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House Speaker Comments on Government Funding Fight; House to Vote on Spending Bill; New Aluminum and Steel Tariffs Against Canada. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired March 11, 2025 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:30:00]

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), HOUSE SPEAKER: -- going to send us a budget that's going to request funding for a smaller, leaner, more efficient, effective, accountable federal government. That is a new paradigm for us, and we're excited about that. That's what we'll be working on as soon as we get FY26 off the table. FY25, we turn to FY26, and that's when we have all the cuts that and the savings that will be actualized at that point.

There's a process, as I've explained in here. You have to qualify those savings, you got to quantify them, and then you codify them. Well, the codification process comes for FY26. You're going to see the administration and the Congress working in tandem to provide and present a better government for the people. And that is something many of us ran for Congress to do. That day is now upon us, and we're excited about it. Yes?

REPORTER: Mr. Speaker, the stock market plunged yesterday. It's going down again today. Part of the reason is because of President Trump's policies on tariffs, including the ones that were just introduced this morning. Can you comment here? Does Trump need to rethink what he is doing, given the chaos that we're seeing in the stock market?

JOHNSON: This is how I feel about it. Many of us feel about it. The president has already proven what he can do on the economy. This is not theoretical. Look at the first term of the Trump administration. Prior to COVID, we've talked about this many time in here -- times in here, at the first two years of the Trump administration, we had the greatest economy in the history of the world, not just the U.S. Go check it. We had -- every demographic was doing better. All boats were rising. We had a thriving U.S. economy. We were booming. And that's because of the policies and the strategy that President Trump led and delivered.

We cut taxes, we cut regulations, we let people keep more money in their pocket, and we made America the first priority. That is what he is doing again. Now, he's got to, he's got to re-shake and shape things because it's in a real mess. The last four years was a disaster in economic policy and every other measurement of public policy.

So, what President Trump is doing, I think of it sort of like when you're playing billiards and you're playing pool, right? You go on the table and the balls are racked, right? And you hit it as hard as you can. This is many people's strategy in the game. You hit it as hard as you can to break up. The balls on the table and send them to spread. Then, you play the strategy of sinking them in the holes, right? That's what we're doing right now.

It is a shake up and he said there's going to be a shake up right now. But this is what's required, in my mind, to start the process of repairing and restoring the American economy. I believe that the strategy is going to work. I believe that, you know, sometimes when that -- when you shake up that it's a violent thing on the table, right? In the game metaphor. But it always works out well in the end. And I think you've got to give him time. He's been in office for just over, what, 50 days. This is the 51st day in office. Give the president a chance to have these policies play out. That's where we are on it. Yes, sir. Yes.

REPORTER: In your estimation, what crime did Mahmoud Khalil commit to warrant his arrest, detention (INAUDIBLE)?

JOHNSON: Let me tell you something, I went face down the angry mob at Columbia at the height of that stuff. When the pro-Palestinian, pro- Hamas protesters were there. I'm telling you, this is my own observation, not something I read in the newspaper. It was dangerous. I met with Jewish students before we went to campus who were hauled away off campus because they were instructed by the administration not to come to class, which they paid for, for fear of their physical safety. The administrators there refused to take control of that campus. They refused to allow the PD to come, the police department to come in and take control. And it turned into a chaos.

The president has since been removed. And now, they've got the same problem again. Columbia and other universities. They have to keep control of campus. The first responsibility of an administration is ensuring the safety of the students who are paying tuition to be there, for crying out loud. This madness has to stop. We have to get control of it.

This guy, apparently, was a mastermind of those very things when the gnashing of teeth and the ripping of clothes and the people screaming at me, wanting to rip me limb from limb because I was there talking about moral clarity and how there's a right and a wrong. They were doing that. They disrupted the campus. They were threatening physical violence to their fellow students.

If you're on a student visa -- I'm going to say this clearly, if you are on a student visa and you're in America and you're an aspiring young terrorist who wants to prey upon your Jewish classmates, you're going home. We're going to arrest your tail and we're going to send you home where you belong. And that -- this is just getting started.

