“Like Oprah was running for president”

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday criticized “Comrade Kamala” Harris for touting “central price controls” and trillions of dollars in new government spending as part of her economic agenda — suggesting the plan sounds like something Oprah Winfrey might have dreamed up.

At an America First Policy Institute forum in Washington, Johnson (R-Louisiana) pledged to reverse the “big-government socialist experiment” that President Biden and Vice President Harris have led for the past four years.

“Candidate ‘Comrade Kamala’ Harris — as President Trump is known — now wants to take this to a whole other level,” the House speaker said.

“If you follow her little campaign speeches, all she talks about is more centralized price controls and new government spending programs.”

“And everyone gets a car,” he joked. “It’s like Oprah running for president.”

Johnson also sat down for a chat with Trump’s former National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow, who has sharply criticized many of Harris’ recent economic proposals.

Her plans would cost more than $1.7 trillion, economists estimate, and would include $50,000 in tax breaks for new small businesses, benefits for first-time homebuyers and $6,000 in tax breaks for low- and moderate-income families with a child under the age of 1.

Johnson recited a “very aggressive” list of counter-goals for Republicans’ first 100 days if they can form a unified government in November — with a particular focus on “extending and building on” the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which expires at the end of 2025.

“We will keep these cuts in place to support job creation, along with a doubling of the guaranteed deduction and a strong child tax credit,” he pledged.

“But unlike the Democratic proposal, we will make sure that our tax policy respects the dignity of work and does not pay people more to stay out of the workforce.”

Johnson also stressed that “the days of allowing China to steal our jobs, exploit our trade deals and destroy our manufacturing sector are over.”

“It is clearly not in our national interest to rely on the communists for energy, critical minerals and pharmaceuticals. And we know it is not in our national interest to support the economy of our greatest geopolitical adversary,” the House speaker said.

The GOP lawmaker noted that China is at stake in the 2024 election after Harris proposed a 28 percent corporate tax rate, which he said would be “at least 30 percent higher than any other Chinese competitor.”

He also criticized the Harris-Biden administration for cutting U.S. oil and gas production and wastefully spending money on renewable alternatives through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which he said “costs twice as much as advertised and sends our taxpayer money to China.”

Johnson, a high school drama student, couldn’t resist warming up the audience by imitating Trump.

“Nobody is talking about energy independence,” the former president told House Republicans at a Capitol Hill breakfast in June, Johnson recalled. “Dominance — dominance.”

Those actions could be taken in tandem with clawing back some spending from Harris-Biden programs and creating a new government efficiency commission, proposed by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and backed by Trump, tasked with conducting a federal audit of all fiscal waste, fraud and abuse.

Johnson was enthusiastic about the plan.

“President Trump wants to take the torch to the regulatory state, and I want to help him keep it,” the House speaker told attendees.

However, at the same time as the forum, the 45th president posted on his Truth Social website about the state and local income tax (SALT) deduction he authorized as part of his 2017 signature law, which the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said would increase the cost of a reformed tax bill by $1.2 trillion.

“I will turn it around, get SALT back, cut taxes, and more,” Trump promised. “I will work with a Democratic governor and mayor and make sure the funds are available to get New York State back to levels it hasn’t seen in 50 years.”

Such a price tag would further complicate Republican spending-cutting efforts.