We are really grateful that tonight, in a bipartisan fashion with an overwhelming majority of votes, we passed the American

Relief Act of 2025. This is a very important piece of legislation. It funds the government, of course, until March of

2025. That was a big priority for us. This is America First legislation because it allows us to be set up to deliver for

the American people. In January, we will see a significant change in Washington. President Trump will return to D.C. and to

the White House, and we will have Republican control of the Senate and the House. Things are going to be very

different around here. This was a necessary step to bridge the gap, to put us into that moment where we can

put our fingerprints on the final decisions on spending for 2025. We also, in this bill, as you know, took care of

Americans who desperately needed and deserve assistance. We had a record hurricane season; Hurricanes Ian and

Nicole, in particular, did dramatic damage across at least six states: the Carolinas, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee,

all the way through. And they have been waiting for the federal government to assist. We did that tonight in this bill.

We also took care of our farmers, many of whom are on the brink of collapse because of Bidenomics, frankly, because

of the inflationary cost of their inputs and the inability they have right now to get loans from banks and lenders

to put their crops in the ground, to put the seeds in the ground in the spring. So we had to take care of

that, and we did. We are excited about this outcome tonight. We're grateful that everyone stood together to do the right

thing, and having gotten this done now as the last order of business for the year, we are set up for a big and important

New start in January. We can't wait to get to that point. We encourage swift passage in the Senate now; they need to

do their job as the House just did. We will all go home. I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas, Happy

Hanukkah, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year, because I hope not to see you until we get back after

that. So, we... I was in constant contact with President Trump throughout this process. Spoke with him

most recently about 45 minutes ago. He knew exactly what we were doing and why, and this is a good outcome

for the country. I think he certainly is happy about this outcome as well.  Elon Musk and I talked within about an

hour ago, and we talked about the extraordinary challenges of this job. I said, 'Hey, you want to be Speaker of

the House? I don't know.' He said, 'This may be the hardest job in the world.' I think it is, but we're going to get

through this. We are going to unify this country and we are going to bring the America First agenda to the people

beginning in January. We cannot wait to get started. I hope you all have a great holiday.

House Speaker: 'I spoke to Trump and Elon' before interim spending bill vote