So, look, I appreciate free speech. I used to defend it in courts. But this is far beyond the pale of that. When you are threatening your classmates and spewing anti-Semitism and all this hatred, it's enough. And I think the American people understand that. They're supporting it. And I'm glad we have a president who is strong enough to lay down the law. Thanks a lot. WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So, there he is, the house speaker, Mike Johnson. Clearly, he's blaming Democrats if, in fact, there will be a government shutdown when, in fact, the Republicans have a majority. It's a small majority in the House of Representatives. They could pass this continuing resolution to keep the government open, at least for the time being.

I want to bring in our congressional reporter Lauren Fox, who's watching all of this. He was very, very tough on the Democrats, but the Republicans -- he's fearful that there are going to be at least a few Republicans who will vote this Congressional -- this continuing resolution, what they call the CR, that will shut down the government if that happens.

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But the Republicans, they could do it by themselves. They only need a simple majority to go ahead and pass this CR.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think that Johnson's comments, though, Wolf, speak to the challenge ahead in the next couple of hours for Republican leaders. They know that there are a number of Republicans who are either leaning against voting for this spending bill or have already said that they are opposed.

This is a moment in which President Donald Trump is going to have to make calls to lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Obviously, the Vice President was trying to make the case to House Republicans earlier today, arguing that this was an essential step of making sure that Republicans can pass the rest of Trump's agenda. Essentially, the argument being to clear the deck so that they can move on to some other important issues.

But you're right, Wolf. In the House of Representatives, Republicans have the ability and are likely, if they're going to pass this bill at all, going to have to carry this legislation all on their own. We are hearing from Democrats as well as their Democratic leadership that they are not going to be lifting a finger to help Republicans later today when this vote comes to the floor. That means that Speaker Johnson and the president are going to have some work to do to convince some of those skeptical conservatives.

Now, they have done a lot of work already, and there are a lot of conservatives who don't typically vote for these stopgap spending bills who are saying that they are supportive, who are getting behind the president. But it's important to remember that even if they can get this out of the House of Representatives, it goes to the Senate. This is not a bill that has a filibuster proof majority, which means you do need a handful of Democrats in that chamber.

I was just in the Senate talking to a number of those Democrats, none of them committed to voting no, but none of them committed to voting yes. A lot of people want to see what happens in the House today, because some Democrats are hoping that Republicans can't carry this on their own in that chamber. They go back to the drawing board. Democrats maybe get more of a say in what is in this stopgap bill. Wolf.

BLITZER: And do we know when the House vote on this continuing resolution will actually take place?

FOX: Yes, we expect that it's going to be later today, Wolf, in the 4:00 hour. Exactly what time obviously is always fluid and a good indication of whether or not they have the votes or not is whether that vote timing starts to slide into the early evening. If they're still grappling to get the support that they need, that obviously can always be moved. Wolf.

BLITZER: And very quickly, Lauren, if all the Democrats vote against the continuing resolution, the CR, how many Republicans can the speaker afford to lose if he wants to get this passed, that he predicted it would pass?

FOX: Yes, Wolf, a little bit of that is dependent on attendance today. But if everyone is attending, if every Democrat is voting against this bill, he can afford to lose one. He's already lost Thomas Massie. You heard our colleague Manu Raju ask the speaker in this press conference because the president has threatened potentially to primary Thomas Massie or to at least support a primary challenge to Thomas Massie, what the speaker thought of that, I thought it was really interesting, Speaker Johnson said they disagree on this issue, but he is in the business of the incumbent protection program signaling that he personally is not going to be going after Massie, even though Massie has already said he's voting against this bill that's very important for the speaker today. Wolf.

BLITZER: We shall see what happens in the coming hours. Lauren Fox up on Capitol Hill, thank you very, very much. We are watching all the breaking news right now. We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.

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BLITZER: All right. Let's discuss all the breaking news up on Capitol Hill with Congressman Tony Gonzales. He's a Texas Republican congressman. Thanks so much for joining us. I know, like all of us, you just heard the house speaker, Mike Johnson, placed the blame on Democrats for the potential of a government shutdown should today's spending bill fail to pass. The clock is clearly ticking.

