Scalise: House Republicans Advance Agenda to Strengthen Affordability, Security, and Trust

WASHINGTON, D.C.-This morning, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined CNBC's Squawk Box to preview a busy week in the House, outlining House Republicans' agenda to keep the government open, strengthen election integrity, reform congressional stock trading, support America's military, and lower costs for American families. Leader Scalise also contrasted Republicans' focus on delivering commonsense solutions with Democrats' embrace of radical collectivist policies that would raise costs and undermine America's security.

Click here or the image above to view Leader Scalise's full interview.

Highlights from Leader Scalise's interview:

On House Republicans fighting for Americans on the floor this week:

"We have a busy week. We're moving a number of bills. We're going to be moving what's called a continuing resolution, a bill to make sure we can keep government funded because the basic function of government is to pay the troops, to make sure we can fund, for example, we had the big fight over the Department of Homeland Security and where it hurt families, as you saw lines at airports and Democrats shut the government down. We don't want to have that happen again. So we're going to bring a bill tomorrow to prevent a government shutdown.

"We're going to bring a bill to ban stock trading... a lot of people have this frustration when they see that Members of Congress- some do trade stocks. I don't, but some do. And, you know, right now it's legal. You're not allowed to use insider information, but just the perception of it's not good. And so banning day trading by members of Congress, you know, if you come in from another job, you have a 401K, you can hold that, but you can't be trading along the way while you're a Member of Congress. I think that's a really good, long-needed reform that's going to move this week. We're going to pass that bill.

"We're going to be moving, as you talked about, Reconciliation 3.0. This is a bill, at least a budget, to start that process so that we can actually have the ability to, number one, move the SAVE America Act over to the Senate in a way where they can take this up with 51 votes, not 60. You know, we've seen in the Senate that Democrats do not want to work with President Trump on anything, and this is an important reform to ensure voter integrity. So we're going to move that bill over as well.

"We're also moving the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act.This is a bill that ensures that our troops get the priorities they need in military spending so that our department of war is able to stay up to date with our adversaries like China.

"And then we're moving a really good Main Street bill that French Hill over at financial services have moved to help community banks get more level footing with the large banks. So we're doing a lot of important things this week."

On House Republicans working to secure elections and lower costs:

"There are a lot of really good bills that are over in the Senate. You know, we've got a great permitting reform bill that would be really important to help Americans build again. I mean, everything from homebuilding to roads and bridges that take ten years and sometimes just get shelved because of ridiculous, overriding bureaucracy. We have a great bill that solves that problem that passed with a big bipartisan vote in the House. Can't go anywhere in the Senate. They've got serious problems over there getting bills moved. Just the appropriations bills to fund basic functions of government. They can't get 60 votes to take the bill up and start debating it, let alone to pass it.

"So when you think about something like SAVE America, which is at the heart of democracy, just saying show picture ID to vote, for God's sake, you can't go get pasta at Olive Garden without a picture ID. Why not be able to show a picture ID to vote, the franchise of American democracy, and the Senate can't get 60 votes to move it. So we're sending them this idea in a bill that only needs 51 votes. And, and look, at some point the Senate's going to have to take this up and find a way to get it to the president's desk. It's an 85-15 issue with the American public. Everybody- Democrats, Republicans, black, white- understand this. You get on an airplane, you show an ID, Shouldn't you show an ID to vote when some states actually ban the people at the polls from asking you for an ID? So you don't even know who the people are that are showing up, and it undermines the integrity of the vote. So we're going to get that bill back over to the Senate in a new form. At some point, they've got to pass that bill."

On the direction of the Democrat party:

"It's a contrast election. Look at how insane the Democrat Party has gone to the Marxist communist left. I mean, they're in a civil war right now where their own leaders are fighting each other. I mean, Hakeem Jeffries is fighting Bernie Sanders. And guess what? Bernie Sanders and Mamdani are winning in their primaries. So they're sending all these far-left extremists who want to defund not just the police, they want to defund prisons. Those are the candidates they're sending up against our Republicans this year.

"And our Republicans are working to make life more affordable for American families. So we're, we're going to keep working on good policies. Democrats this week have said they're going to vote to shut the government down again. That continuing resolution, the funding bill I talked about, Democrats are saying they're going to vote no because they want a government shutdown. They want chaos in America. You know, do you want lines at the airports again for four hours? Do you want our troops not to get paid? That's what Democrats are going to vote for, and that's their message when families just want the government to function, make their lives better, not try to instill chaos just because Democrats are still upset with the president...

"Go look at the polling. We've asked the question, 'who do you trust more to make life more affordable for you? Republicans or Democrats right now?' And voters by a large margin trust Republicans because they're watching the Democrats talk about collectivism. They want to talk about getting rid of private property rights, raising tax rates on everybody. That's insane. That's not where we need to go. They, by the way, also want to ban fossil fuels. So, you know, if you're concerned about oil at, you know, $4 a gallon today, imagine California's prices would be the national standard... So these are all going to be on the ballot this November. So there's a lot at stake and their party is showing just how extreme they've gone."