c serving you a front row seat to democracy. >> othursday president biden is set to give the annual state of the union address. ahead of his speech we're asking what issue is most important to you. to participate scan the q.r. code on your screen or go to c-span.org/poll to add your voice to the conversation. a look here at the voting so far. as is customary, the president will be speaking before a joint session of congress where he's expected to outline some of the policy priorities and share his thoughts on the state of the country. this will be the third state of the union address of his presidency and likely his last speech in front of congress before the 2024 presidential election. we'll keep this poll open leading up to the president's address. >> a reminder, our live coverage of the state of the union begins thursday, at 8:00 p.m. eastern with a preview, followed by the

president's speech, the g.o.p. response by alabama senator katy britt, and viewer reaction. that'll be on c-span. on our free c-span now video app. and online at c-span.org. >> on the eve of the state of the union address, house speaker mike johnson described things as in decline because of the biden administration. he's joined by other republican colleagues at this nearly 30-minute news conference.

>> thank you for coming this morning. the mesh people have spoken. they made clear what we have known for months. president donald j. trump is our republican nominee and will be the 47th president of the united states. his america first agenda secured our borders made america energy independent and always puts the needs of the american people first. that is not the state of the union we will hear from joe biden this week. because the american people deeply understand that under joe biden's failed presidency, the state of the union is in crisis. this is a crisis of joe biden's making. as ronald reagan famously asked us, are you better you have a today than you were four years for hardworking americans across the country is a resounding no. whether it's the catastrophic border crisis nation and leading to tragic loss of life of american citizen, the painful

bidenflation clausingto struggle to make ends meet or our most precious ally israel facing the bloodiest days since the holocaust as joe biden projects around the globe, joe biden has failed america and the american people. and at what will be his final state of the union, joe biden and the white house will desperately try to pass the buck, blame congress, and shirk responsibility in a desperate attempt to reset his abysmal presidency. but it won't work because the american people are smart. there is no reset button for joe biden. even the democrats' loyal stenographers in the mainstream media have been forced to acknowledge that joe bide season a deteriorating president with a failed record and polling in freefall. each of our house republican members will host a highlights the -- that joe biden's state of the union in crisis, whether it's border patrol officers like my guest from the the north country

brandon, or family who was lost loved ones due to the dangerous open border policies. each of our members who will speak today willout this -- these issues as we prepare to hear from joe biden this week and one of the members who understands the impact of joe biden's crisis firsthand is congresswoman jen kiggans from the second congressional district. mrs. kiggans: i flipped one of the toughest seats in the country this year because i ran on being a mom on a mission. ei'm a mom to four young adults and i have a lot of questions i need joe bide ton answer tomorrow in his state of the union address. i worry every day about the financial future for my children. i worry about they're inheriting. i worry if they're going to be able to buy a new car or buy a new house. if they'll be able to pay off their credit card bills and put food on the table.

we know joe biden has taken away our energy independence and put crippling mandates on our businesses. we are in a crisis that's take then american dream away from so many families including my children. i want him to address these issues. i know other moms like me and dads and families also care about the financial future of their children. i worry about my kids' safety every day. i worry about my kids when they're not with me and when they're driving. i worry about them when they're out with their friends or when they're at college, when they're alone. joe biden has made our communities less safe. he has sent us wide open borders i have visited twice. we have seen human traffic fentanyl trafficking and a sharp rise in violent crimes in our own communities. he has jeopardized my children's safetism we've seen him jeopardizing our national security, we've got an increase in chinese nationals and people on the terrorist watch list coming across our border every day. i want him to respond to my concerns about safety for my own children and the children of all

americans. as a former navy pilot, navy spouse and now navy mom, i'm especially concerned about the future of our country. on the world stage. it keeps me up at night. he's put not only my kids at risk but all of our military men and women and their families at risk by being weak on the world stage. we've seen what happened with the chaotic withdrawal in afghanistan,what happened with russia happened with iran-backed hamas and israel. and we're seeing increased air gretion from southeast asia and china. we know the world is involved in chaos and war due to joe biden's leadership. jep ar kiezing my children's safety motivates day. joe biden needs to respond to why our country looks weak on the world stage and i need him to respond not just with rhetoric and empty lies. i need him to respond with actual fact, telling me what he's done and what he's going to do to keep my children safe and again the children of so many americans. i'll be watching tomorrow night like so many other moms and dads will be. i hope our concerns are answered. thank you.

