Mike Johnson addresses congress for first time as House speaker

Mike Johnson addresses congress for first time as House speaker Reuters

Transcript

00:00 and the 56th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives,

00:05 the Honorable Mike Johnson.

00:08 I especially want to thank all the extraordinary people of the great state of Louisiana.

00:18 We have never had a Speaker of the House hail from our state,

00:21 and so they've been lifting us up.

00:23 I thank the people of Louisiana for the opportunity to serve you in Congress,

00:28 and I am humbled by your continuous support.

00:30 We will make you proud.

00:32 To my colleagues, I want to thank you all for the trust that you have instilled in me

00:37 to lead us in this historic and unprecedented moment that we're in.

00:41 The challenge before us is great, but the time for action is now,

00:46 and I will not let you down.

00:48 It was mentioned my dad was a firefighter.

00:50 He was an assistant chief in the fire department in my hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana,

00:54 a little town in northwest Louisiana.

00:56 On September 17, 1984, when I was 12 years old,

01:00 he was critically burned and permanently disabled in the line of duty.

01:04 All I ever wanted to be when I grew up was the chief of the fire department in Shreveport,

01:10 and I lost my dad to cancer three days before I got elected to Congress, three days.

01:15 And he wanted to be there at my election night so badly.

01:19 I'm the first college graduate in my family.

01:22 This was a big deal to him.

01:24 So several weeks after that, it was early 2017,

01:28 it was my freshman term, and it fell to me to be in the rostrum one night

01:34 to serve here as speaker pro tem.

01:36 I thought that was a big deal until I figured out that's what you do for freshmen late at night.

01:40 [laughter]

01:42 And I had tears come to my eyes, and I was standing here, and I'm wiping them away,

01:46 and then it suddenly occurs to me,

01:48 the late-night C-SPAN viewers are going to think something's very wrong

01:51 with the new young congressman from Louisiana.

01:54 And I think all of our parents are proud of what we're called to do here.

01:58 I think all the American people at one time had great pride in this institution,

02:03 but right now, that's in jeopardy.

02:07 And we have a challenge before us right now to rebuild and restore that trust.