Johnson outlines economic plan under Trump if GOP controls government in 2025

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday outlined his economic agenda for the first 100 days under a second Trump administration — a plan that assumes Republicans will win unified control of government in 2025.

In a speech at the conservative America First Policy Institute that was followed by a discussion with Larry Kudlow, Johnson outlined priorities for tax policy, prioritizing U.S. investment, eliminating green initiatives championed by Democrats, reforming education, and rooting out wasteful spending.

“We’ve been working very aggressively to put together a very aggressive first 100 days agenda for the Congress, and in the days beyond,” Johnson said. 

“Now, we don’t put the cart before the horse. We got a lot to do between now and Election Day. But I believe that what I’m seeing on the ground is going to happen, that we are going to have this opportunity,” Johnson said. “So, we got to be prepared on day one.”

Johnson has long been working on his legislative plans for 2025, aiming to swiftly send conservative policies to former President Trump’s desk if he wins another term. That planning has included pitching Senate Republicans on the idea of using an obscure budget procedure known as reconciliation to enact major conservative legislation in order to overcome opposition from Democrats and bypass the Senate filibuster.

A one-pager of the first 100 days economic plan from the Speaker’s office also outlined the plan he presented on Tuesday.

First, Johnson focused on extending the tax cuts passed under Trump in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

He said that Republicans would restore immediate expensing for research and development costs; ensure a strong Foreign Derived Intangible Income (FDII) incentive to “encourage U.S. ownership of intellectual property”; and restore the 100 percent expensing provision that began to phase out after 2022.

Johnson voiced support for a “strong Child Tax Credit,” saying that “unlike the Democrats’ proposal, we will ensure that our tax policy respects the dignity of work, and it doesn’t pay people for staying out of the workforce.”

The Speaker then talked about “America First” economic policy.

“It’s about being good stewards of what God has given us. It doesn’t mean isolationists, it means we’re good stewards. You take care of your own house before you take care of the neighborhood. And people have lost sight of that,” Johnson said.

Taking aim at China, Johnson aimed to detangle economic interests from what he called “our largest geopolitical adversary,” pointing to a number of bills the House passed to counter “malign economic activity.”

Border policy will be part of the GOP’s tax policy, Johnson said, saying they will “[use] the tax code to secure the border and fight the cartels.”

“In addition to securing the border, we can use the tax code to deter illegal immigration and eliminate existing loopholes that reward illegal immigration,” Johnson said.

Environmentally friendly policies and regulations championed by Democrats would also be on the chopping block.

“Under the Biden-Harris regime, we’ve seen Green New Deal regulations, unrealistic EV mandates, the cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline. We’ve seen pauses on LNG permitting, reduced oil refining capacity, and a litany of prohibitively expensive emissions standards. These mandates, which have ignored the untapped resources within our soil and ignored the science supporting natural gas – have made fueling up at the gas station, and cooling or heating your home, astronomically more expensive,” Johnson said. “When we retake control of government, we’re going to roll back the Green New Deal regulations and put America back in a place of American energy dominance.”

Johnson unleashed his Trump impersonation when talking about energy policy, recalling when Trump in his first term told House Republicans: “We don’t talk about energy independence – energy dominance, dominance.”

Education policy reform will also be part of the economic policy, Johnson said.

“We can reform our education system by maximizing school choice for parents and holding woke university administrators accountable,” Johnson said.

He took a swipe at the Biden administration’s attempt to cancel student loans, which he said have “only made it more expensive to get a degree.”

Johnson echoed Trump’s plans to overhaul the federal workforce.

“We’re going to reduce the size of the federal workforce. We’re going to root out the hundreds of thousands of non essential jobs that exists throughout the federal bureaucracy,” Johnson said.

“You’ve heard President Trump and Elon Musk talk about some of this,” Johnson said, referencing Trump saying he would task the billionaire to run a “government efficiency commission.” 

All of those plans, though, are predicated on Republicans winning unified control of government – which Johnson said he is “bullish” about.

“With Republican control of the House and Senate and White House – again, unified government – we can introduce and pass an economic plan that will put us back on that pioneering path of liberty, opportunity, and prosperity for families around this great country,” Johnson said.