now it's a great honor for know introduce, my colleague, mark mowl narro from new york's 19th. mr. molinaro: thank you, jen. riley's killer was arrested and released in the state of new york. in my home state. why? because states like new york embrace sanctuary city policies. governors like kathy hochul embold on a national crisis, undermine public safety and threat then very lives of their neighbors because of their failure to confront a acrisis of their making. tomorrow welcome two upstate county sheriffs from the state of new york. while last evening there were pundits on national television laughing about the fact that voters across america, american families know and understand that the crisis at our border is undermining not only national safety but community and public safety, communities like those that i represent and families like those i live with and among

know firsthand not only the pain and the struggle that has been caused because of an open border and the policies and determination and decisions of this president, but because every day, in every way policies out of this administration, and out of states like new york, conti public safety and the ability of law enforcement to provide for it. tomorrow, those county sheriffs will stand in the halls of congress hoping that a president will acknowledge the crisis he created. that's at th president biden not only has surrendered our southern border to cartels, but he's engaged in an effort to relocate, massre locate, illegal immigrants across the country making every state in america a border state. but more importantly threatening not only those very individual lives, but the lives of american communities across this country.

tomorrow the president could simply repeal his executive orders that have fueled, embold and made worse this crisis.l in new york could end sanctuary city policy with a stroke of a pen. if they cared, they would. and we are hopeful that the voice of the american people that which some chose to laugh at last evening, will be heard not only by this president,ut will continue to embolden members of the house republican conference, continue to stand for them, and for national security, public safety, and closing and securing our border. with that, i'd like to introduce my colleague from iowa, zach nunn. mr. nunn: good morning, friends. this morning as a guy who served in the military on combat operations that deterred china from bringing deadly fentanyl to our shores that has commanded military forces that struck out

at cartels inside mexico we now face a very different world three years on. nearly eight million illegals entering into our country, and in my district, that has been a blue district, as a freshman that we turned red, we took the effort to say this is not a republican or democrat issue. this is a national security issue. and so at the state of the union let me be very clear. my guest will be the kidd family and their story enshrined so much of the challenges that folks of all political backgrounds are facing. the threat facing their en. their son sebastian was a typical iowa kid. he was on the wrestling team. he played golf. he loved his friends. and he ad parents. and after dealing with anxiety and depression, he found a friend who offered him a percocet. that percocet was laced with deadly fentanyl and the next morning he did not wake up. the kidd family has addressed

this tragedy by trying to sav across america with their heroic work. but as i invited the kidd family union, that family asked the question that so many americans are asking. if we had just secured our border, would my son be alive today? and the reality is, we now have three years where choices were made in this white house that threaten the lives of families across america. whether that be a nursing student in georgia or molly tibbits in my hometown of iowa we have a situation where our can'try is under siege. a particular salute to our law enforcement in iowa, on i-35 the main highway coming up from mexico to des moines, where law enforcement seized 30,000 fentanyl pills. pills produced and made to cartels

in mexico, that showed up on american shores. this is simply a weapon with of mass destruction. the number one cause of death for folks my age, down to my high school daughter's age. and so this thursday, as the president comes forward, we need more than rhetoric. we need a plan. we need the type of leadership, action, life-saving measures to protect our country from an international threat at our own southern border. and so, mr. president, as you address the nation, think of the kidd family. think of how we can save future kids not just in iowa but across the country by doing the right thing today. with that, i can think of no one stronger to lead this effort than our own gentleman from the hoaft the heartland, our whip, tom emmer. thank you. mr. emmer: thanks, jack. according to reports joe biden and billing tomorrow's state of the union

address as their quote, big public reset moment. the problem with their strategy is that the american people are going to see right through whatever scripted rhetoric biden ends up reading off the teleprompter tomorrow night. from the southern border to the economy to foreign policy, the facts are quite clear. joe biden has failed on every single issue. our state of the union has been defined by unprecedented chaos thanks to this administration's failed policies. and it's the american people who have been left to suffer as a result. americans elected our house republican majority at the first chance they were given to counteract joe biden's disastrous agenda. and we worked hard to deliver. on the economy it was joe biden's runaway spending that led to double digit inflation. historic interest rates and bank collapses. meanwhile, house republicans passed legislation to lower us on a path toward fiscal

responsibility. on the southern border, it's joe biden to undo his 64 executive actions that created this crisis in the first place. house republicans on the other hand passed historic border legislation that finishes the wall reforms parole authority, reforms asylum authority, ends catch and release and would restore remain in mexico, which our customs and border patrol says the last one would staunch the flow of illegal alien into this country overnight by 70%. and on foreign policy it's joe biden's weakness on the world stage that has empered our adversaries while doing little to reassure our allies. in stark contrast, house republicans passed leglation to reverse the white house's policies emboldening iran, refocus our military on winning combat wars, not the democrats' culture wars and unapologetically support israel. needless to say, americans need

