Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Now the governing can begin,
Speaker 1: Tim and Carroll, we got through the formalities, he can
Speaker 1: swear in the members now listen.
Speaker 2: He's got a feel relief, no doubt about it. But
Speaker 2: Joe Matthew, I always wonder about politically, you know how
Speaker 2: this looks better that it didn't go to a second
Speaker 2: round or a third round. Nobody would argue that, but
Speaker 2: that he didn't get it easily without having to have
Speaker 2: some negotiating going on. What are the implications potentially of that,
Speaker 2: or do we start governing next week and everybody forgets
Speaker 2: about it.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: Anybody we'll forget about any of this. Let's remember he
Speaker 1: will have a majority if Donald Trump gets the members
Speaker 1: he requested to join his administration, a majority of one.
Speaker 1: So when you see Mike Johnson talking to Hakeim Jeffreys
Speaker 1: on the floor there, rest assured. They're going to have
Speaker 1: to work together to make anything happen. The next step,
Speaker 1: of course, once we get through this swearing in the membership,
Speaker 1: they're going to have to craft out a plan an
Speaker 1: agenda that will include borer security and extending the Trump
Speaker 1: tax cuts. They're going to have to avoid a government shutdown.
Speaker 1: They're going to have to deal with raising the debt ceiling.
Speaker 1: Doing all of that with a majority of one is
Speaker 1: going to be very complicated for Mike Johnson, who is
Speaker 1: now making his way toward the speaker's rostrum so he
Speaker 1: can reclaim the gavel. A lot of happy folks here,
Speaker 1: But to your point, I think, Carol, the hard part
Speaker 1: actually starts now.
Speaker 4: Did this vote today send any sort of message about
Speaker 4: the power of Donald Trump. Mike Johnson was backed is
Speaker 4: backed by Donald Trump, but not everybody in the party
Speaker 4: fell in line today.
Speaker 1: Donald Trump and Elon musked him. They both late in
Speaker 1: the game endorsed Mike Johnson. We can argue that it
Speaker 1: might have helped him actually get this done on the
Speaker 1: first round, remembering that this had to happen today for
Speaker 1: the vote certification on Monday, the sixth of January, right,
Speaker 1: this is the next January sixth we're walking up on here.
Speaker 1: You need to have a Congress to do that. That's
Speaker 1: a joint session where that takes place in the very
Speaker 1: chamber that we're looking at now, and you'll see Kamala
Speaker 1: Harris preside over that vote certification. That was a point
Speaker 1: of leverage that Kevin McCarthy didn't have, that even Mike
Speaker 1: Johnson didn't have the last time around. And I suspect
Speaker 1: that Donald Trump was involved in those conversations. Today we
Speaker 1: saw Nancy Mace hand her cell phone over to Ralph
Speaker 1: Norman at one point. I wonder who was on the
Speaker 1: line there and whether that was a Florida area code.
Speaker 1: That's the way this thing takes place now. That's the
Speaker 1: way it's done now, and what would normally be kind
Speaker 1: of a formality, you have to grind the gears a
Speaker 1: little bit when you have so few people on your
Speaker 1: side in this Republican conference.
Speaker 2: I gotta say, Joe, I want to go back to
Speaker 2: something earlier you said, and it's something that we have
Speaker 2: many conversations with folks around this table, investment experts who
Speaker 2: are wondering exactly what a Trump White House's second Trump
Speaker 2: White House ultimately gets done. You talk about this slim
Speaker 2: majority that will be there on the House and the
Speaker 2: work that Mike Johnson will have to do to really
Speaker 2: reach across the aisle. It does it is indicative of
Speaker 2: maybe not everything, or not to the extremes in terms
Speaker 2: of the policies we heard from Donald Trump on the
Speaker 2: campaign trail ultimately get carried out.
Speaker 3: Well, that's true.
