‘Partisan and divisive’: House leadership disagrees on reception of Trump’s joint address
House Speaker Mike Johnson appears on ABC News’ “Good Morning America” on March 5, 2025. (ABC News)
(WASHINGTON) — As Washington sought on Wednesday to make sense of President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress, House Republicans saw the speech as going “overwhelmingly well,” while Democrats said it was “one of the most partisan and divisive speeches” ever delivered by a president.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on ABC News’ “Good Morning America” on Wednesday, presenting their parties’ differing views of Trump’s joint address to Congress.
“That was one of the most partisan and divisive speeches every delivered by an American president,” Jeffries told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.
Trump spoke to thundering applause from Republican majorities in the House and Senate, but faced heckles from some raucous Democrats.
“The speech last night went overwhelmingly well,” Johnson said on Wednesday on “GMA.” “It was not a speech for the mainstream media it was a speech for the American people.”
During the speech, Rep. Al Green, an 11-term Democrat representing the Houston area, stood up and pointed his cane at the dais and shouted, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid.” He was escorted from the chamber.
Democrats resorted to “pettiness,” and their protests during the speech amounted to a “a sad affair,” Johnson said on Wednesday. He pointed to Green “trying to interrupt the whole proceeding”
“If the Democrats want a 77-year-old congressman to be the face of their resistance, heckling the president, then bring it on,” Johnson said. “But we couldn’t allow that on the House floor.”
Jeffries responded, saying the “vast majority” of Democrats “showed restraint, listened to what the president had to say.” He said he “strongly” disagreed with Johnson’s characterization.
“The biggest problem I had with the speech, there was nothing said, nothing laid out, nothing articulated by Donald Trump to meet the needs of the American people, particularly as it relates to the economy,” he said.
The president heaped praise on Elon Musk, the billionaire tech mogul, and his Department of Government Efficiency, which has been busy slashing the federal government.
Johnson shrugged off concern that Musk appeared to some to be an “unelected bureaucrat,” saying he amounted to a “patriotic American.”
“He’s doing a great service for the country and he ought to be applauded,” he said.
Trump defended the tariffs he put in place on Tuesday on goods from Mexico and China, along with the increased duties in Chinese goods.
“Tariffs are not just about protecting American jobs they’re about protecting the soul of our country. Tariffs are about making America rich again,” Trump said during the speech.
But Jeffries pointed to kitchen-table issues that, he said, the president hasn’t focused enough on.
“Donald Trump promised to lower costs. In fact, he promised to lower costs on day one,” he said. “We know that grocery prices are not going down, they are going up, inflation is going up, and the stock market is going down, which is hurting the retirement security of everyday Americans.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Three newly elected lawmakers representing the LGBTQ community will make history Friday when they are sworn in to the 119th Congress, marking several firsts in the House of Representatives.
Sarah McBride will be the first openly transgender member of Congress. She will represent Delaware’s sole congressional district in the House of Representatives after more than three years in the state Senate, which marked a historic first for trans representation at the state senate level.
Julie Johnson, set to be the first LGBTQ+ member of Congress from the South, had served in the Texas state legislature since 2018. In her campaign for the congressional seat, she touted her record in fighting anti-LGBTQ bills on the state level among her passions as a legislator.
Emily Randall will be the first LGBTQ Latina in Congress after serving as a Washington state senator since 2018.
The 118th Congress set the record for having the most LGBTQ representation in U.S. history, with 13 legislators openly identifying as gay, lesbian or bisexual. This year’s slate of members being sworn in are doing so as the country experiences growing anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and violence.
In the 2024 state legislative session, the ACLU tracked more than 500 bills they say are “anti-LGBTQ.” Transgender people — who make up less than 1% of Americans over the age of 13, according to UCLA’s research organization, the Williams Institute — have particularly been the subjects of such legislation, including restrictions on bathroom use for transgender residents, bans on gender-affirming care, and more.
In recent years, federal and local authorities have warned about the increase in violence against the LGBTQ community.
