Speaker Mike Johnson outlines GOP plans to lower costs for Americans
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SPECIAL: Making life more affordable for Americans will be a key part of House Republicans’ remaining agenda for this Congress, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Friday.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, the House leader acknowledged there is a “short window” for lawmakers to be in D.C. before the end of this year but said they will work toward a number of goals, including President Donald Trump’s “affordability” agenda.
“We have a number of executive orders that we want to continue to regulate through the end of the year. We’re still doing regulatory reform to end the Biden-era regulations. We did some of that this week,” Johnson said.
“There are a lot of initiatives on the table, there are things we need to do, and we have a short period of time to do them. But we’re really optimistic about the ideas we’re going to be pushing in the next few weeks and months to reduce the cost of living.”
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Spokesman Mike Johnson said Republicans are working toward President Donald Trump’s “affordability” agenda. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo; Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“Affordability” is the “buzzword of the day,” he said.
“As the president has suggested, we have an affordability agenda and we need to do it seriously. Health care is part of that. But that’s just overall costs,” Johnson said.
He blamed the previous Democratic administration’s policies for the high cost of living seen today, arguing that former President Joe Biden approved policies that led to higher inflation.
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“We the people rightly rebelled against this and were given power back in January. But the economy is a very complex thing; you can’t turn a switch and change everything in a week. It takes a while,” Johnson said.
Former President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden in Washington after President Donald Trump was sworn in on January 20, 2025. (Chris Kleponis/Pool via Reuters)
The beginning of Biden’s term was marked by record-high inflation, but this has eased somewhat as the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have slowly receded. But for four years, consumer price growth has outpaced average wage growth. Texas A&M University analysis.
When Republicans took power in Washington earlier this year, they promised to lower the cost of living. Johnson said the hallmark of this was Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which was renamed the “Tax Cut for Working Families.”
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“By the time we get to the first and second quarters of next year, as Treasury Secretary Bessent said, we should have an economic boom because all these elements will come into play. Taxes will be lower, there will be no tip and no overtime tax, there will be lower taxes for seniors. And then there will be more investment because we have all the pro-growth policies and tax policies that will allow the job creators, the entrepreneurs, the risk takers, the innovators to do what they do,” Johnson said. defended.
President Donald Trump signs the sweeping spending and tax bill known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” during a picnic with military families marking Independence Day at the White House in Washington on July 4, 2025. (Ken Cedeno/Reuters Photos)
“Everything I just described will happen and will happen in due time. So we’re pretty optimistic about that.”
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Republicans are expected to spend the next few weeks working on a health care package aimed at reducing the sky-high premiums many Americans face, while also trying to reform the Obamacare system, which they view as deeply flawed.
In the coming weeks, some House committees are expected to advance legislation focused on lowering energy costs, including fixing the old system that allows new energy projects.
