Tennessee U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) said he expects that U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) will be reelected in his role as speaker next month and work to fulfill President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda “as best he can” given Republicans’ razor-thin majority in the House.
On Monday morning, Trump announced his full support for Johnson’s reelection as House Speaker, writing in a Truth Social post, “Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete and Total Endorsement.”
Burchett said with Trump’s endorsement, Johnson is very likely to be reelected as speaker despite earlier this month’s infighting among House Republicans over government spending.
“[Johnson’s speakership] is going to be decided, I think, by President Trump,” Burchett explained on Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Burchett further said that he expects there to be “one or two holdouts” stalling Johnson’s reflection at first to further their own agendas.
“You’ll see one or two holdouts that are looking for something. That’s what it always is up here. Everybody’s bargaining for something, a better position on a committee, or some kind of recognition, or passing a piece of legislation…That just tells you what this speaker’s up against, because the old machine -the lobbyists, K Street – have a huge influence on this,” Burchett said.
Burchett said he “doesn’t play those games” when it comes to furthering one’s personal agenda, noting how, because of it, he will never hold a position in leadership or be chairman of a big committee.
“I’ll never be in leadership. I’ll never be chairman of a big committee… I don’t play that game. I raise a good bit of money, but I’m not like all these other guys do. I don’t have the millionaires and the billionaires. Most of my contributions are $50 and below. I get little checks from little ladies and they put a little Bible verse in there and they send me $5 or $10,” Burchett said.
Moving forward, Burchett stressed the importance of Republicans working to implement Trump’s agenda within the first 100 days of the Trump-Vance administration as it will “set the tone” for the next four years.
“I say we get Trump in, let’s get rolling with him, and then if we have a speaker’s fight next week or the week after, let’s do that then. I just don’t think right now is the right time. I think it’ll have a stifling effect on Trump’s agenda because anytime the legislature is in a fight, it just slows everything down. I think his first 100 days are going to be what’s most important for the next four years because that will set the agenda that will set the tone. If we delay, then everybody’s going to lose their guts,” Burchett explained.
“I think it’s important that the first 100 days we get Trump’s agenda passed, we lock down the border, we get some control over spending, and then we start legislating,” Burchett added.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Mike Johnson and Donald Trump” by Mike Johnson.
