Remarks in an Exchange With Reporters at the United States Capitol

Republican Opposition to the President's Legislative Agenda/Inflation/National Economy/The President's Visit to the Middle East

Q. Mr. President, should Republicans that hinder this bill be primaried?

The President. Possibly. Possibly. We'll have to see. I think we have great—we have a very, very united party.

This man has done a fantastic job. And so have you, Lisa.

Representative Lisa C. McClain. Thank you.

The President. But this man has done a fantastic job. He's a real unifier. I don't think anybody else could have done it.

We had—I just said to your cohorts downstairs, we had a majority of one for a period of 5 months, and he kept it together. And we actually passed things. And nobody else could have done that. He's done a fantastic job as speaker.

We have a very, very unified party. Remember, we had one, and now we have seven. We won elections. We won elections. And we're going to win a lot of elections.

The economy is good. I just had my highest poll numbers ever—ever. And we had a big trip to the Middle East. We took in $5.1 trillion. We brought it back to our country. A hundred and eighty Boeing aircraft were—are being built now because of that trip and many other things. That's the least of it.

The economy is, you know, doing great. The stock market is higher now than when I came into office, and we've taken in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariff money, and we've had no inflation. You know, they kept saying inflation. There's no inflation. Groceries are down. Gasoline is way down—way down. Everything is down. All energy costs are down.

The economy—I'll tell you, to me, maybe the most respected thing—you saw, the way they respected me, between Qatar and Saudi Arabia and U.A.E., the—probably the richest—certainly the richest-of-their-type nation. Great places. Unbelievable amounts of money. They respect our country again.

They were going to go to China. China was going to take over those countries 100 percent. They were dealing with China because they weren't treated right by the last administration. And they have tremendous economic power. They have more money than anybody.

We probably have more money, but we have other things like this. They are very, very—they are very cash rich, to put it mildly.

And they're spending $5.1 trillion—probably, it's going to be $7 trillion by the time we stop. And you know, somebody said every other President goes and leaves and spends money, gives other countries money. I'm the only one that goes and takes money back. You know, when you think of it, I said, "That's an interesting statement. I never thought of it that way."

But we have a—they—this is really just a pep talk. We have a very unified House, and we have a very unified Senate. And Mike is doing a phenomenal job as Speaker. He's going to be there a long time.

And we have a man in the Senate, our leader, Thune—Mr. Thune is doing a great job. I've gotten to like him a lot, and he's doing a fantastic job.

Between the two guys—very different personalities, actually, in certain ways, but they are doing a fantastic job. I don't think the Republican Party has ever been so unified. It's become a much bigger party. You know, we're winning the labor vote. We're winning—we won the Teamsters. We won votes that nobody—look how well we did with the automakers.

And by the way, the president of the automakers is now my biggest fan. He said, "He did tariffs." You know how many auto plants are being built now in this country because of the tariffs? Three just announced yesterday that they're building. It's—there is a revolution going on, a positive one, in our country, and I love it. And we're——

Q. Mr.——

The President. ——we're doing really well.

[At this point, several reporters began asking questions at once.]

And we'll see you later.

The President's Legislative Agenda/Illegal Immigration

Q. Is it time for negotiations to stop, Mr. President? Do you want—do you want the negotiations to be over now and to——

The President. Which negotiations?

Q. Over this bill.

The President. Oh, yes, well, it's going to be. We're going to be putting it in soon, and I think we're going to have great support.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

We are going to make—we're going to make a couple of tweaks. I mean, we don't want to benefit Democrat Governors, although I would do that if it made it better, but they don't know what they're doing. And you know, they're radical left——

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

We don't want to—we don't want to—we don't want to do any damage to a State. We want to help all the States, but we have Governors that are from the Democrat Party. Let's say New York and Illinois—big ones—and let's say Gavin "Newscum," who's done a horrible job in California.

I'm—you know, we want to benefit the—we want to benefit Republicans, because they are the ones that are going to make America great again. The Democrats are destroying our country, and you see that with the past administration with an open borders policy that allowed 21 million people into our country, and many of those people are stone-cold murderers, killers, and trouble.

Yes.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Concerns About Government Spending Levels

Q. What are you planning to tell the fiscal hawks who want to delay this?

The President. Say it.

Q. What are you planning to tell the fiscal hawks who want to delay this?

The President. I'm a fiscal hawk. [Laughter]

Q. They don't think this has enough spending.

The President. I'm a bigger fiscal hawk. There's nobody like me as a fiscal hawk.

Q. Thomas Massie says this has more deficit than Biden did and this—this bill kind of—[inaudible]——

The President. Because we have to fix the country.

Representative Thomas H. Massie

Q. Do you think that Thomas Massie is correct in saying that this is adding Biden-level spending?

The President. No, I don't think Thomas Massie understands Government. I think he's a grandstander, frankly. He'll probably vote—we don't even talk to him much. I think he should be voted out of office. And I just don't think he understands Government.

If you ask him a couple of questions, he never gives you an answer. He just says, "I'm a no." He thinks he's going to get publicity, and you have that. You have that. They've got some too.

Go ahead.

Medicaid and Medicare Programs

Q. Mr. President, on Medicaid. Do you want work requirements phased in next year? Do you think that's possible?

The President. Here's what I want on Medicaid. We're not touching anything. All I want is one thing—three words. We don't want any waste, fraud, or abuse. Very simple. Waste, fraud, abuse. Other than that, we're leaving it. Medicare, we're leaving it.

All we're after—and this is for the good of it. There's a lot of waste, fraud, and abuse. That's all we're doing. We're not touching it.

The Democrats are going to destroy it.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Thank you very much, everybody. We'll see you later.

Q. [Inaudible]—in this bill. What's your message to them?

The President. We're not cutting Medicaid.

Entitlement Programs

Q. There are conservatives in this room who want to go further on Medicaid?

The President. Waste, fraud, and abuse. That's all the cuts we're doing.

Thank you very much.