Speaker 1: I mean, remember, of course you've got a Republican House,
Speaker 1: a Republican Senate, and a Republican White House. If it's
Speaker 1: ever going to happen, it's now. But yes, the real
Speaker 1: argument will likely fall along the lines of this tax
Speaker 1: code reform. It's not just as simple anymore, right as
Speaker 1: extending the Trump tax cuts. You have to add no
Speaker 1: taxes on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on
Speaker 1: Social Security, mortgage interest, there were so many others involving
Speaker 1: auto loans and things that. Never mind salt. We haven't
Speaker 1: mentioned salt yet. Can you get all of that into
Speaker 1: one bill? That's a tall order. So when you look
Speaker 1: at promises made on the campaign trail, you have to
Speaker 1: get into the granular and whether that's in fact possible.
Speaker 1: Here we're looking at this live shop by the way
Speaker 1: of Chip Roy in the back of the chamber, along
Speaker 1: with some of his fellow members of the Freedom Caucus,
Speaker 1: who were, you know, the troublemakers if you will, in
Speaker 1: this case for Mike Johnson, even though he closed the
Speaker 1: deal on round one. But what we're going to see
Speaker 1: next is the speaker in the rostrum where he'll be
Speaker 1: introduced by Haakim Jeffries and handed the gavel.
Speaker 3: And this is the moment that they wanted, right.
Speaker 1: They've got their family members, their kids are with them
Speaker 1: in some cases today this is supposed to be a big,
Speaker 1: raw raw photo op for the conference and they'll get
Speaker 1: to that eventually once we get by the way back
Speaker 1: to Washington and back to governing in a week or two.
Speaker 3: It's also the confirmation.
Speaker 1: Hearings that need to take place for Donald Trump's team,
Speaker 1: and those are not going to go very easily for
Speaker 1: the likes of Pete hag Seth, Tulsea Gabbard, RFK Junior.
Speaker 1: So before we even get to writing legislation, Carol, there
Speaker 1: are going to be some bumps on the road for
Speaker 1: this Republican majority.
Speaker 4: Is Thomas Massey one of those bumps on the road, Well.
Speaker 1: Boy, he sure was today, although you know everyone saw
Speaker 1: it coming, so I feel like they just kind of
Speaker 1: factored him out. He's made very clear that he's not
Speaker 1: about to change his vote for Mike Johnson no matter
Speaker 1: what he is promised. So I think it's some of
Speaker 1: the other members that Chip Roys, Marjorie Taylor Green was
Speaker 1: on the side of Mike Johnson in this case, Andy Biggs,
Speaker 1: some of those folks Andy Ogles and the Freedom Caucus
Speaker 1: who don't like the way Mike Johnson handles budgeting, the
Speaker 1: fact that he has worked with Democrats so far, they
Speaker 1: might be more of the thorn in his.
Speaker 2: Side, you know, all right, just to rehash if you're
Speaker 2: just joining us on radio, TV, across our platforms, Republican
Speaker 2: Mike Johnson winning re election as how Speaker, overcoming resistance
Speaker 2: from a small but pivotal group of conservative hardliners after
Speaker 2: a flurry of last minute talks and with the help
Speaker 2: of a critical endorsement from President like Donald Trump. You know, Joe,
Speaker 2: you understand the workings of Washington and what goes in
Speaker 2: and around the nation's capital so well. It will be
Speaker 2: an interesting second term of Donald Trump, and most already
Speaker 2: say it's going to be different from the first White House.
Speaker 2: I am curious if you were sitting down though, with
Speaker 2: the Speaker, what would be your first question to him?
Speaker 3: Boy?
Speaker 1: You know, how often do you guys talk Because a
Speaker 1: lot of people think Donald Trump is the real speaker,
Speaker 1: and you've got arguably Donald Trump on one shoulder and
Speaker 1: Elon Musk on the other. So this is really framed
Speaker 1: by many the hardest job in Washington, at least the
Speaker 1: most unwonted job in Washington is being the Speaker of
Speaker 1: the House with.
Speaker 3: Such a narrow mid major.
Speaker 1: I guess i'd ask him, to what extent are you
Speaker 1: willing to work with hackem Jeffreys as well, because they're
Speaker 1: going to need each other to do anything in this case.
