Press Releases

WASHINGTON — This morning, Speaker Johnson joined Squawk Box on CNBC with Becky Quick, Joe Kernen, and Andrew Ross Sorkin to discuss striking the responsible balance between AI innovation and safety, the Democrat Party’s ongoing leftward shift towards socialism, and Republicans setting the conditions for a strong America and thriving economy.

“What we would do in the next two years is exactly what we have been doing already, and that is putting the conditions in place for a strong America again,” Speaker Johnson said. “We’ve restored not just American energy dominance and peace through strength, but a vibrant economy. The stock market indexes are high, jobs numbers exceed expectations, and the Atlanta Fed says 5.1% economic growth is expected in the third quarter. That doesn't happen by happenstance. It's because we did what we said we were going to do and put in pro-growth, free market principles in legislation and in federal policy. We will continue to do that.”

Watch the full interview here.

On striking the responsible balance between AI innovation and safety:

I'm for striking the right balance. I've been urging this meeting for quite some time. I think the leading minds need to get together at the White House and have this discussion. President Trump's the only one with the gravitas to be able to pull all these people together… I have resisted the siren song to jump in and do these blanket moratoriums and all of this, you know, hyper-regulation because we cannot lose our edge to China.

So, this is about striking the right balance. I think we've got to make sure we do this well. We need to keep America ahead in this transformational technology, but also do it in a safe way. There's corporate responsibility here, of course. These folks have to provide safe products. But I think a little oversight, little transparency, a little external auditing of what's going on would calm the nerves of a lot of people. And I think we got to figure out what that exact balance is.

On the contrast between Congressional Republicans and Democrats:

We care about the interest of the American people. We're not looking at 2028. I'm looking for the next two years to make sure we keep on pace to grow the economy, to provide more jobs. We had a million private sector jobs created in the economy. We passed landmark legislation in this House against the odds. Remember, the obstructionist Democrats shut down the government this Congress for 120 days, a record long, the two longest shutdowns in US history. They have no objective and no intention of working for commonsense, bipartisan solutions for the American people. They just hate Donald Trump. And they will turn the entire mechanism of the legislative branch of government into an attack mode to go after him. It will not benefit the economy, the American people, business owners, job creators, entrepreneurs, risk takers.

You have to keep the grownups in charge. You have to keep common sense, steady hands at the wheel in the House and Senate. And that is what we are offering the American people. So, I think if they look at this objectively, it's an easy contest for us. We're running against people who have said and put in writing as their platform, they want to abolish the border. They want to abolish prisons, defund the police, defund the Department of War expand the Supreme Court, abolish the US Senate, and remove the President.

On the Democrat Party’s ongoing leftward shift towards socialism:

The DSA has told us what they're all about. By the way, the insurgent left is consuming the Democrat Party. There will be no blue dog Democrats, no free-market Democrats left after this cycle. We will not be having arguments and debates about traditional issues, marginal tax rates and inflation and foreign policy. This will be a battle between whether or not we're going to keep the republic, we're going to break this thing down and go down this dark, dangerous road to Marxism. That is the energy, the excitement, the grassroots on the left is taking over the party. So that's what's at stake. Common sense versus crazy. The Democrat Socialists of America will drive the policy. 

On Republicans setting the conditions for a thriving economy:

We have to do more of that work across the labyrinth of the federal government. But what we would do in the next two years is exactly what we have been doing already, and that is putting the conditions in place for a strong America again. We restored not just American energy dominance and peace through strength, but a vibrant economy. The conditions are there for this to take off. And that's why the stock market indexes are high; that's why job numbers exceed expectations. The Atlanta Fed says 5.1% economic growth expected in the third quarter. That doesn't happen by happenstance. It's because we did what we say we're going to do and put in pro-growth, free market principles in legislation and in federal policy. We have to continue that. We got so much more to do, and we can make things so much better.

We have the lowest violent crime rate in 126 years, the biggest decline in prescription drugs in 60 years. You've got the most secure border in a half century – not a single illegal alien released into the country in 16 straight months.

In this election cycle in 35 days, do you want to put Democrats back in charge who gave you $5 gasoline, who the Democrats said, Joe Biden himself and all of them, they want to end fossil fuels? Is that going to return to those policies? Is that going to bring gas prices down? Of course not. They want to reopen the borders. We closed the borders. I mean, this is law and order. This is common sense versus crazy. That's what's on the ballot in 35 days. You have to keep the team in charge that is putting the conditions in place for the economy to do better for everybody.