First, there's still a question if Johnson has enough Republican votes to pass. Do you plan to vote, first of all, in support of this spending bill, this CR, this continuing resolution?

REP. TONY GONZALES (R-TX): Yes, good morning, Wolf, and thank you for having me. There is not a lawmaker up here that likes CRs. All of us have voted against them, all of us have voted for them at different periods. But governing is messy. And what I appreciate about President Trump is his willingness to listen to members of Congress and work towards a solution. There were two things in particular that I was advocating for. You know, I spent 20 years in the military. I retired a Navy Master Chief. One of those, in this bill, is the largest pay increase for junior enlisted servicemembers, E1 through E5, in the history of our nation. It's a long time. We get our servicemembers off food stamps. This bill is going to do that.

Another thing that I have advocated for was increased funding for border security. And just when the administration is getting going, I think now is not the time to pull the rug from underneath the administration. I was able to fly on Air Force Two with the vice president to the border this past week and saw firsthand. The vice president is very influential and understand -- in allowing people to understand what the administration is trying to do. For those reasons, I do plan to vote in favor of this CR and to keep the ball rolling. There's a lot more discussions that need to be had, but I think it's a positive direction that the administration is going in.

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BLITZER: There's a question about some of your Republican colleagues who are planning on voting against it. For example, Thomas Massie. And you heard President Trump now threaten to go after him, this Republican congressman, if he votes against this continuing resolution. Are you at all -- are you hearing from your Republican colleagues in the House that are concerned if they vote against the CR, the continuing resolution, the president will go after them and seek to primary them in the upcoming midterm elections?

GONZALES: No, I think it's less of that. Look, members were put -- members were elected to represent their districts. And a lot -- and that's exactly what we do. In the same breath, President Trump, in just a very short period of time, his policies are working and now is not the time to cut funding, now is the time to make sure that they have all the resources they need.

Now, Congress should have an equal -- we're an equal branch of government. We need to have a seat at the table. And I think it's a positive thing to have this dialogue, to have this back and forth. But I also think it's important to the American people, we need to deliver -- enough with the talk, enough with the blame game, we need to deliver for the American people. President Trump is doing that. Congress needs to come alongside and make sure it's constructive, that we're having a dialogue and making sure that we are indeed getting that agenda done.

BLITZER: But is it appropriate, you think, for President Trump to threaten Republican Congressman Thomas Massie with a primary if he votes against the CR? Is that appropriate?

GONZALES: Hell yes, it's appropriate. This is politics, Wolf. You better have tough skin. You better be ready for everything. You know, there's good days and bad days. There's not one member of Congress up here that hasn't gone through the exact same thing. So, that's a choice that Thomas has decided to make. A lot of us make those decisions and you better believe that President Trump is going to make sure that his voice is heard one way or another, which is perfectly fine. Once again, this is politics.

BLITZER: I want to get to some other sensitive issues while I have you, Congressman. We have some breaking news involving another escalation in the trade war with our neighbors up north, specifically Canada. The president announcing only a few moments ago that new steel and aluminum tariffs against Canada will go into effect tomorrow. What's your reaction to this latest development? Because you know the price is going to be paid by a lot of Americans who need that steel and import for their homes or for other projects that are going on.

GONZALES: You know, tariffs are a delicate situation. And, you know, the traditional thought process is tariffs don't work, but yet, once again, President Trump has defied the odds and he's bringing these people -- these countries that, in many cases, have taken advantage of us for a long time, he's bringing them to the negotiating table.

Now, at the end of the day, I hope we get to yes. I hope all these -- you know, we can solve things before some of these policies get implemented and hurt a lot of people. I'd also say too this, Congress has a role to play. Reconciliation. In reconciliation, there should be things in there that strengthen our economy. One of those is permanent tax cuts. I think this is something that you may see the market rebound with, if you will, in the coming months.

So, it's a long -- a lot of time to play out still. But I think so far, what President Trump is doing is working.

