House Republicans take victory lap on first day back in Washington since election

With the Republicans poised to maintain their House majority, they’re already celebrating and visualizing a Trump-dominated agenda.

With the GOP gearing up for a second shot at unified government with President-elect Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, doesn’t want to repeat the mistakes from Mr. Trump’s first term.

“When President Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, we all look back and recognize that the Republican Party was not fully prepared for that moment, and precious time was wasted in the beginning of that Congress,” Mr. Johnson said Tuesday. “I know it well, because that was my freshman year in Congress. … We are not going to make those mistakes again. We will be ready on Day 1. We are prepared this time.”

Republicans plan to aggressively install many of Mr. Trump’s campaign promises during the first 100 days of his presidency with an agenda that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican, said has been in the works for months. 

The urgency comes from, in part, Mr. Trump’s recognition that this will be his last term in the White House, Mr. Scalise said, and that there would “not be a minute to waste.” 

“We didn’t wait until the day after the election to start planning this, and this shows the relentless focus of Donald Trump,” Mr. Scalise said. 

Details of the plan were presented in broad strokes, with remarks from lawmakers focused on border security, the economy and bolstering energy production.

Mr. Johnson said he plans to meet with Mr. Trump this weekend in Mar-a-Lago to “iron out the details” of the GOP’s legislative agenda. 

“We have to fix everything,” he said. “I told President Trump many times and we all discussed we believe we could be the most consequential Congress of the modern era and he the most consequential president, because we quite literally have to fix almost every metric of public policy. Everything is a mess, everything.”

The excitement that members of GOP leadership exhibited during their return to Washington works only with unified government, and whether Republicans land a trifecta depends on if they can keep their majority in the House. 

Republicans have clinched 214 seats to Democrats’ 205 and are expected to eke out another slim majority when 16 more races are called. There are still outstanding contests in Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine, Ohio and Oregon, and Mr. Johnson sounded optimistic that the GOP would win out and keep power. 

Those races being up in the air, many of which favor Republicans, have not derailed their House plans. Indeed, they will internally vote on a slate of leadership positions for the 119th Congress on Wednesday. 

House Republican leadership will largely stay the same. Mr. Johnson will vie for a full term with the gavel, but could face opposition from the more conservative Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. 

Mr. Trump is expected to meet with House Republicans before their closed-door vote and could give the speaker a boost that wins over any detractors. 

National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Rich Hudson of North Carolina lauded Mr. Johnson, whose “dauntless energy” and $27 million contribution to the House GOP’s campaign arm put Republicans in a position to keep the lower chamber. 

“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You’ve earned your gavel,” Mr. Hudson said.