Scalise Calls out Democrat Hypocrisy on Maduro
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), and Congressman Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) to discuss House Republicans’ work to reduce costs for hardworking Americans. Additionally, Leader Scalise highlighted Democrats’ hypocrisy on holding Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro accountable.
Click here or the image above to view Leader Scalise's full remarks.
Highlights from Leader Scalise's remarks:
On the Trump Administration working to reverse the damage from Biden’s policies:
“We did a lot last year to start reversing the damage that President Trump and all of us inherited from the Biden years, the high inflation, the high interest rates, so many rules and regulations that were targeted to hurt families, to increase costs for families that we have been working to reverse.
“President Trump has done a lot of things through executive action. We worked closely with the President on things like the Working Families Tax Cut, there's a lot of big bills, over 20 CRAs, Congressional Review Acts, reversing costly, ridiculous Biden-era regulations, so that we can lower costs for families. We're going to continue. We have a lot more work to do. We talked about this yesterday very extensively. President Trump was fully engaged with our members yesterday, as he has been this entire first year. It's not even a full year in office. And yet we have seen an incredibly engaged President who is working with a Republican House and Senate in Congress to fight for the American people who had been left behind by the previous administration.”
On House Republicans’ agenda in 2026:
“We talked about what we can do to keep lowering costs in areas like energy, where in many states are now finally seeing less than $2 a gallon of gasoline. That's more money in the pockets of families. Working on lowering health care costs, where Democrats only want to give money to big insurance companies, President Trump talked about letting families have the decision on how to spend that money. Not the insurance companies, but families controlling where the money goes. If they can get a better plan for themselves and their family, they should be able to make those decisions, as he's done other things to prescription drug prices. We're going to keep working on those ideas. We had all of our committee chairmen talking about all the things that are going to be teed up, things that are already coming through committee, lowering housing costs, so many other things that we're going to be doing. Every member was able to give their input. Members gave a lot of really good input on looking at an agenda that's going to be continued to focus on lowering costs for families and getting this country back on track as we celebrate 250 years of American independence.”
On Democrats’ obsession with opposing President Trump at all costs:
“While Democrats wake up every day, and we see it with Venezuela, some of the same Democrats who just years ago were saying, 'When is somebody going to do something about Maduro?' President Trump finally does and brings him to justice for all the horrible things he's done to kill Americans, and those same Democrats are then saying, 'How dare the President do it?' Because Democrats have shown all they care about every day is they wake up in the morning, and they just want to oppose what Donald Trump does, no matter what it is. When he's delivering on the promises the American people elected him to carry through on, all the Democrats want to do is obstruct and fight and vote no.
“If that's what they want to do as a party, just to be a lost in the wilderness, far left, radical, socialist, Marxist Party, then let them stay lost in the wilderness. We're going to keep fighting and delivering for those families who are counting on us. They'd love to see Democrats work with this President. But if the Democrats want to continue moving towards the Mamdani wing of their party, which is where they're headed, and defend a dictator who was literally letting narco-terrorists run his country, then we're going to continue. Think about this: Hundreds last year, hundreds of thousands of Americans died because of drugs that came into this country through people like Maduro. President Trump said we're going to stop those deaths from happening. We care about those families, every family who has seen loss from fentanyl death or cocaine or heroin overdose. President Trump did something about that to defend Americans here at home, and he will continue to do that on every front. And we're going to keep delivering with President Trump for those same families who should not struggle anymore. It's going to be a very busy year. It's going to be a year of unified Republicans delivering for hard-working American families.”