'Dumping gold bars off the Titanic' - Speaker Johnson hits out at Democrat spending in final months

Record ID: 1864988

  • Title: 'Dumping gold bars off the Titanic' - Speaker Johnson hits out at Democrat spending in final months
  • Date: 5th December 2024
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 5, 2024) (UNRESTRICTED POOL) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** TESLA CEO AND X OWNER, ELON MUSK, AND FORMER REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE AND TRUMP SUPPORTER, VIVEK RAMASWAMY, WALKING BY THE PRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MIKE JOHNSON, SAYING: "And this is a new day in Washington and a new day in America. We have long lamented the size and scope of the government, that it has grown too large. And let me be frank about this, government is too big. It does too many things, and it does almost nothing well. And the taxpayers deserve better. They deserve a more responsive government, a more efficient government, one that is leaner and more focused on its primary objectives. And that's the opportunity that we have here now. We believe it's an historic moment for the country. And these two gentlemen are going to help navigate through this exciting new day. Elon and Vivek don't need much of an introduction here in Congress for certain. And most of the American people know what they're capable of and what they've achieved. Both of these gentlemen have run very successful organizations. They're innovators and they're forward thinkers." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MIKE JOHNSON, SAYING: "We're very frustrated by what the Biden administration appears to be doing right now. And that is, as you said, shoveling money, as someone said, on a hidden camera on a clip that I saw, someone in the administration who's charged with distributing the funds said, it's like we're dumping gold bars off the Titanic here at the end. We take over in January. And until then, the big government Democrats are still in charge and they're spending money, in our view, recklessly. WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MIKE JOHNSON, SAYING: "We need to make government more efficient, and that is what this whole objective is. That's what the DoGE effort will be about. And you're going to see a bicameral cooperation and it will be, by the way, bipartisan. Over the last 24 or 48 hours, you've seen a number of our Democrat colleagues, both in the Senate and the House, who have said, you know what, sign me up, I want to be a part of this as well." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MIKE JOHNSON, SAYING: "One of the first things that I think you'll see is a demand from the new administration and from all of us in Congress that federal workers return to their desks and get back to the work that they're supposed to be doing. I think that is common sense." WHITE FLASH JOHNSON LEAVING MUSK AND RAMASWAMY LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 19th December 2024 19:18
  • Keywords: DOGE Department of Government Efficiency Donald Trump Elon Musk Republicans Vivek Ramaswany election president-elect
  • Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
  • City: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: North America,Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA001504905122024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS WHITE FLASHES
    United States Speaker of the House Mike Johnson criticized the Biden administration on Thursday (December 5) for what he described as reckless spending in its final months, likening it to "dumping gold bars off the Titanic."
    Johnson also introduced Tesla CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy highlighting their roles in advancing a government reform agenda.
    Billionaire Musk and former presidential candidate Ramaswamy met with Republican lawmakers whose support they will need to win the sweeping spending cuts that President-elect Donald Trump has asked them to find.
    Trump has named two entrepreneurs to a task force that aims for a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. government, which spent $6.8 trillion in the most recent fiscal year. Musk has set a target of $2 trillion in savings, though he has not said whether that would come in a single year or over a longer period.
    The two chairs of the Department of Government Efficiency have called for firing thousands of federal workers, slashing regulations and eliminating programs whose authorization has expired, such as veterans' healthcare.
    (Production: Bernat Parera)
  • Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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