've had a generation
[57:39]of of flat demand. And so those have have worked and and made people be comfortable because we were de-industrializing
[57:49]in our state. So that's not the proper path the way that we have to take. So what are we seeing now? We're seeing a pent-up demand for indust indust energy. We're seeing it because of the growth in
[58:00]our industry, the re-industrialization that's coming because of President Trump and also the growth of AI and data centers that are coming. And so what's important? We have to address this for the cost to the American people. If you think about it, if you have flat
[58:11]generation and increase in demand, what what's going to happen? We have to expand uh access to American energy. We have it. It's in abundance. we can produce it and we have to deliver it and we have to make it where people can use
[58:23]it. Um it's also a geopolitical battle. Uh AI is either going to be won by us who's going to control the the data that flows around the world is going to be the values of America is going to be the
[58:34]values of China. That's it's a geopolitical battle that we're in and we know what not to do because you can look at Europe. Europe in Germany their energy prices are three times ours. Could you imagine competing in the world
[58:45]if you set your energy prices because of decisions your government made to be three times the power of ours? The people in the AI industry have no doubt that America can win this battle. They
[58:55]say we have the brain power. Americans have the brain power. We have the money. We have the capital to invest. What they don't have is access to the energy. And the roadblock to access of energy is
[59:06]getting permits and being able to move energy forward. So this week we're going to work on two bills. One, this is actually on uh fuels and gasoline is refineries. We haven't built a new
[59:16]refinery in America since the 1970s. So Bob Lada has a bill to look at our refining capacity. You can drill all the oil you want and have all the gas you want, but when you if you don't refine it, make it to products people use. Then
[59:27]you still have a shortage in limit. So we had refinery bill before us. And also in the geopolitical, I know that uh the price of natural gas around the world's important. You know who's important who's important to Russia because
[59:38]selling natural gas is how they fund their army. And so we also have a provision Joe Biden during the height of the invasion of Ukraine put a ban on natural gas being exported out of our
[59:48]country and and where the Germans were begging for it. I was in a meeting where high level officials were begging for our liquid natural gas. And so August Fluger has a bill to reverse any future
[59:59]administration from doing that. We want energy dominance. We had it in the big beautiful bill. We've had it in in we've in almost every committee hearing and we're going to work together through
[1:00:10]transportation Sam Graves through the chairman uh Bruce Westerman and natural resources and our group on energy and commerce to make sure we deliver the energy we need for America to be
[1:00:21]successful in this geopolitical battle in winning the AI battle. But most that so people when they turn their lights on and off in their home can have affordable power. And one of the great
[1:00:31]resources of power and one of the most beautiful places in our in our great country is in is in Alaska. Even at 46 below zero in Fort Gley, Alaska, if you happen to go to Northern Warfare School,
[1:00:43]you can sit around and look around and go, "Wow, this is a stunningly beautiful place." And so I'm glad to hand this over to my good friend from Alaska, Nick Beg. Thank you, chairman.
[1:00:57]>> You know, >> it is cold in Alaska. [laughter] >> It is in >> 46 below is not as cold as it gets. It can get minus 70 or worse. >> U you know, every product in America is
[1:01:09]an energy product. Whether you're producing that product, whether you're sending that product to a grocery store, whether you're going to the grocery store to pick up that product, whether you're going to visit family for
[1:01:20]Thanksgiving, you're expending energy. And if we want to address affordability in this nation, the best way to do that is to address the fundamental cost of
[1:01:30]energy. If we're going to do that, we've got to produce more of it. And I happen to be from the great state of Alaska where we do have abundant natural gas, where we do have abundant oil reserves.