McBride has received backlash from some colleagues ahead of her swearing in. Republican Rep. Nancy Mace introduced a bill in November to restrict transgender women from using women’s restrooms at the U.S. Capitol, saying the bill was “absolutely” in response to McBride’s entering Congress. She cited concerns about her safety in restrooms, to which McBride responded by calling the bill a distraction. The bill is now dead.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said transgender women cannot use women’s restrooms, changing rooms or locker rooms in the Capitol and House office buildings. In terms of how Johnson plans to enforce this policy is not entirely clear if he’s elected Speaker again, but the speaker has “general control” of facilities, according to House rules.
McBride responded to the order by saying, “I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families. Like all members, I will follow the rules as outlined by Speaker Johnson, even if I disagree with them.
LGBTQ groups have applauded the incoming legislators “when the fight for equality and justice faces unprecedented opposition,” said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson in a statement to ABC News.
“The American people deserve a bold vision for our country, one led by champions who bring experiences to the table that have often gone unheard,” Robinson said in the statement. “They have proven themselves to be leaders through their lived examples and their careers in advancing equality and civil rights. It’s why we were proud to mobilize our grassroots forces last year to support them in their races so that every LGBTQ+ American knows that they have a voice in Washington.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump kicked off his second term with a flurry of executive actions on immigration, Jan. 6, health policy and more.
More orders are expected Tuesday amid fallout from his first moves, including his issuing pardons for more than a thousand rioters convicted in connection with the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and his effort to end birthright citizenship.
Meanwhile, lawmakers will continue to question and process the president’s Cabinet picks. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been sworn in as other nominees, including Elise Stefanik for ambassador to the United Nations, face confirmation hearings.
Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger sent an internal memo praising officers following the pardons made by President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden. The memo was obtained by ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott.
Manger said that “when there is no price to pay for violence against law enforcement, it sends a message that politics matter more than our first responders.”
Manger cited the pardons from Trump for Jan. 6 rioters and from Biden for commuting the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a man convicted of the murder of two FBI agents in 1975.
“Police willingly put themselves in harm’s way to protect our communities. When people attack law enforcement officers, the criminals should be met with consequences, condemnation and accountability,” Manger said.
DOGE gets official government website
The page currently consists of a simple landing page displaying a logo featuring the iconic Shiba Inus from the original “doge” meme.
The official page comes after President Donald Trump’s executive order on Monday night creating the now solely Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency. The order notably stated that the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) will be renamed the U.S. DOGE Service and placed under the Executive Office of the President.
DOGE will terminate on July 4, 2026, as Musk has previously detailed, and each agency in the Trump admin must create a DOGE Team, according to the order.
– ABC’s Will Steakin
Trump to meet with Republican leaders at White House
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House at 2 p.m., sources told ABC News.
At 3 p.m. ET, other GOP leaders from both chambers — including Steve Scalise, Lisa McClain and John Barrasso — will meet with Trump as well at the White House, sources said.
The White House has not yet formally released a schedule for Trump.
-ABC’s Katherine Faulders, Rachel Scott, Lauren Peller and Allison Pecorin
Trump’s 1st executive orders quickly face lawsuits
Eighteen states and the city of San Francisco filed a lawsuit challenging the president’s executive order to cut off birthright citizenship Tuesday, calling it a “flagrantly unlawful attempt to strip hundreds of thousands American-born children of their citizenship based on their parentage.”
The lawsuit accused Trump of seeking to eliminate a “well-established and longstanding Constitutional principle” by executive fiat.
A union representing thousands of federal employees also sued the Trump administration Monday evening over an executive order that makes it easier to fire career government employees, alleging the directive would violate the due process rights of its members.
“The Policy/Career Executive Order directs agencies to move numerous employees into a new excepted service category with the goal that many would then be fired,” the lawsuit alleged.
– ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Peter Charalambous
Coast Guard commandant fired in part over DEI efforts: Source
Admiral Linda Fagan, who served as the Coast Guard Commandant and was the first woman to lead a U.S. armed forces branch, was “relieved of her duties” by Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Benjamine Huffman.
