Press Releases

WASHINGTON — This morning, ahead of Congress' return to legislative session next week, Speaker Johnson joined ABC's Good Morning America, CNN's CNN News Central, and Fox News' America's Newsroom all in studio to recap the August District Work Period, preview the month ahead, and react to news of the day.

Watch Speaker Johnson on ABC here, CNN here, and Fox News here.

On the August District Work Period and the One Big Beautiful Bill:

What happened over the August district work period is Republicans fanned out, Senate and House Republicans, across the country to all their districts to go and explain exactly the extraordinary things that are in this bill. It's geared and written for lower- and middle-class earners. They're going to feel the effects of that. We restored American energy dominance, peace through strength, largest tax cuts in US history. People are going to feel that before they vote in that midterm election, and I am very bullish on the outcome of that because they'll see the results.

And I've been in town halls around the country over this break, 12 states in the last week, and people are standing and applauding for what we've done. So look, I tell you, the facts are going to speak for themselves, the results, and the things that people experience. And that's why we're excited about the midterms coming up. We're going to win this.

On Republicans’ efforts to stop violent crime: 

The first thing to remember is that we cannot allow crime to devastate and ruin our great cities in America. Certainly not the greatest capital in the world. And we've got to end the crime wave. We've got to clean up the city, and we've got to make sure that it shines as it should, as the greatest nation's greatest capital. So, we'll begin to do that. You'll see some components of legislation that'll come forward to address the juvenile crime wave that's happening there.

We're going to handle D.C. first because that's directly within our purview and then look to other cities around America as well. We've got to also end these policing policies that have prevented law enforcement from actually keeping safety on the streets for residents and visitors who become victims. And that's an important thing to do. Sometimes local governance does not do the job, and the oversight in D.C. is long overdue.

On Democrats continuing to move leftward:

It's kind of sad that this is the condition of our national politics. I will point out that of the approval ratings of people in within their own party, there's a wide chasm between that as well. We have our highest approval rating ever, Republicans in Congress, while the Democrats have the lowest approval rating ever of their own party.

But in the platforms of the two parties, there's a wide chasm as well. This is not your father's Democratic party. They've gone full Marxist socialist. They're going to elect a Marxist as the mayor of this great city. And it's a terrible trend. So look, I'm for bipartisanship when we can do it. We want to bring common sense Democrats along with us to solve these problems. But if they're not willing to come along, we have to do it ourselves. And that's why we did the big beautiful bill through reconciliation.

On National Democrats politicizing tragedies:

It's incredible to me that Jen Psaki and Gavin Newsom and others would attack religion and diminish the faith of millions of Americans at a time of such great tragedy. There are a lot of common-sense solutions, things that can be done to protect children at schools and in churches that do not involve taking away the constitutional rights of law-abiding American citizens. This is not a time to politicize these issues. We mourn for the families, the community that's affected there. I'm sure you guys saw the father's remarks yesterday for that little boy who was lost, Fletcher Merkel. It's such a heart wrenching thing for all of us. And at the end of the day, the problem is not guns. Okay, Jen Psaki, the problem is the human heart. It's mental health. There are things that we can do, solutions that we can come together to handle, but this is not the time for politics.