Speaker 1: It's not so much a power sharing agreement in the
Speaker 1: traditional sense when you'd have a real tie, but with
Speaker 1: one member, my goodness, they're going to have to work
Speaker 1: together on a lot of things here, and that's going
Speaker 1: to make life more challenging for Mike Johnson. Question is again,
Speaker 1: how quick can they get to the border? That's what
Speaker 1: people want to see, those who brought Donald Trump back
Speaker 1: to Washington, and that will likely be the first bill
Speaker 1: that you see emerge.
Speaker 4: How tenuous is Speaker Johnson's position right now? I think
Speaker 4: back to the challenges that former House Speaker McCarthy faced, Yeah,
Speaker 4: just a couple of years ago before this. How tenuous
Speaker 4: is his position right now?
Speaker 1: It's less tenuous simply by the math tim they're going
Speaker 1: to be voting on a rules package that I refer
Speaker 1: to already here. That's one of the next procedural things
Speaker 1: that will take place that changes that motion to vacate.
Speaker 1: We kept talking about the procedure through which you fire
Speaker 1: the speaker, as Kevin McCarthy, he made a deal to
Speaker 1: get that gavel by bringing it down to a single member.
Speaker 1: That's partly why Matt Gates is famous at this point
Speaker 1: because he took care of that. No longer in the House,
Speaker 1: and by the way, he didn't show up today as
Speaker 1: some thought he might. That number increased to nine. Now
Speaker 1: it would take nine members to trigger a vote.
Speaker 3: To fire the speaker.
Speaker 1: So you've got a little bit of breathing room for
Speaker 1: Mike Johnson procedurally but also politically because he's got Donald
Speaker 1: Trump at his back, He's got Elon Musk behind him,
Speaker 1: and will likely be in much better shape in this
Speaker 1: Congress than anything we saw in the last.
Speaker 2: I will say that we do have members of the
Speaker 2: House weighing in. Representative Scott Perry from Pennsylvania say, while
Speaker 2: I maintained my reservations about Speaker Johnson's leadership record, today
Speaker 2: I voted in support of President Trump's agenda. We will
Speaker 2: hold Speaker Johnson accountable to accomplish the Republican agenda, and
Speaker 2: talking about specific issues, he must secure our southern border, institute,
Speaker 2: commence House rules, cut and bridled federal spending, implement a
Speaker 2: Congressional stock trade band. So you know, various members weighing
Speaker 2: in maybe on some of their concerns. Joe and I
Speaker 2: would assume that we'll continue to hear some of these
Speaker 2: about what they expect out of this speaker.
Speaker 3: Yes, sure you will.
Speaker 1: And that's an important one that you mentioned, by the way,
Speaker 1: not by accident, because that is a member of the
Speaker 1: Freedom Caucus who has been on the fence with some
Speaker 1: of this, not so much about the Trump agenda. These
Speaker 1: are Maga loyalists, but they are not always in favor
Speaker 1: of the way that Mike Johnson or before him, Kevin
Speaker 1: McCarthy has worked with Democrats continuing resolutions omnibus bills. They
Speaker 1: want regular order and they want steep spending cuts. And
Speaker 1: by the way, I've mentioned Elon Musk a couple of times.
Speaker 1: Right before this vote, Mike Johnson went on X and
Speaker 1: put quite a missive and said, as.
Speaker 3: Speaker, I commit to do the following. There were three items.
Speaker 1: The very first one was to commit to working with
Speaker 1: Doge and to enact the spending cut recommendations that come
Speaker 1: from Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami.
Speaker 3: It may have helped him win the gavel today.
Speaker 2: All right, Joe, do not go anywhere. Chris need you
Speaker 2: at this hour, no doubt about that. We do have
Speaker 2: somebody up there on Capitol Hill, our own Tyler Candall.
Speaker 2: She's a Bloomberg News reporter. Tyler, what I am interested
Speaker 2: in what you are picking up in terms of mood
Speaker 2: and maybe what was going on behind the scenes when
Speaker 2: Mike Johnson didn't initially get that vote and had to
Speaker 2: do some work behind the scenes.
