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After a few dramatic moments to kick off the 119th Congress — including a last-second vote switch — Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) was reelected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. 

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Following the confirmation of the vote, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) addressed the gathered House members and then handed off the gavel to Johnson. When Johnson was first elected speaker in October 2023, it happened so quickly that they didn’t have time to secure a flight for his wife Kelly to join him for it. This time, she was there, and after asking for a moment of silence to honor the victims of the horrific terror attack in his home state on New Year’s Day, Johnson began his speech by expressing his gratitude that Kelly was able to join him and honoring her and their four children.

BREAKING: We Have a Speaker, on the First Vote

WATCH: Newly Elected House Speaker Mike Johnson Addresses Congress

Johnson’s full remarks may be viewed below (the video should be cued up to their beginning), but here are some key excerpts from Friday’s address:

“Our nation is the envy of the world. Why? Because we have been marked by a spirit and a people who are explicitly that. We are explicitly American. We don’t try to be like other nations, and we recognize that a strong America is good for the entire world, and everybody around the globe knows that. That’s right. 

“We also recognize that the core principles that made America what we are must still be preserved today. The principles — I call them the seven core principles of American conservatism, but it’s really the seven core principles of the nation itself: individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets, and human dignity. These are the ingredients, the things that made us who we are. 

“And in America, we know that human flourishing is best achieved by adherence to time-tested truths. We could list a number of those simple truths. Here’s a couple: it’s better to give a hand up than a hand out, that innovation thrives when bureaucracy dies, the simple truth that it is parents and families and not administrators that must be in charge of their children’s education, the path of prosperity has long been paved with policies that put America and Americans first, and that is what we will champion in the 119th Congress.”

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Turning to focus on key agenda items, Johnson continued: 

“We will act quickly, and we will start by defending our nation’s borders. That’s the number one priority…In coordination with President Trump, this Congress will give our border and immigration enforcement agents the resources that they need to do their job. We will secure the border. We will deport dangerous criminal, illegal aliens and finally finish building the border wall. You said you’d work with us on that, Hakeem. I’m counting on it!”

Invoking the spirit of our Founding Fathers, Johnson further laid out the agenda for the coming months, including the rollback of the regulatory state and return of power to the people.

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“[A]s heirs to the American Revolution and the descendants of patriots who defied tyranny in the coming months, we are going to pass legislation to roll back the totalitarian fourth branch of government known as the administrative state. And we’re going to drastically cut back the size and scope of government. 

“We’re going to return the power back to the people. And, in coordination with President Trump and his administration, we are going to create a leaner, faster and more efficient federal workforce. We need to do that. Our people do not deserve to be ruled by millions of bureaucrats they’ve never voted for, never met, and can never hold accountable. They deserve a government that is led by those they’ve elected to lead. That is how Article I is supposed to work. That was the idea of the Congress, and we will return to that principle. The American people have called on us to reject business as usual and throw out the status quo. We must, and we will heed their call.”

The levers of power are now firmly in GOP hands. Let’s hope they use them wisely and govern effectively. There’s a lot riding on this.