Speaker Mike Johnson blasts Democrats for being “hypocritical” when it comes to supporting Israel after Iran’s ballistic missile attacks on Tuesday.
The Republican leader kicked off a planned Tuesday speech at the New York Stock Exchange by calling on the Biden administration to send a clear message to Iran that its attacks on Israel will not be tolerated. He urged the Biden administration to “fully enforce sanctions on Iran and reimpose UN sanctions so they do not expire.”
There is widespread concern that the escalating battle between Israel and Iran could spiral into an even wider international conflict.
“We also recognize that it is hypocritical for the government to express support for Israel’s defense while continuing to appease the Iranian regime with billions or hundreds of billions of dollars, in effect, in sanctions relief,” Johnson said during the speech, calling for to a “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran and Iranian-backed groups.
“President Biden must make clear that these actions will have decisive economic and potential military consequences,” he added.
Less than an hour before the speech, Johnson issued a statement even more directly blaming President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for actions that led to Tuesday’s attacks: ‘Our adversaries are carrying out increasingly dangerous attacks because of Biden and Harris’ weak and failed foreign policy.”
The speaker was originally scheduled to speak in New York about the Republicans’ economic agenda if they were to retain control of both chambers of Congress and the White House in 2025. And the attack on Iran wasn’t the only news to distract him from the topic — he also addressed emergency relief after Hurricane Helene devastated the Southeast this weekend.
Multiple lawmakers have called on Congress to return from its pre-election recess to pass more relief money, but Johnson appeared to close the door on those demands on Tuesday. He said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has the immediate money needed to address the devastation in multiple states.
“We will work with our members, with FEMA, with state and local emergency management, to help meet the many needs that exist, and this will continue for some time. … Congress has previously provided FEMA with the resources it needs to respond, so we will ensure those resources are allocated appropriately,” he said.
The short-term funding bill that Congress passed last month extends FEMA’s current funding level of $20 billion, which congressional leaders say is enough to meet immediate needs. And while President Joe Biden suggested this week that he might request that Congress reconvene to address the impact of Hurricane Helene, administration officials told reporters earlier Tuesday that FEMA was in a “good position” to tackle the destruction of to tackle the hurricane.
Johnson broadly outlined 2025 priorities for Republicans, touching on similar talking points he previously focused on. These include rolling back Biden-era regulations, extending the soon-to-expire Trump-era tax cuts for the middle class, cutting spending and promising “a long list of non-essential jobs in the federal bureaucracy’.
Republicans have been quietly planning for months how they could potentially use a slim majority in Congress, especially if Donald Trump wins the White House. A process known as budget reconciliation would allow them to pass some partisan measures without help from Senate Democrats, assuming they control both chambers, but that path still has strict limits.
“Our intention, with a new Republican majority in the Senate and a Republican president, the Republican House, is to pursue a policy of fiscal responsibility,” he said.
