Speaker Johnson Defends Elon Musk After DOGE Chief Calls To 'Eliminate' Entitlements

9 hours ago

Speaker Johnson speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill.

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Transcript

00:00The Democrats are responsible for the mess that we're in because they added these completely

00:20undeliverable conditions to the negotiation.

00:23They wanted us to tie the hand to the administration and the very people who are advancing this

00:26last minute overtime, you know, patchwork play are the ones who are insisting upon that

00:32up to the last minute.

00:33This is not a game.

00:34The government shuts down on March 14th.

00:35We have to get it done and that is not a viable option.

00:39They're just doing it to try to get themselves cover.

00:41It's not going to work.

00:42It wouldn't work.

00:43It wouldn't pass and the government would shut down.

00:45Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, yesterday, yesterday Elon Musk said that the big one to eliminate

00:51was entitlement programs.

00:52You have long said Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are not going to be charged.

00:57How do you reconcile it with what Musk said?

00:59The president is in charge of the executive branch.

01:03We're in charge of the legislative branch.

01:04He said very clearly that we are going to protect Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security

01:09and those programs.

01:10Now what Elon's talking about, what I've been talking about since I got into politics is

01:13trying to make sure these programs work more efficiently and effectively, that we cut down

01:18on the fraud, waste and abuse that has been uncovered and we preserve the programs for

01:22people who rely upon them and are eligible to receive them.

01:26That's what we have a moral obligation to do and I think Elon has given us a big jump

01:31start in that because he's finding all these egregious levels of fraud, waste and abuse

01:35that will allow us to save, bring about more efficiencies, save all that waste and preserve

01:43the programs for the people.

01:44He said eliminate.

01:45He said eliminate.

01:46He's, he's referring.

01:47I've talked to Elon about this a lot, one-on-one in his office late at night.

01:50He's talking about eliminating the inefficiencies and the fraud, waste and abuse.

01:54We are astounded by the things that have been uncovered and I think the American people

01:58are as well and the more that that's laid out, rolled out, they'll understand that.

02:02But the president of the United States has made very clear we are not going to cut benefits

02:07for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security.

02:09We're not going to do it.

02:10We've got to preserve the programs.

02:11We've just got to make them work better.

02:12Could we see a rescissions package if the CR passes?

02:14I expect that that will be coming because some of the things that are being appropriated,

02:19the executive branch has the authority not to spend.

02:22We just do a top line basic authorization and the president always has a lot of discretion

02:26through his administration, through his cabinet secretaries to determine how it's spent.

02:30If there are categories, for example, that would have been subject to fraud, waste and

02:35abuse, they're not going to spend it and it would be right for them to send a rescission

02:38back to Congress for us to unwind that.

02:40So we expect that that will be part of this process.

02:42We're going to save the taxpayers money.

02:44We have an obligation to do it and we're excited about that.

02:47Thanks, Mon.

02:48Have a good day.

Speaker Johnson Defends Elon Musk After DOGE Chief Calls To 'Eliminate' Entitlements

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