Speaker Johnson: Joint Address “Historic” — Invited Trump Early “Because There Is So Much to Report”

On the day of President Trump’s joint address to Congress on March 5, 2025, Speaker Mike Johnson explained why he had invited the president months earlier than tradition warranted: “There is so much to report” that “it would take him three hours to just go through all the wins.” The compilation also featured Governor Ron DeSantis mocking the Canadian boycott — “3.3 million visitors from Canada. That’s not much of a boycott” — NEC Director Kevin Hassett explaining that DOGE savings required congressional action to become permanent, and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin describing how Biden’s $20 billion climate program was designed to “limit the government’s oversight” through NGOs that “didn’t even exist before this pot of money emerged.”

Johnson: “So Much to Report”

Speaker Johnson explained the unprecedented timing of the presidential address, which was being delivered as a joint address rather than a State of the Union because it fell within the president’s first year.

“This joint address to Congress, Larry, is historic,” Johnson said. “Normally, you would have a State of the Union. The president would come in about the end of the first year of his term. But I invited him this early because there is so much to report.”

He described the scale of what had been accomplished. “President Trump is having a historic second term. And he’s done so much in less than 45 days that it would take him three hours to just go through all of the wins and all the victories and the things that he’s achieved so far,” Johnson said.

The Speaker expressed hope for bipartisan decorum: “I hope the Democrats don’t try to disrupt that, because the American people back home are applauding it. And we are here as well in the House Republican Conference. We’re so excited.”

Johnson then previewed the speech’s content. “The theme is the renewal of the American dream,” he said. “And the renewal of the American dream is underway already.”

He outlined the topics Trump would cover: accomplishments from the first month, plans to “fix the economic mess” left by Biden, foreign policy including ending the Ukraine war and bringing hostages home from Gaza, and an ask of Congress for “more border funding to continue with these deportations.”

The border funding request was the legislative component that distinguished the speech from a simple victory lap. Trump would use the joint address to formally request congressional appropriations for the deportation operation that had been conducted entirely through executive authority so far.

DeSantis: “Not Much of a Boycott”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis delivered the day’s most viral quip at a separate event, addressing the Canadian boycott of American tourism that had been proposed in response to Trump’s tariffs and 51st-state rhetoric.

“Let’s talk about investment in Florida,” DeSantis said. “We continue to set tourism records. 2024 saw more than 142 million visitors come to the state of Florida. This includes 3.3 million visitors from Canada.”

He delivered the punchline: “That’s not much of a boycott, in my book.”

Then the hockey-themed closer: “Maybe they wanted to get a glimpse of what a Stanley Cup-winning hockey team actually looks like.”

The joke landed on multiple levels. The Florida Panthers had won the 2024 Stanley Cup, giving DeSantis both a tourism statistic and a sports taunt to deploy against Canada. The 3.3 million Canadian visitors — despite the supposed boycott — demonstrated that individual Canadians valued Florida vacations more than they valued political protests against American trade policy. The boycott existed on social media; in the real world, Canadians were still booking flights south.

Hassett: DOGE Savings Need Congressional Action

NEC Director Kevin Hassett provided an important clarification about the relationship between DOGE’s spending cuts and the legislative process.

“Joe Biden gave us stagflation. He gave us the Green New Deal. He wasted so much money. And Congress hasn’t rolled that back yet,” Hassett said. “Elon is doing his work. But until Congress passes the law that changes the budgetary authorities, then the money that Elon is finding that we shouldn’t be spending is just sitting in the bank account for some cabinet agency.”

The explanation addressed a misconception that DOGE could permanently reduce spending through executive action alone. In reality, congressional appropriations law dictated how much money agencies received. DOGE could identify waste, stop improper payments, and cancel contracts, but making those savings permanent required Congress to change the underlying budgetary authorities.

Hassett connected the DOGE savings to the broader anti-inflation strategy: “President Trump knows that the way to stop inflation is to stop wasteful government spending and to have supply-side tax cuts.”

The implication was that the reconciliation bill moving through Congress needed to codify DOGE’s findings into law, reducing future appropriations to reflect the waste that had been identified. Without congressional action, the money saved by DOGE could theoretically be spent by future administrations.

Zeldin: The $20 Billion Climate Scheme

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin provided the most detailed description yet of what the administration had discovered about Biden’s $20 billion climate program — the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

“You had these NGOs, several of which didn’t even exist before this pot of money emerged,” Zeldin said. “They designed this program to distribute the $20 billion to limit the government’s oversight. Tying the hands behind the back of the EPA.”

Zeldin described the result of this design: “If you asked me where all this money is going, I actually don’t know. And it was designed that way.”

He outlined the structure: “When you look at a system that has $20 billion go through eight pass-throughs, which in many cases go to many other pass-throughs, the American taxpayer is already going to decide out of the gate: this isn’t enough oversight. This should be reviewed.”

Zeldin described his response: “We want to know about self-dealing and conflicts of interest. We want to reestablish oversight that doesn’t exist now.”

He revealed the enforcement actions underway: “I’ve been working closely with the Justice Department. They’ve been investigating. There’s currently a freeze on the funding at the bank. We’ve been working with the Department of Treasury.”

The most significant detail: “The money that went to the bank — that was $20 billion of it. Almost all of that money is still at the bank.”

The revelation that nearly $20 billion in taxpayer funds was sitting in a bank account, distributed through shell-like NGOs that had been created specifically to receive the money, and structured to evade government oversight, was one of the most damning DOGE-adjacent discoveries. It suggested not merely waste but a deliberate scheme to move public money beyond the reach of accountability — exactly the kind of finding that justified both the DOGE mission and the congressional appropriations reform that Hassett had described.

Key Takeaways

• Speaker Johnson invited Trump for an early joint address “because there is so much to report” in just 45 days, calling it “historic” and noting “it would take him three hours to go through all the wins.”
• DeSantis mocked the Canadian boycott: “3.3 million visitors from Canada. That’s not much of a boycott. Maybe they wanted to see what a Stanley Cup-winning hockey team looks like.”
• NEC Director Hassett explained that DOGE savings required congressional action to become permanent: “Until Congress passes the law, the money is just sitting in the bank account.”
• EPA Administrator Zeldin revealed that Biden’s $20 billion climate program was distributed through NGOs that “didn’t even exist” before the money appeared, designed to “limit the government’s oversight.”
• Zeldin said nearly all of the $20 billion was “still at the bank” under a freeze, with the Justice Department investigating potential self-dealing and conflicts of interest.