than a, quote reset moment, out of this administration. it's time for new leadership and the people are going to make thei ballot box this november. until then, we're going to have to continue doing our part to combat joe biden's failed policies and hold this white house accountable. and with that, i'm going to turn it over, i believe, to our speaker -- our leader, steve mr. scalise: thank you whip. tomorrow, on the same day and in the same chamber where joe biden will be giving his state of the union address, the house will be taking up the laken riley act. we'll be debating and passing a bill to confront yet another crisis that joe biden himself created. a crisis that has had devastating impacts on families like laken riley's. i want to commend my -- mike

collins and barry loudermilk for working with laken riley's family, who were devastated as you can expect, at the loss of their daughter. a completely unnecessary tragedy that was created because joe biden opened the southern border and every community in america is seeing crime murders the hands of people coming here illegally and doing harm to our citizens. i've seen it in my own backyard, in kenner, l days ago. where a 14-year-old girl was raped by someone here illegally. because joe biden opened the southern border. how many more families will have to suffer before joe biden finally admits his mistake and corrects did? we passed a bill. this house came together and passed h.r. 2, a bill that actually would secure our border. we worked with our border patrol agents and others. and everybody knows what needs to happen when joe biden went to

the border just a few days foorg a photo op, he had an y to reverse his own damage that he created through executive action. he could have ended catch and release. he could have worked to restore the remain in mexico policy. that was so effective under president trump. it was a negotiated agreement. takes a little work to call a foreign leader and make sure you're doing everything you can to protect your country, but that's joe biden's job and he isnt. he can do it with a pen. he says congress needs to act. then he should ask the senate to pass h.r. 2 a bill that would actually solve the problem. not make it worse as we've seen in some of the other bills floating around the senate. but again, joe biden could do this on his own because he created this problem with his pen. is he going to look tomorrow night into the eyes of laken riley's family and every other family in america and say he's

going to do everything in his power to stop this invasion? millions of people, people on the terrorist watch list that have come into our country because he opened the border. and he can close the border. but he refuses to do so. so when you look at all the crisis joe biden has created on so many fronts economic crisis energy crisis, foreign policy crisis, where our allies fire. and our enemies are running roughshod over other nations. when he talks about a reset, is it going to be more empty rhetoric or is joe biden finally going to work with republicans to solve these problems? we stand ready, just like we will be taking up and passing the laken raily act tomorrow this house has acted every time there's been a crisis and worked on solutions to fix those problems. and the leader at the forefront of that effort is our speaker

mike johnson. mr. johnson: thank you, steve. i want to thank you all for being here. it's an important week in congress as has been cross-section of republican colleagues who are here to help us highlight a lot of these important things. i want to summarize some of what's been said here and then we'll take questions. tomorrow the american people will hear from president biden about the state of the union. i've been asked many times, as many of us have, if you had to describe in one word what you believe the state of the union is, you've heard the word crisis the word catastrophe. say that with great sadness we all do. but it's because of this president and his administration that we are indisputably in decline. our economic strength is in decline. everyday goods are more expensive. people can barely afford the cost of living now. their groceries and g home ownership is increasingly out of reach. u.s. household debt is at an all-time high. our economic strength is in decline. american sovereignty is in decline. you've heard us lament the

border the southern border is a total catastrophe. there's no other way to describe that. traffickers and cartels have taken operational control of the border. fentanyl poisoning is killing our children. while president border -- while president biden opened the border with his reckless actions and we documented at least 64 actions he and his agencies have taken to open that border wide, it was by design. ed in mits of -- in the midst of all twharyk also learn head never once spoke to the chief to have the border patrol. unconscionable. innocent americans from laken riley in georgia to the the 14 year old rape victim of an illegal immigrant in our home state of louisiana, you just heard leader scalise talk about they've all been victimized by those whom the biden administration has release intad our country. he's releasing them into your state. every state is a border state. the safety of our cities is in decline. carjackings are up. attack against law enforcement are rising. we have more than 600,000 known

criminal aliens roaming the streets of america right now. free to reoffend and victimize americans. the actual number is, of course, much higher. that's official number we know about. but we don't know how many people have come across the border. some of us believe it may be as many as 15 million illegal aliens who have come across the border since joe biden walk swood the oval office three years ago. america's presence on the world stage is in decline you heard us talk about that this morning as well. iran, russia china. our ad are acting more provocatively than he was in years. we have more unrest than world war ii. the president is turning his greatest ally israel. and our stature has been diminished to a point that's difficult to calculant biden will try say the state of the union is strong. we suspect he'll say this is a time for a reset. but of course the state of the union is not strong. everybody around the country knows it. everybody in this room knows it.

it doesn't matter what political party you're in. where you lean on the political spectrum. you look at objective facts and you know this country is not in good shape because of its leadership in the white house. that's why at this pointdent bide season the least popular president in modern history. america is in decline and nothing he says tomorrow night will change that. house republicans, on the other hand will continue to fight to hold biden and his administration accountable. that is our constitutional duty our responsibility, and we will fulfill it. and we are committed to saving this republic. and that will happen in november when the american people let their voices be heard. i'll take a few questions. yes, ma'am. reporter: many of the same that your predecessor when it comes to pushing forward spending, foreign aid for israel and ukraine. just to name a few. and obviously -- the funding deadline is just around the corner.