A source with knowledge of the decision said Fagan was fired in part because of her Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in the Coast Guard.
“She has served a long and illustrious career and I thank her for her service,” according to a memo to the workforce obtained by ABC News.
Admiral Kevin Lunday is now acting commandant.
Trump promised to go after who he called “woke” generals in the military during his 2024 campaign. His nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said he will follow through on that issue.
-ABC’s Luke Barr
Reverend urges Trump to have ‘mercy’ on LGBTQ community, migrants
The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, during the prayer service at Washington National Cathedral, directed a message for President Donald Trump, who was seated in the front row.
“Let me make one final plea. Mr. President, millions have put their trust in you. And as you said, you have felt the providential hand of our loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” she said.
Budde said there are LGBTQ citizens of all political creeds who now ‘fear for their lives.” She also referenced migrants who may not be in the U.S. legally but are devoted neighbors, workers and parents.
“Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land,” she said.
Stefanik backs US withdrawing from WHO, pushes for UN reform
Rep. Elise Stefanik is facing senators for her confirmation hearing to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The ideological divide between Republicans and Democrats over the utility of global organizations has taken center stage. Stefanik zeroed in on reform.
“Our tax dollars should not be complicit in propping up entities that are counter to American interests, antisemitic or engaging in fraud, corruption, or terrorism,” she said. “We must invest in programs to strengthen our national security and deliver results to increase the efficacy of U.N. programs. We must drive reform.”
She also defended Trump’s decision to withdraw from another global body: the World Health Organization.
“I support President Trump’s decision to walk away from WHO,” she said, arguing it had “failed on a global stage in the Covid pandemic for all the world to see, and instead spewed CCP talking points that I believe led to not only false information, but dangerous and deadly information across the globe.”
As Trump attends service, Episcopal Church leaders express concern about immigration actions
Episcopal Church leaders on Tuesday released a letter urging Trump to “exercise mercy” in his approach to immigration policy.
While the service Trump is currently attending incorporates many faiths, the National Cathedral itself is part of the Episcopal Diocese in Washington.
“Even as we gave thanks for a peaceful transfer of power, we learned from news reports that the new presidential administration has issued a series of executive orders that are a harbinger of President Trump’s pledge to deport undocumented immigrants at a historic scale, restrict asylum, and direct other immigration actions,” the church leaders wrote in a letter.
“We read this news with concern and urge our new president and congressional leaders to exercise mercy and compassion, especially toward law-abiding, long-term members of our congregations and communities; parents and children who are under threat of separation in the name of immigration enforcement; and women and children who are vulnerable to abuse in detention and who fear reporting abuse to law enforcement.”
Trump and Vance attend interfaith prayer service
President Trump and Vice President Vance are attending an interfaith prayer service at Washington National Cathedral.
It’s the first public appearance for Trump since Monday night’s inaugural festivities.
First lady Melania Trump, second lady Usha Vance and Trump’s children are there as well.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican Rep. Mike Lawler are some of the lawmakers in attendance.
Trudeau responds to Trump tariff threats
Standing alongside his cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed President Trump’s proposed tariffs, stating firmly that if the U.S. proceeds with the measure, Canada will not hesitate to respond in kind.
“Everything is on the table,” Trudeau said adding, “We are prepared for every possible scenario.”
ABC News’ Aleem Agha
‘For us and the whole world, it is still the Gulf of Mexico’: Mexican president
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to Trump’s various decrees issued after the inauguration in a point-by-point statement.
Sheinbaum said Trump’s decrees concerning the emergency zone of the southern border and the Migrant Protection Protocols were no different than the orders made during Trump’s first term.
“We will always act in the defence of our independence, the defense of our fellow nationals living in the U.S. We act within the framework of our constitution and laws. We always act with a cool head,” she said in her statement.
Sheinbaum however pushed back on Trump’s decree to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
“For us and the whole world, it is still the Gulf of Mexico,” she said.