Speaker 5: Yeah, hey, Carol, it was fast moving up here on
Speaker 5: Capitol Hill. And just to give you a little bit
Speaker 5: of color, what's happening up here. The hill is absolutely
Speaker 5: packed both with members but also their families as they
Speaker 5: come to witness the new member class be sworn in.
Speaker 5: So there is high energy here in the rotunda. I
Speaker 5: can tell you that I was sticking out how Speaker
Speaker 5: Mike Johnson's office earlier today before the vote, where he
Speaker 5: told reporters that he would not engage in what he
Speaker 5: called a quid pro quo to get any votes over
Speaker 5: the finish line. So that's going to be the next
Speaker 5: big question here. As Joe was talking about, what were
Speaker 5: those backroom deals that may have been reached in order
Speaker 5: to ultimately get him to that magic number of two eighteen.
Speaker 4: As Joe mentioned, the challenging part comes now, Tyler, what
Speaker 4: does Mike Johnson have to do to be able to
Speaker 4: actually be effective as House Speaker with such a slight majority.
Speaker 5: Right, So, I had reporting this morning that I had
Speaker 5: spoken to a Congressional aid who told me that they
Speaker 5: ultimately thought that this was going to come down to
Speaker 5: potential spending cuts, some sort of deal around that. Since
Speaker 5: when he looked at the members who were voicing concerns
Speaker 5: with Johnson, they were the same members who had previously
Speaker 5: voiced concerns when it comes to potentially a Donald Trump's
Speaker 5: agenda and what that means for the fiscal outlook for
Speaker 5: the country, particularly anticipated tax cuts. So I think that's
Speaker 5: going to see something that we really see prioritized in
Speaker 5: this next congress, particularly with Speaker Johnson. Joe had also
Speaker 5: mentioned this, but right before he went on the floor,
Speaker 5: he put out what he was calling his list of
Speaker 5: commitments to his conference, and they really had to deal
Speaker 5: with this idea of fiscal responsibility, such as working with
Speaker 5: joje and pointing independent experts that will release a report
Speaker 5: to the public, but also urging his committees that they
Speaker 5: have to take what he called, quote a great action
Speaker 5: when it came to reviewing their appropriations, because we are
Speaker 5: expecting a busy year, particularly with President elect Trump's new agenda,
Speaker 5: and it's going to include spending, and it's going to
Speaker 5: include tax cuts. And this was just a little bit
Speaker 5: of a preview for some of the criticism and Thorn's
Speaker 5: in the side of Speaker Johnson that we might expect.
Speaker 2: Tyler, I've got to say I've been watching and monitoring
Speaker 2: to see if the President elect has made any comments
Speaker 2: on truth social and just kind of watching to see
Speaker 2: if he makes any comments. What, if anything, did you
Speaker 2: hear about behind the scenes of any involvement of the
Speaker 2: President elect in this process, especially since when it seemed
Speaker 2: like it was a little bit touch and go here
Speaker 2: at the end, Well.
Speaker 5: I have to say there was actually an audible gas
Speaker 5: peer in the rotunda when chip Roy ended up going
Speaker 5: for President elect Trump. We know that chip Roy had
Speaker 5: been one of those holdouts and he had previously sparred
Speaker 5: with President elect Trump. If you'll recall, during that spending
Speaker 5: debate last month, when Trump had urged Republicans to lift
Speaker 5: the debt ceiling, he threatened Roy with a primary challenge cance.
Speaker 5: Roy stood up and said that he was not going
Speaker 5: to end up voting for that. So it was interesting
Speaker 5: to hear that when President elect Trump threw his weight
Speaker 5: behind Johnson, he offered to personally call members and that
Speaker 5: included Trip Royce. We are and on the first round,
Speaker 5: of course, trip Roy ended up going for Mike Johnson.