what would you say is the state of the republican caucus right now? mr. johnson: i would say the state of the republican conference is encouraged and strong. we just left a meeting, we have a weekly gathering of all the republicans. listen, we know that, for example, on the appropriations bill, the government spending we are not going to get everything that we want. we want to cut spending. we want to limit the size and scope of the federal government. the reality right now is we have dwaided government. we have a two-vote majority. one of the smallest in history in the house. the house republicans have the majority. but it's a slim majority. we only control one half of one third of the federal government. so we have to be realistic about what we're able to achieve. in spite of that, we have an appropriations package that is going to cut nondefense, non-v.a. discretionary spending and will increase defense spending at this important and delicate time around the globe. those are priorities we have advanced. we also advanced as you've seen the summary, cuts to some of the agencies we believe are

overreaching and have been turned in some ways against the american people. we're going to cut 3% from d.o.j., 7% from the a.t.f., 6% from the f.b.i. and 10% from the e.p.a. that's just a start. we have a lot more priorities and things we need to advance. the reality as wl have to grow the house majority, take back the senate for the republican party and win the white house. i'm here to tell you the reason we're optimisticgs will happen in november. we can't wait. that day can't get here soon enough. reporter: mr. speaker with your party in the majority -- passing all the appropriations bills. [inaudible] you know, we committed to do 12 separate appropriations bills. the answer to this, the reason it's been difficult to do it is because washington has no muscle

memory on how to do that. some of you know the statutory law requires congress to work in a very methodical manner to get government spending done. the 1974 dpujt budget control act spells out a timetable that begins early in the year and that way you're done with spending bills well in advantage of september 30. congress hasn't done that in a long, long time. since i've been in congress, the last seven years and many years before that, we ruled by omnibus. what would happen is congress would kick the can down the road to the very last minute, end of the calendar year. on the eve of christmas, the senate would send to the house a massive omnibus spending bill that spends close to $2 trillion and has 4,000 pages that no one has time to read and force a vote up or down on everything all at once. and we said that's not the way to run government. so it takes a long time to turn an aircraft carrier. and we're doing that gradually. we're forcing reforms, trying to force congress back into the mode, the statutory mode, the lawful mode, the way in which

it's supposed to work with regard to government funding. that means 12 separate appropriations bills. >> remember the freedom caucus, i want to remind that that all acurred before the speaker. mr. johnson: thank you, scott perry. and we're also victimized by the tradition developed in congress.lwe're working hard to bend that backwards. you can't turn an aircraft carrier overnight. we broke the omnibus fever. we put it in a laddered c.r. approach that scott perry and others helped invent to make that work. we had to move the deadline a little bit because it takes a long time to get it done. that is a process, it is overdue. we are very happy now that we're finally to the point we can move beyond get f.y.2024 done and turn our attention to f.y. 2025 and continue to push this back into the mode and manner and regular order and procedure this is supposed to work. i think that's good by american taxpayers. we look forward to moving that forward.

reporter: what are you looking for next year what is -- [inaudible] mr. johnson: we're happy with the results last night. the race is set now. it'll be a rematch. we like that rematch. from my perspective, i think president trump, what his message is resonating with the american people. this is not an untested theory we know what president trump delivered. the first two years after his administration, by just two years we had delivered the greatest economy in the history of the world. not just the u.s. the reason was because we acted upon our core principles that we have always supported as conservatives, as republicans. we limbed the size and scope of government we cut regulations substantially. of course we had historic tax reform and tax cuts. tax cuts and jobs act. in addition to that, he was trying to work through the agencies to change the way washington works. he got a lot of headwinds, a lot term. he was still feeling it out. he had just arrived in washington and was trying to figure out why some agencies wouldn't follow the agenda. some were working against him.

i think he has big plans to change that going forward. we're going to be a big part of that. house republicans will work hand in hand with the new president the 47th president, which we are convinced will be president donald trump, and we are going to turn the catastrophe, the crisis, the decline that we have described this morning, completely around. i believe we'll have republicans lead in the senate and the house as well. you'll see our agenda run we look forward to that day. i think it'll be a good thing for the safety, security, sovereignty, liberty of our nation and can't happen soon enough. thank you all for being here. appreciate it. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. s's th committee. all coming up tonight on c-span.

journal," a live forum involving you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics and public policy. from washington, d.c. and across the country. coming up thursday morning, we'll discuss tomorrow's state of the union address government funding deadlines, and conflicts in gaza and ukraine, with nebraska republican