[1:01:41]But in the previous four years under the Biden administration, we were not allowed to access those important resources for the American people. In
[1:01:52]fact, under Joe Biden, there were more than 70 executive orders and actions that specifically targeted Alaska, preventing us from developing the oil
[1:02:02]and gas resources of the state and the critical minerals that we're hearing so much about today. Today's bills help unlock the resources of Alaska for the
[1:02:12]benefit of the American people and do so in a durable fashion in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska and the 102 area of our North Slope. That's 20
[1:02:24]million acres unlocked for the benefit of the people of this nation. And I want to thank the leadership team who has prioritized affordability in this country again who
[1:02:35]understands that affordability begins with resources and our ability to add value to those resources. Alaska is ready to be a part of that solution. And I'm proud today to introduce these
[1:02:46]bills, get them passed, and send them over to the Senate. Thank you. And I turn it over to our great whip, Emmer. >> Thank you. These days, anti-Trump temper tantrums
[1:03:00]seem to be the Democrat party's MMO. Instead of helping us, Republicans in the House, uh, the president in the White House and, uh, the Senate
[1:03:10]majority, instead of helping us secure our border, cut taxes, and make life more affordable for the American people, Democrats have shown time and time again
[1:03:20]that they're more interested in opposing President Trump and his successful agenda at every turn. But their obstruction and partisan games will not
[1:03:31]deter our efforts to deliver countless wins for the American people. This week, House Republicans are returning to Washington with a packed agenda full of
[1:03:41]promises kept. Where the Biden administration and climate alarmists stifled our nation's energy production and caused prices to skyrocket, House
[1:03:51]Republicans and President Trump are restoring America's energy security and ensuring affordability. Where Democrats put violent criminals above innocent
[1:04:02]Americans, Republicans are ensuring our communities are safe from dangerous offenders. And where Democrats chase headlines and mislead the public,
[1:04:13]Republicans are actually pursuing transparency and justice. The contrast could not be more clear. Republicans
[1:04:22]govern. Democrats obstruct. We already passed the largest middle tax middle class tax cut in American history with
[1:04:32]absolutely no help from Democrats. And that was just the beginning. Now, as you see that we're back from this ridiculous uh needless shutdown caused by
[1:04:43]Democrats, we're moving full steam ahead to make up for the days that they have taken away with their delusional shutdown. And with that, I'll turn it over to our leader, Steve Scaliz.
[1:04:54]Well, thank you, Whip. And uh it's good to be back. It's good to have the Democrat shutdown ended and uh the pain, the suffering that went on for way too
[1:05:04]long finally be over. and now to see the House back doing its business. And of course, we missed a few weeks and so we're making up for lost time. We have a
[1:05:16]very robust schedule this week, as you can see. Uh full five-day work week. Uh we're going to be working and having some late night votes. Today, we have three vote series going into the night.
[1:05:27]And our members have rolled up their sleeves and are ready to get back to work, too. the committees are going to be meeting into the night uh this week and beyond to catch up and uh get back
[1:05:37]to focusing on those issues that we've been fighting for this entire Congress and that is fighting for those families who have been struggling under the failed Biden agenda. Uh all we saw under
[1:05:49]the Biden and Democrat agenda was higher costs for families, higher inflation, higher interest rates, open borders, chaos around the world. And President
[1:05:58]Trump has reversed that quickly. As you look at all of the things that this president has done, working with this Congress, we have been focused on fixing
[1:06:08]the problems that Biden created and then really setting a new course, getting this country back on track, uh lowering costs for families. You heard Chairman
[1:06:17]Guthrie and Congressman Beeg talk about this great energy agenda that we're continuing to deliver on. of course in the working families tax cut. We had a
[1:06:27]lot of provisions in that bill in fact that uh Congressman Beggage himself brought forward to open up areas in Alaska. I walked the Alaskan pipeline in
[1:06:38]section 1002 of the North Slope and to see all of the ability to produce energy in America that had been shut down under Joe Biden. We couldn't even produce the energy we know we have here in America
[1:06:49]because of stupid policies by the Biden administration. And we've been reversing that. Many of those provisions that Congressman Beg campaigned on, he already delivered on in the working
[1:07:01]families tax cut, but there's more to do. And so, we're bringing some of those bills to the floor this week. You're going to see the Department of Interior this probably this week, hopefully in the next two weeks, roll out their