Speaker 5: So it does appear that there was some sort of
Speaker 5: sway there, and we are also told that allies of
Speaker 5: Trump on the Hill ended up going into trying to
Speaker 5: push and work with Speaker Mike Johnson when it came
Speaker 5: to persuading some of these House Freedom Caucus members. But
Speaker 5: ultimately important to remember that on that first round vote,
Speaker 5: trip Roy and also the Chair of the House Freedom Caucus,
Speaker 5: Andy Harris, both voted in favor of Johnson.
Speaker 4: Tyler Kendall, Bloomberg News reporter joining us live from Capitol Hill.
Speaker 3: Thanks so much for that.
Speaker 4: I do want to go back to Joe Matthew standing
Speaker 4: by in our Washington DC Bureau co host of Bloomberg
Speaker 4: Balance of Power. Excuse me, Joe, so many shows out there.
Speaker 4: I want to go back to what you said about DOGE,
Speaker 4: the Department of Government Efficiency and the commitment on the
Speaker 4: Department of Government Efficiency from the elected Speaker of the
Speaker 4: House Mike Johnson, and hear a little bit about your
Speaker 4: view on how this could be easier said than done.
Speaker 4: Given how much the US government spends on Social Security, Medicare,
Speaker 4: national defense, health even net interest. I mean that's the
Speaker 4: majority of the budget right there. How does the Speaker
Speaker 4: enact the recommendations from DOGE.
Speaker 1: It's a great question, and I'll preface my answer by
Speaker 1: saying that this DOGE, the d for Department, is not
Speaker 1: actually a government department, right, This is kind of a
Speaker 1: blue ribbon panel, if you will, not, unlike other committees
Speaker 1: that have been put together before. So we've been trying
Speaker 1: to determine where's the connective tissue here between the DOGE
Speaker 1: and the actual lawmaking when it comes to writing legislation
Speaker 1: or crafting budgets. He wrote in his post on X
Speaker 1: I commit to create a working group prized of independent experts,
Speaker 1: not corrupted by lobbyists and special interests to work with
Speaker 1: DOGE and our committees on implementing recommended government and spending
Speaker 1: reforms to protect the American taxpayer. There's no guarantee there
Speaker 1: that that actually happens, though, and we don't exactly know
Speaker 1: yet what the DOGE plans to do in terms of
Speaker 1: cutting spending. We've heard Elon Musk suggests cutting two trillion dollars,
Speaker 1: but I think to your point, Tim, they'd have to
Speaker 1: probably crack into entitlements to find that kind of money.
Speaker 1: They would have the slash defense spending, neither of which
Speaker 1: Donald Trump wants to do.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I've heard that called the third rail of politics.
Speaker 4: People don't necessarily want to touch that. Joe, all right, Joe,
Speaker 4: thanks so much. Right, Yeah, Joe, thanks so much. We're
Speaker 4: gonna let you go. You got a lot of work
Speaker 4: to do. That's a Bloomberg's Joe Matthew down there in Washington, DC.
Speaker 3: I'm grateful for this nomination.
Speaker 4: I'm grateful for this election, for the confidence this Chamber
Speaker 4: has placed in me.
Speaker 1: It is the great honor of my life to serve
Speaker 1: this body with all of you.
Speaker 2: Speaker Johnson Lang at the Republican Agenda the priority is
Speaker 2: a return to in his words, to common sense after
Speaker 2: winning re election as House Speaker, overcoming resistance from a
Speaker 2: small but pivotal group of conservative hardliners after a flurry
Speaker 2: of last minute talk something we were watching happen in
Speaker 2: real time from the House floor. And also he did
Speaker 2: have the help of a critical endorsement from President like
Speaker 2: Donald Trump, who has come out tim untruths social offering
Speaker 2: up his congratulations to Speaker Mike Johnson for receiving in
Speaker 2: the president x words, an unprecedented vote of confidence in Congress.
Speaker 2: He says, Mike will be a great speaker and our
Speaker 2: country will be the beneficiary.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so wasn't just Mike Johnson he we heard from.
Speaker 4: We also heard from Kim Jeffries.