BLITZER: I want to shift gears quickly while I still have you, Congressman. I know you're on a tight schedule. There could be some changes coming up to Medicaid, the insurance program, that cares for 72 million poor and disabled Americans across the country. You led a letter to the house speaker, Mike Johnson, voicing your concerns. And you wrote this, and I'll put it up on the screen. "Nearly 30 percent of Medicaid enrollees are Hispanic Americans, and for many families across the country, Medicaid is their only access to healthcare."

Nursing homes and hospitals, as you know, are already struggling in very small rural communities out there. How detrimental would these potential Medicaid cuts be?

GONZALES: Oh, it would be astronomical. It would be terrible for the American people. One of the hats that I wear here in Congress is I'm the chairman of the congressional Hispanic conference. These are about a dozen Hispanic House Republicans. And one of the things that we've advocated for, yes, we want to cut the fraud. Yes, we want to cut the waste, but we don't want to pull the rug underneath from the -- from underneath hardworking American people.

And this is where Congress needs to work with the administration in a constructive way to accomplish both things. I think we can do that. I know we can do that. It's going to take time, energy, and effort. I'm certainly committed to it, as well as a lot of other of my members, my colleagues, but we have to protect Medicaid. And once again, the hardworking Americans, they need to be protected, not bashed.

BLITZER: And I take it you don't want any cuts, not just to Medicaid, but to Medicare and Social Security as well. Is that right?

GONZALES: That's exactly right. I mean, the programs that work, the programs that so many Americans are counting on, Pell Grants, the TRIO program, education, the list goes on and on. There's a lot of work to be done. This is where the details matter. And that reconciliation bill in the coming weeks and months, that is the real battle.

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That is the real conversation that needs to be had. And I look forward to being part of that. Once again, having a constructive conversation with the administration to say, how do we cut the waste, but how do we protect hardworking Americans? We can do both. And we will.

BLITZER: Congressman Tony Gonzales of Texas, thanks very much for joining us.

GONZALES: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And coming up, we'll have more reaction from the house speaker, Johnson's, comments from Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. She's standing by live. That's next.

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BLITZER: All right. Let's get some Democratic reaction to all the things that are unfolding up on Capitol Hill. Democratic Congressman Jasmine Crockett of Texas is joining us here in The Situation Room. Congresswoman, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. JASMINE CROCKETT (D-TX): Yes.

BLITZER: You heard the house speaker. I assume you heard what he said. He's basically blaming the Democrats, people like you, if this continuing resolution is defeated in the House later today.

CROCKETT: Listen, he can't blame me for not wanting to be his doormat or for the Democrats not wanting to be their doormat. I mean, all we consistently hear from them is they have this mandate that the American people gave them. Well, I am saying that I have a mandate from my district and it does not involve cutting Medicaid, cutting Medicare.

And if we're going to just focus on this continuing resolution, let's talk about it because I know you just talked to my other colleague from Texas, and he was boasting about the increase in pay for certain service members while not talking about the fact that those that have already served our country, our veterans, that they're going to lose so much of their care.

We know that right now they're looking to cut close to 80,000 people from the Veteran's Affairs. And then, in addition to that, in this CR, all the money for bills that we've passed before, specifically that extra money that we put in for the toxic burn pits, they want to take that out. So, it should not be an either or when it comes to those that have served our country or those that are willing to serve our country. And right now, they're pitting them against one another.

We see as they've decided they're not going to do any more town hall. So, I don't know if Tony even knows what his constituents want, that they are consistently getting railed against because of the way that they're treating veterans by making sure that these firings, they're not standing up for the people, they're not standing up for the House.

So, no, I'm not going to vote for the continuing resolution. The. Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House. If they want to get their draconian stuff passed, it's going to hurt my constituents, they're going to do it by themselves.

BLITZER: And what's very worrisome is that so many veterans who work in federal government agencies are now being fired for various reasons as a result.

CROCKETT: Approximately one-third of our workforce for the federal government, they're veterans.

BLITZER: Veterans. And we want to make sure those veterans are protected by all means.

CROCKETT: Yes.

BLITZER: I want to play a little clip of what we heard from the house speaker and get your reaction. So, listen to this.

CROCKETT: OK.

