President-elect Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson to meet at Army-Navy Game

Sam Janesch, Baltimore Sun on Dec 11, 2024

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As President-elect Donald Trump promises to take immediate action on a number of fronts once he returns to the White House, he and House Speaker Mike Johnson will continue their talks about the upcoming agenda Saturday at the Army-Navy Game in Landover, Maryland.

The Republican congressional leader, whose son is a plebe at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, is a key Trump ally expected to help push the president’s plans through Congress.

“American families are ready to see an American First agenda and we’re excited about that,” Johnson said at a news conference Tuesday. “You hear a lot of talk about the agenda and how it will be formulated and come together right out of the gates in early January. We’re working on that right now. In fact, House Republicans are already working to enact that agenda.”

The football game could be one of a few Maryland-based conversations for how that agenda comes together.

While the lawmakers have not officially announced other meetings, House GOP leaders are expected to meet for a daylong retreat in the days after Congress begins its next session Jan. 3 — a retreat that is likely to be in Baltimore, the political news organization Punchbowl News reported.

Johnson said he and Trump would be talking “in-depth” about their “playbook” this weekend. The top priority, he said, is curtailing the flow of undocumented immigrants at the southern border and tax reform, both of which could be addressed early in 2025.

Some of the work is already underway, he noted, began last week with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy visiting with House and Senate Republicans about their plans to significantly cut the federal budget. Trump has named the two wealthy businessmen to run a new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

Trump also attended the storied Army-Navy Game as president-elect in 2016, when the 71,600-person crowd greeted him with chants of “USA, USA.”

Johnson said Tuesday some of his son’s Naval Academy classmates had recently visited the Capitol.

“I guess I got to say ‘Go Navy,’ because my son’s there,” Johnson said. “But President Trump is coming to the game and others, and we’ll all be there together. It’ll be a lot of fun.”

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