Speaker 3: A little earlier.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, Chris said it is time for us to come together,
Speaker 4: not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans to get
Speaker 4: things done for the people. In that spirit, House Democrats
Speaker 4: work hard to find bipartisan common with our Republican colleagues
Speaker 4: in the incoming administration on any issue, whenever and wherever possible.
Speaker 2: Someone who will be following what kind of common ground
Speaker 2: they altimately find is Bloomberg News Politics editor Laura Davison,
Speaker 2: She's been sitting by listening to all of the happenings
Speaker 2: on the floor of the US House of Representative. She's
Speaker 2: there in our Bloomberg News DC bureau. Laura, you do wonder, okay, ultimately,
Speaker 2: after listening to the Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries, followed by
Speaker 2: the House Speaker Mike Johnson, their agendas, their priorities, they
Speaker 2: certainly do not align. So you do wonder about the
Speaker 2: common ground that they will find moving forward.
Speaker 6: Yeah, these speeches are sort of the first day of
Speaker 6: school speeches. You know, everyone's back, you know they want
Speaker 6: re election back after the holidays and feeling optimistic and
Speaker 6: you know, joyful. A lot of those feelings subside, you know,
Speaker 6: really within just days or even hours. You Republicans have
Speaker 6: full control. They do not have to negotiate with Democrats
Speaker 6: for much of anything. They're able to use these processes
Speaker 6: where they can fast track bills through Congress. So it's
Speaker 6: unlikely that we're going to see much bipartisan cooperation despite
Speaker 6: some of both what Hakeim Jeffreys says as well as
Speaker 6: Mike Johnson sort of alluding to working together. Really, you know,
Speaker 6: Democrats job in this is to sort of do whatever
Speaker 6: they can do to delay and try to you know,
Speaker 6: sw division among Republicans. Mike Johnson's job is to keep
Speaker 6: his Republican party together. There are some divisions in that party,
Speaker 6: things that Democrats could exploit. He has a narrow, narrow majority,
Speaker 6: even narrower than he did last Congress. So this is
Speaker 6: going to be the big challenge going forward. You also have,
Speaker 6: you know, Republicans in the Senate and Republicans in the
Speaker 6: House not on the same page. In the Senate, we
Speaker 6: heard John Thune say earlier that he wants to move
Speaker 6: first with an immigration bill. In the House that we
Speaker 6: are talking more about doing taxes first. So there's a
Speaker 6: lot of ideas and you know, only a limited sort
Speaker 6: of pathway to get some of these legislative priorities done.
Speaker 4: What does the President elect want Congress to do?
Speaker 1: This is a good question.
Speaker 6: He has not weighed in some of his aids, have
Speaker 6: really pushed for immigration to be that first priority and
Speaker 6: really leaned on John Thune in the Senate to make
Speaker 6: that path forward. What we've heard from folks in the
Speaker 6: House is said, look, you know, every time we've tried
Speaker 6: to do multiple things, you know, they sort of in
Speaker 6: a moment of sort of shocking self recognition, we can't
Speaker 6: do that. You know, we saw in Trump's first term
Speaker 6: they tried to do with a healthcare bill that filled
Speaker 6: failed and they ultimately moved on to taxes. What Democrats
Speaker 6: some Republicans are saying, look, let's get taxes done. We
Speaker 6: have a year end deadline. If we don't act, if
Speaker 6: we don't get a bill pass, then taxes will go up.
Speaker 6: We will see sort of Trump's first term signature, legislative
Speaker 6: achievement go away. So there's a hard push there to
Speaker 6: really make sure that taxes get the priority and they
Speaker 6: aren't waylaid by other things. You know, the Congress has
Speaker 6: been bedeviled by an immigration package for decades, so I
Speaker 6: think there's some concern that, you know that even though
Speaker 6: they have Republicans all in control, that that still is
Speaker 6: done an easy thing to get across the finish.
Speaker 2: Yep, we've all grown a little bit older watching that
Speaker 2: and waiting in terms of immigration. Laura, thank you so much,
Speaker 2: so appreciate your patients and listening along and giving us
Speaker 2: some great commentary there. Bloomberg News Politics editor Laura Davison