[10:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNSON: They're planning to vote down this simple bill. They are going to try to shut the government down. Every House Democrat will participate in this. It looks like. That would be a shame if it's true. I hope some of them will have a moment of clarity themselves and do the right thing. But it looks like they're going to try to shut down the government. It's a striking new posture for Democrats who have always said they've just been apoplectic about the prospect of government shutdowns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: You want to react?

CROCKETT: Yes, I'm going to say that we don't want the government to shut down. And frankly, this president has single handedly, not just been shutting the government down, but literally trying to dismantle it. And I haven't heard a word out of them.

In addition to that, we know that we have been talking about impoundment, which is basically saying, hey, the power of the purse belongs to Congress. Well, guess what? Our speaker doesn't act that way. He doesn't get out there and say, hey, Mr. President, you can't do this. Once we've appropriated dollars, then these dollars are supposed to be for this.

And one of the things that they're not talking about in this continuing resolution is the fact that they are going to give even more latitude. This is basically going to be a slush fund for Elon and Donald Trump. They are getting rid of the parameters around the spending. I think the comparison was that we have maybe 88 total pages of kind of whatever the parameters are for how the monies are to be spent, but the majority of the discretion goes to Trump and Elon. When we normally had -- I think in our last one we -- or typically we have about 2,800 pages.

BLITZER: We know there are a few, a handful potentially, of Republican House members who are going to vote against the continuing resolution, and that could torpedo it. But do you see a bunch of your fellow Democrats voting for it to keep the government open?

CROCKETT: Not that I've heard. And you know what, it's interesting that the speaker knows how to call out my colleagues, but this is their bill, so why not call out your own colleagues, the ones that elected you to be their speaker?

Listen, Nancy Pelosi didn't have these problems. So, if they need some help, maybe you should tune in to a woman, because maybe it just takes a woman to get it done.

BLITZER: Like you, is that what you're saying?

CROCKETT: That's what I'm saying.

BLITZER: And you're going to vote against the continuing --

CROCKETT: I'm going to vote against it. Now, if they want to decide that they're going to start negotiating in good faith, remember our last continuing resolution, remember it was sunk because Elon decided to go on Twitter, and at this point in time, he had never graced the Oval Office.

And so, if this is how they want to govern, then you're going to have to get your own House in order, but you can't come to us and just say, here, take it, and we're supposed to say, yes, thank you so much for making us take it. That is not why we were elected. And we want the American people to see that these people cannot function.

Well, you've been talking about a stopgap, everybody's talking about a stopgap.

BLITZER: The continuing resolution.

CROCKETT: The continuing resolution, but it's not a stopgap, right? Because for everyone at home, just know that our bills, when we do appropriations, they are for one year, right? And they go from September to September. This isn't a stopgap. They've not been able to pass their own appropriations bills out of the House in the entire year. And so, now, they want to do this all the way to September. They never would have passed appropriations. BLITZER: I took notes of what the house speaker, Mike Johnson, was saying and he said, this continuing resolution that's going to come up for a vote later today, which you will oppose, contains, he says, no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security.

CROCKETT: Yes. So, it is interesting that obviously we passed the budget resolution -- or they passed the budget resolution that is going to require them to go into these cuts, but they've not got their single bills passed. We've got 12 specific kind of categories. And so, for everybody at home, when you think about it, when you're paying your bills, you've got your electricity, you've got your house note, you've got that -- so that's what we do. We have 12 separate bills, and they've not been able to pass those 12 individual bills. And in those, that is where they're prescribing for the cuts to those specific programs.

Now, in this, they're prescribing other cuts such as they want to get rid of money that was in the Inflation Reduction Act, and they want to take back monies, obviously, for our veterans and things like that. So, I don't know if they ever plan to actually go through the 12 single appropriations bills going forward. I mean, when you're passing a continuing resolution for the entire fiscal year, I don't know why they won't try to keep doing this. I don't know what they're doing.

BLITZER: Democratic Congressman Jasmine Crockett, thanks so much for coming in.

CROCKETT: It's good to see you.

BLITZER: Welcome to The Situation Room. Appreciate it very, very much. And we'll be right back with more news.

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