Hardline House Republicans Make Clear They Voted For Speaker Johnson Only Out of ‘Steadfast’ Support For Trump

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) released a letter Friday signed by him and 10 other hard-line members of the House Freedom Caucus after they voted to reelect Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). In the letter, the House Republicans make clear they only voted for Johnson out of “steadfast support of President Trump” and made a list of demands for the next Congress.

“Today, we voted for Mike Johnson for Speaker of the House because of our steadfast support of President Trump and to ensure the timely certification of his electors. We did this despite our sincere reservations regarding the Speaker’s track record over the past 15 months,” began the letter, adding:

To deliver on the historic mandate earned by President Trump for the Republican Party, we must be organized to use reconciliation and all legislative tools to deliver on critical border security, spending cuts, pro-growth tax policy, regulatory reform, and the reversal of the damage done by the Biden-Harris administration. It is critical we get this work done expeditiously.

The letter then listed several commitments the group would like to see Johnson stand up to:

Modify the House calendar to work at least as hard as the Senate – which is in session five days a week for the first 10 weeks-rather than working three and a half days a week for eight of the first 10 weeks;

Ensure any reconciliation package reduces spending and the deficit in real terms with respect to the dynamic score of tax and spending policies under recent growth trends;

Guarantee members can offer amendments and stop putting bills on the floor that violate the 72-hour rule (members need time to read and debate legislation), rely heavily on Democrat support for passage, or that are often not supported by a majority of Republicans.

The letter also listed legislation the group wants Johnson to put on the floor for a vote as part of enacting “President Trump’s bold agenda.” The letter asked Johnson to:

Fully secure the border to stop the flow of illegal aliens completely and enact permanent border security policy reforms without amnesty or immigration expansion;

Cut rampant inflationary spending significantly to guarantee deficit reduction and a rapid path to a balanced budget;

Not increase federal borrowing before real spending cuts are agreed to and in place;

Reverse Biden-Harris policies immediately, including disastrous and expensive student loan bailouts, inflationary EV-mandates and Green New Deal subsidies to unleash American energy, massive subsidization of unhealthy foods in the food stamp program to make American healthy again and save taxpayer dollars, and much more;

Fully embrace healthcare freedom by expanding health savings accounts and freeing them from costly regulations to empower patients and doctors, not insurance companies;

Fix American elections completely by ensuring only citizens vote, requiring voter identification, enforcing same-day (or close to same-day) voting, and securing ballots;

End stock trading by members of Congress.

Reps. Andy Harris (R-MD), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Scott Perry (R-PA), Clay Higgins (R-LA), Michael Cloud (R-TX), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Eli Crane (R-AZ), Eric Burlison (R-M), Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Andrew Clyde (R-GA) signed the letter alongside Roy. The threshold to force a vote to oust a speaker was raised to nine in the latest Rules Committee package for the incoming congress, making the number of members signing on to the letter significant.

Read the full letter here.