Politics
‘Life Or Death’: Newt Gingrich Sends Ominous Warning To House Republicans
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich issued a dire warning to the House GOP leadership on Wednesday, reminding them that the clock is ticking on delivering for the American people — and there are consequences to suffer if they don’t.
Control of the chamber is precarious at best: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) wields a slim majority, empowering a handful of holdouts who have sometimes ground legislative affairs to a halt. If Johnson and his deputies don’t find a way to get them in line over the next six months, Gingrich predicted he will lose his window to deliver a “strong economy” in time for the 2026 elections.
“You know, Henry Kissinger told me one time that every major decision that he was involved in took 48 hours. That you weren’t quite sure when the 48 hours was going to occur, but when it came down to the crunch, it took 48 hours,” Gingrich said. “Sooner or later, the problems aren’t going to go away. We know what they are, and, I must say, I think that Chairman Guthrie, for example, Chairman Smith in the House, have really done a great job of bringing their teams together. I think you’re going to see an awful lot of conversations, and eventually over the next couple of weeks they’ll grind their way to a solution.”
Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-AL) manages the Committee on Energy and Commerce while Jason Smith (R-MO) chairs the powerful Ways and Means post.
“This is life and death for the House Republican Party because they have to have a strong economy in 2026 if they’re going to have a chance to keep their majority. If we have a bad economy next year, Republicans will not keep the House,” Gingrich added. “So the Senate doesn’t feel the same pressure, which is unfortunate.”
Riding on the coming months is the legacy of President Donald Trump, who Gingrich said will need a GOP majority in the House if he is to cement historic achievements during his final two years in office.
“I think from the standpoint of President Trump, it’s very clear that he has to have a Republican House and Senate if he’s going to make the last two years of his term successful. He doesn’t want to get back to a Nancy Pelosi environment where the Democrats in the House try to screw everything up. So I think that what Speaker Johnson is trying to do is get done as early as possible in the House to put maximum pressure on the Senate, get it to conference,” Gingrich told Fox Business in a clip spotted by the Daily Caller.
One major sticking point, the former House leader noted, is an estimated $880 billion in savings through cuts to Medicaid, often viewed as an untouchable third rail of politics. However, polling completed by Gingrich’s firm, America’s New Majority Project, shows that Americans are open to commonsense changes.
“I think there will come a point once they clearly understand what’s going to be in the bill and once they’ve solved the Medicaid problem. And, frankly, I’ve looked at Medicaid for many, many years. And at America’s New Majority Project, we’ve done a ton of polling on Medicaid. People will accept, for example, having a work requirement. People will accept getting rid of the crooks,” Gingrich said.
“People will accept not having illegal immigrants getting paid. There are a number of things you can do that are legitimate that not only don’t hurt people on Medicaid, but if you do it right, you can actually probably improve for doctors by getting rid of the 2% annual cut. You can probably help specific groups that really need help a lot.”
President Trump has consistently promised not to restrict Medicaid or Social Security benefits, while certain House Republicans have floated the possibility of reforms for future generations, such as raising the mandatory age before benefits may be drawn.
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