-ABC News’ Anne Laurent and Will Gretsky
Rubio promises State Department will focus on making America ‘stronger,’ safer,’ and ‘more prosperous’
After being sworn in as the nation’s 72nd secretary of state, Marco Rubio promised that every action taken by the department would be determined by the answer to three questions: “Does it make us stronger? Does it make us safer? And does it make us more prosperous?”
Rubio gave remarks in Spanish as well, giving thanks to God, his family present and not present, including his parents, who he said came to the U.S. in 1956 — and that the purpose of their lives was that their children could realize dreams not possible for them.
“It’s an incredible honor to be the secretary of state of the most powerful, best country in the world,” he continued in Spanish, giving thanks to Trump for the opportunity.
Rubio also echoed themes from Trump’s inaugural address and reiterated the president’s agenda.
“As far as the task ahead, President Trump was elected to keep promises. And he is going to keep those promises. And his primary promise when it comes to foreign policy is that the priority of the United States Department of State will be the United States. It will be furthering the national interest of this country,” Rubio said.
– ABC News’ Shannon Kingston
Confirmation hearing begins for Trump’s VA pick
Doug Collins, Trump’s choice to lead the Veterans Affairs Department, will face questions from lawmakers as his confirmation hearing gets underway.
Collins, a former congressman, is a Navy veteran who currently serves as a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command.
He was the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment, and had defended the president.
Rubio is sworn in by JD Vance as secretary of state
After being unanimously confirmed by the Senate on Monday night, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was officially sworn in by Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday morning.
Rubio joined ABC’s “Good Morning America” ahead of the ceremony, where he discussed Trump’s pardons for Jan. 6 rioters, TikTok and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Rubio sidestepped directly weighing on the pardons, saying his “focus needs to be 100% on how I interact with our counterparts, our adversaries, our potential enemies around the world to keep this country safe, to make it prosperous.”
When asked about Trump’s campaign pledge to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on Day 1, Rubio contended the matter is more complex and that negotiations would not be played out in public.
“Look this is a complex, tragic conflict, one that was started by Vladimir Putin that’s inflicted a tremendous amount of damage on Ukraine and also on Russia, I would argue, but also on the stability of Europe,” Rubio said. “So the only way to solve these things, we got to get back to pragmatism, but we also get back to seriousness here, and that is the hard work of diplomacy. The U.S. has a role to play here. We’ve been supportive of Ukraine, but this conflict has to end.”
White House signals Trump will make announcement on infrastructure
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said this morning that Trump will be making a a major announcement on infrastructure at 4 p.m. ET.
“I can confirm that the American people won’t be hearing from me today,” she wrote, indicating she would not hold a press briefing. “They’ll be hearing from the leader of the free world,” Leavitt said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”
“Once again, President Trump will be speaking to the press later this afternoon at the White House, and we will have a big infrastructure announcement,” she added.
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The stopgap spending plan negotiated between House Republicans and Democrats to avoid a government shutdown appears to be dead two days before the deadline after it was condemned by President-elect Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk.
Johnson’s original plan called for extending government spending at current levels until March and added other provisions like relief for disaster victims and farmers and a pay raise for members of Congress.
In a joint statement Wednesday afternoon, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance called on Congress to “pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.”
“Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and [President Joe] Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief,” Trump and Vance said.
Later Wednesday evening, Trump threatened any Republican in the House who voted for a clean bill.
“Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be Primaried,” he posted on his Truth Social platform. “Everything should be done, and fully negotiated, prior to my taking Office on January 20th, 2025.”
In another post, Trump also pushed Republicans to deal with the debt limit before he takes office, saying if they don’t, “he’ll have to ‘fight ’til the end’ with Democrats.”
“This is a nasty TRAP set in place by the Radical Left Democrats!” he wrote. “They are looking to embarrass us in June when [the debt limit] comes up for a Vote. The people that extended it, from September 28th to June 1st, should be ashamed of themselves.”
Scalise says ‘hopefully tomorrow’ the House will have deal Congress faces a deadline Friday, when the current government funding extension expires, to pass a new bill before a government shutdown kicks in.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters late Wednesday that negotiations on government funding remained ongoing after a “productive” late-night meeting in Speaker Mike Johnson’s office.