[1:07:12]five-year leasing plan for the Gulf of America. Again, something that President Biden shut down that drove investment to foreign countries. We saw billions of
[1:07:23]dollars of energy investment moving to foreign countries because Biden shut down America. Well, it America's open up for business again. And that means more jobs here in America. But really
[1:07:34]importantly for families, lower energy costs, and energy costs affect everything that we do when you go to the grocery store. Uh lower energy costs
[1:07:43]mean lower food costs for families. And so we're going to keep delivering on that agenda. Obviously, this week, uh, it's going to be a very aggressive schedule and we're going to continue to
[1:07:53]move bills in the future. Something else the Democrats broke. We talked about this a lot during the shutdown here at this podium, uh, and that is the
[1:08:03]healthcare crisis in America. The current law in healthcare is the Affordable Care Act. I think everybody would recognize it's unaffordable for
[1:08:14]millions of American families. And yet they have dumped more families into that plan. And the the cost increase are evident. 80% increase in costs for
[1:08:26]families since Obamacare passed. And yet, as the Affordable Care Act has failed to work for families, Democrats
[1:08:35]continue to try to shove hundreds of billions of dollars more into that failed program. and not giving relief to families, but giving COVID subsidies to
[1:08:47]insurance companies. That's what Democrats were fighting for. You saw President Trump today saying, "One of the things we want to do as Republicans is give those tax credits to families,
[1:08:58]not to insurance companies like Democrats want to do, but to give it to families." We've been working before the shutdown with our three relevant committees. Chairman Guthri's committee
[1:09:09]in energy and commerce, Chairman Jason Smith in Ways and Means, uh, and Chairman Wahberg over in Education and Workforce, the three committees that
[1:09:17]work on healthc care policy to focus on legislation that would actually lower costs for families and give families options so they're not trapped in the
[1:09:28]unaffordable care act policies that drive up their premiums. And so we've brought bills. We had some of those we talked about in the working families tax cuts that didn't make it all the way through the process. We're going to be
[1:09:39]coming back to that. We moved PBM reform last year, very bipartisan bill that Chuck Schumer sat on because he and Democrats don't want to lower costs for
[1:09:48]families. We do. And we're going to keep bringing those bills over the next few months. We're working with all of our members. We talked about it again today in conference, but we've been working on
[1:09:59]it for months. We've been bringing bills to the floor and Democrats sadly have walked away from this because all they want to do is force people into unaffordable products. The unaffordable
[1:10:10]care act. They want families to have to pay more in premiums because they want a singlepayer government-run health care system. It has failed the American people and they deserve better and we're
[1:10:21]going to deliver better for American families. And finally, today we released the uh calendar for next year. So, I know you're all interested in what that's going to be. Uh, we're going to have a very busy agenda next year. We're
[1:10:33]going to continue to deliver here in this Congress for American families. Uh, we've got a lot to do this year and we're going to be doing a lot more this year. Uh, but we're also going to have a
[1:10:44]very busy agenda next year. Democrats can, they're in disarray right now as a party, but they've got to decide. Are they going to work with us here in this Congress to actually deliver for the
[1:10:56]American people? Are they going to continue to have as the speaker talked about that Trump derangement syndrome? All they do is wake up every day and say, "How can they oppose Donald Trump no matter what he wants to do when
[1:11:07]Donald Trump wants to help families?" All they do is wake up and say, "What is he doing?" And then they try to do the opposite because the radical mandami wing of the party just wants to fight President Trump. Well, that's not where
[1:11:19]America is. America wants to get results. America believes in common sense. We're going to have a resolution Friday that says we stand up against socialism and the atrocities of it. It's
[1:11:29]not just the bad policies. It's led to murder all around the world where it's been tried and they don't teach that history unfortunately enough in our schools. And so a lot of young people
[1:11:40]don't even get exposed to the atrocities of socialism. But we'll surely be talking about it and voting on it this Friday. A pretty easy vote I think for most people. Hopefully they say, "No, we
[1:11:50]believe in freedom, opportunity, and we stand against socialism." We're going to have that opportunity this week as well, while we're also focusing on
[1:12:00]affordability. With that, I'm sure you may have a couple of questions for the speaker of the house, Mike Johnson. >> Thanks, sir. >> Speaker Johnson. Speaker [clears throat] Speaker Johnson. Um, the president campaigned on this idea of transparency.
