House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed back against mounting Republican anger over his proposed U.S. aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other allies rejecting a call that he step aside or risk a vote to oust him from office.
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00:00I am not resigning, and it is, in my view, an absurd notion that someone would bring
00:05a vacate motion when we are simply here trying to do our jobs.
00:10It is not helpful to the cause.
00:12It is not helpful to the country.
00:14It does not help the House Republicans advance our agenda, which is in the best interest
00:18of the American people here, a secure border, sound governance.
00:22And it's not helpful to the unity that we have in the body.
00:25Look, we have a very important mission here.
00:29Our mission is very clear.
00:30The reason most of us, I can speak for the House Republicans, the reason every House
00:33Republican ran for Congress is because they wanted to come here and help to save this
00:39beleaguered republic of ours.
00:40We want to save the country.
00:42We believe that we're in an existential moment.
00:44We really do.
00:45This is a civilizational moment.
00:48It's a moment where we're going to decide in this election cycle which vision we have
00:52for the country.
00:53We have to have a united front, and we have to have our members work together.
00:57And we'll be working today to do that very thing.
01:01Look, we are in unprecedented times, okay?
01:05We're in dangerous times, as has been articulated here, around the world, and here at home.
01:10We need steady leadership.
01:12We need steady hands at the wheel.
01:13Look, I regard myself as a wartime speaker.
01:16I mean, in a literal sense, we are.
01:18I knew that when I took the gavel.
01:20I didn't anticipate that this would be an easy path.
01:23Former Speaker Newt Gingrich posted a couple days ago on his social media that this is
01:27the hardest challenge that's faced a speaker probably in the history of the country, in
01:30the moment that we're in right now.
01:32He said, arguably, maybe comparable to the Civil War, but maybe worse, a single vote
01:38margin at a difficult time when the nation is terribly divided.
01:41The way we get through that is we show unity, and we explain how we have answers to all
01:47these great challenges.
01:48If we have those answers, we shouldn't get in the way of ourselves.
01:51We're going to work this out today, and we'll have a lot more comment for you today, for
01:55you later.
01:56But I'm going to tell you that I am not concerned about this.
01:59I am going to do my job, and I think that's what the American people expect of us.
02:02Thanks so much.