“We are going to continue to work through the night to the morning to get an agreement we can bring to the floor,” Scalise said, adding “hopefully tomorrow” the House can “get it resolved.”
Among those in the speaker’s office for negotiations was Vance, who told reporters the conversation was “productive,” adding, “I think we will be able to solve some problems here.”
In his remarks to reporters, Scalise said Trump “wants to start the presidency on a sound footing, and we want him to as well. And I think that’s one of the things we’re all focused on,” he said.
Scalise added, “There’s a lot we want to get done starting in January. But obviously we’ve got to get through this first. And we are going to get it resolved.”
Asked if the debt limit is going to be part of any new agreement, as Trump has called for, Scalise said: “We are not there yet. We are still having conversations with our members with a lot of other folks too just to make sure that everybody is on the same page. But we are still talking about some good ideas that will address some of the issues our members raised today. And then make sure we take care of the disaster victims.”
What Elon Musk said
Earlier Wednesday, Musk came out against the bill, going so far as to threaten lawmakers who voted for it.
After posting on X that “This bill should not pass,” Musk escalated his rhetoric, warning that “any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!”
“Please call your elected representatives right away to tell them how you feel! They are trying to get this passed today while no one is paying attention,” he implored his over 200 million followers.
He later posted that “No bills should be passed Congress until Jan 20, when @realDonaldTrump takes office.”
Republican leaders had been discussing a clean short-term funding bill, but specifics are unclear, sources told ABC News. This comes less than a day after Republicans unveiled the legislative text that was the product of bipartisan and bicameral negotiations.
What Democrats are saying
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries signaled Democrats were not inclined to vote for a clean bill.
“An agreement is an agreement,” Jeffries told reporters.
“House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans all across this country,” he said. “House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people that results from a government shutdown or worse.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked about Musk’s post during an interview on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday morning. He appeared to not worry about Musk’s post influencing the ability of the funding bill to get through both chambers ahead of a partial government shutdown deadline at the end of the day Friday.
“I was communicating with Elon last night. Elon and Vivek [Ramaswamy] and I are on a text chain together and I was explaining to them the background of this. Vivek and I talked last night about midnight, and he said ‘look I get it.’ He said, ‘We understand you’re in an impossible position,'” Johnson said.
Johnson said Musk and Ramaswamy, the two DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) leaders, are aware of the tough spot the speaker is in with a slim majority and Democratic control of the Senate and White House. DOGE is an outside-of-government (or private) operation.
“We gotta get this done because here’s the key. By doing this, we are clearing the decks, and we are setting up for Trump to come in roaring back with the American first agenda. That’s what we are going to run with gusto beginning January 3 when we start the new Congress,” he said.
Johnson, whose speakership has been characterized by beating back criticism from his far-right flank, had originally promised a clean bill that would solely extend current levels of government funding to prevent a shutdown. However, natural disasters and headwinds for farmers, necessitated additional federal spending.
In the end, the bill included $100 billion for recovery efforts from Hurricanes Helene and Milton and another $10 billion for economic assistance for farmers.
Johnson at an earlier press conference said his hands were tied after “acts of God” necessitated additional money.
“It was intended to be, and it was, until recent days, a very simple, very clean [continuing resolution], stopgap funding measure to get us into next year when we have unified government,” he said. “We had these massive hurricanes in the late fall, Helene and Milton, and other disasters. We have to make sure that the Americans that were devastated by these hurricanes get the relief they need.”
Still, Republican spending hawks cried foul, accusing Johnson of stocking the bill with new spending without any way to pay for it and keeping the bill’s creation behind closed doors.
“We’re just fundamentally unserious about spending. And as long as you got a blank check, you can’t shrink the government. If you can’t shrink the government, you can’t live free,” Texas Rep. Chip Roy said.
Musk, too, mocked the size of the bill.
“Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?” he posted on X, along with a picture of the bill stacked on a desk.
ABC News’ Rachel Scott and Katerine Faulders contributed to this report.