[1:12:12]In the name of transparency, he released the MLK files. In the name of transparency, he released the JF JFK files. Why not in the name of transparency call on the president to just release the full Epstein files? He doesn't even need
[1:12:24]Congress to have this vote. >> Well, the president's made very clear his position over the last few days. Uh his truth post over the weekend and what he said. I mean, he had a press gaggle yesterday. He said the same thing. He's
[1:12:35]he says release all the files. He's been saying that what what he was counting on and what we were insistent upon is using the the processes of Congress as I as I explained here in great detail this
[1:12:45]morning to do it in the right way so that it's not haphazard and u Congress has a role to do that. The oversight committee is the appropriate place for this to be done and that is what is happening right now as you've all seen.
[1:12:57]And so we preferred that route. And by the way, as I mentioned, that route is more comprehensive than anything the discharge petition would accomplish anyway because it didn't even mention the Epstein files and some of these
[1:13:09]other things. I mean the uh estate files. So um we we want the process to play out. We want it to be done in the right way. We want to do it in a way that doesn't jeopardize our legal system and doesn't inflict more harm on victims
[1:13:20]and and the president uh is resolute on that as we have been. And that's why we oppose this gambit from the beginning. Yes. Do you acknowledge that by voting for this discharge petition [clears throat] today that that is a reversal for you? That you could have
[1:13:32]put this on the floor may not have even needed to have a discharge petition if you had supported it months ago. >> It's not a reversal. As I just explained, we had big problems with the discharge from the moment it was filed.
[1:13:43]Uh we talked with the authors there. There was lots of people that went and pleaded with them to fix it so that everybody could be together because we've been for maximum transparency. But again, there there are there there's a
[1:13:53]reason you have rules and processes here to ensure that this is not done uh half-hazardly and I I was not satisfied with that. But I've been from maximum transparency from the very beginning. We
[1:14:03]wanted the process to play out. So yeah, >> I understand where you're coming from with your concerns with the discharge position. I also understand your want for transparency in this case. You've been very clear on both those fronts for
[1:14:14]weeks. So, is the reason why you're now deciding to vote for this resolution because President Trump directly said Republicans should vote for this because this has been your position all along and you've made it clear you weren't in
[1:14:25]support of this resolution. >> If if if the if and when the discharge reached the 218 signature, it'll be forced and the forcing mechanism here prevents the very deliberate,
[1:14:37]professional, careful manner in which Congress is supposed to do this. I lament that. That's why I'd been opposed to it all along. But having now forced the vote, none of us want to go on
[1:14:46]record and and in any way be accused of not being for maximum transparency. So the only uh intellectually consistent position to have right now, the only way to uh to ensure that both those things
[1:14:58]are true at the same time is to allow for everyone to vote their conscience and to and to go on record to say of course of course we're for maximum transparency. Now, I'll tell you, there's a there's a handful of Republicans, Judiciary Committee
[1:15:09]members, and a few others who are who are really struggling, as I have been, about whether or not they could even vote yes today because of this because they don't we don't have an absolute guarantee that this will be fixed in the
[1:15:20]Senate. I have a high degree of confidence in that. And that's why um you know that that's why I'll be voting yesterday. And we've talked about I've talked about that in great detail. We had a a hour and a half long conference
[1:15:32]call on on Sunday with judiciary committee members who are really really concerned. I mean they're all for maximum transparency but they're really really concerned about protecting the victims and I am as well and that's why we have gone through this whole long
[1:15:43]process. Last one >> on that on that >> James Blair today at a Bloomberg event said that they're looking at ways to send millions of Americans checks from tariff dividend revenue but without
[1:15:54]Congress being involved. Do you have concerns about them not running that that sort of process through Congress? >> Well, I'm not I'm not sure that's possible and James Blair and I have some
[1:16:05]intense fellowship about that, I'm sure. Uh he's a good friend. We we uh collaborate on strategy all the time, but this is an idea I think that makes sense. The president was talking about it as recently as yesterday. Uh he was I I think what I heard him say, and I
[1:16:16]haven't talked to him about it because he and I have been both been so busy the last 24 hours. I'll see him in a little while. But um I think what I heard him say yesterday is he's thinking about something maybe midway into next year
[1:16:28]when when the tariff revenue is realized and we can figure out what that looks like. But I I think I I think it would require an act of Congress. So we'll have to see how I'm not sure what proposed on your on your doubts about
[1:16:39]the Yeah. Getting specifically into the substance here. Reading through the bill though, I guess I'm confused because the bill specifically says the attorney general may withhold or redact portions
[1:16:50]related to child sexual abuse materials as defined in the law. Anything jeopardizing federal investigations, it specifically says they can withhold contain anything containing personal identifiable information of victims,
[1:17:02]victim's personal medical files. We know the survivors are comfortable with that. I all of these these things are actually in this bill. They're not. Let me give you an example. And we could we could be up here for a long time. I'll litigate it with you.
[1:17:13]>> Let's do it. Like what specifically is missing? >> So, so the first one you mentioned. Okay. So, here's here's the here's HS 581. This is the discharge. Okay. >> Says on page five,
[1:17:23]>> uh, redact anything that depicts or quote depicts or contains child sexual abuse material CSAM as defined under 18 USC 2256.
[1:17:33]Okay. All right. So, you go to 18 USC 2256. definitions of the chapter. Nowhere in this section, okay, go look it up. All right, does it contain the definition of
[1:17:45]child sexual abuse material. So, I used to litigate federal cases and I would challenge statutes in court. Okay, the language is very important and very precise. If it's not listed here and
[1:17:56]this were to become law, child sexual abuse materials are not included. they're not included for redaction, which means the attorney general and someone there, if they interpret the discharge in the statute that it passes
[1:18:07]uh directly and and and literally as they're supposed to do, they're required to do under the law, then you're going to have things that would that would qualify under child sexual abuse materials. You have child pornography included in the distribution of this
[1:18:18]stuff. We can't go for that. >> But it's the attorney general. >> No, it's not up to the No, it's not up to the attorney general because the way it's listed in the document. No, it's not. It's not because it doesn't
[1:18:28]reference the right code section. So, we can go through every one of these things. We have had a small army of lawyers going through it because I want to make sure that all of my concerns because I read it the first time initially and I thought, whoa, this is
[1:18:39]way out of bounds. We have a leg, in fact, we'll we'll we'll put on the speaker.gov. I'll put it on the website uh here when we leave. You'll see the the summary of the legal analysis and it goes through point by point and it
[1:18:50]points to the specific sections in the discharge. Guys, we're not making this up and you can take it to your council at your at your um outlets um offices and have them review it and they'll tell you the same thing there. This should have been done in a much more careful
[1:19:02]manner and it was not. And I'm going to point out again when when the authors were asked to fix it, they said they weren't interested in doing that. Okay? Why? Because this is a raw and obvious
[1:19:12]political exercise. Again, I'm just going to leave you with this question. You should go ask them all. If you were so concerned about the Epstein files and protecting the victims, why didn't you do a darn thing about it for the four
[1:19:23]years of the Biden administration? All this stuff was sitting in a warehouse and nobody said a word about it. They didn't care. Now they're doing it. We all know why. Because they're trying to
[1:19:32]attack President Trump. KCA question. >> Then tell us the law that's supposed to
[1:19:54]be. >> [clears throat]
[1:20:13]>> It was going >> [clears throat]
[1:20:34]>> For anyone planning to stay on for Dems, they are pushing back until >> noon. Chasey
[1:21:13]>> pull down. So they have to make a decision. Right down. All right.
[1:22:29]I think is J have to leave at one. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I'll go send this out. >> See you. I know this person. [clears throat]
[1:22:58]>> Yeah.