Leader Jeffries: “House Democrats will Strongly Oppose”

Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on CNN’s The Situation Room, where he made clear that House Democrats will oppose the partisan Republican spending bill that continues the GOP healthcare crisis and will keep fighting for the health, safety and economic well-being of the American people.
WOLF BLITZER: I’m joined now by the House Democratic Leader, Hakeem Jeffries. Leader Jeffries, thanks so much for joining us. What are you hearing about when the House will vote on this bill to reopen the federal government?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, good morning. Great to be with you, Wolf. Great to be with you, Pamela. Great to be back on The Situation Room. Let me first just say we express our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to all of our veterans, our men and women who have worn the uniform, thankful for their service, their sacrifice and continuing to give us the freedom that we cherish here in this country. It’s our expectation that the House will vote at some point tomorrow and House Democrats will strongly oppose any legislation that does not decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis. We want to reopen the government. We’ll continue to stand by our hardworking federal employees and civil servants. But we have a responsibility to make sure that we extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits so that tens of millions of Americans don’t experience dramatically-increased healthcare costs that’s going to prevent them from being able to see a doctor when they need one.

WOLF BLITZER: As you know, the bill that will be on the House floor would fund the federal government until the end of January, some key agencies through the end of next year. What do you see happening on January 30th?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I think what’s going to be important over the next few weeks, once this issue is resolved relative to this particular piece of legislation, is that on December 31st, the Affordable Care Act tax credits expire and dozens of House Republicans have been claiming over the last few weeks that they know that is something that needs to be addressed. And now we’re going to have to see some action or whether it was just talk from these House Republicans because Democrats are going to continue to stay in the arena as it relates to dealing with the healthcare crisis that Republicans have visited on the American people. Understand that this year, Republicans have enacted the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. This is after Donald Trump promised in late January to ‘love and cherish Medicaid.’ And we know that hospitals and nursing homes and community-based health centers are closing all across the country. And now because of the Republican refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, there’s a risk over the next few weeks that tens of millions of Americans will not be able to afford their healthcare. We’re talking about working-class Americans, middle-class Americans and everyday Americans. That’s why Democrats are continuing to fight hard on their behalf.

WOLF BLITZER: But as you know in the Senate seven Democrats and one Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, they actually broke ranks to advance the funding bill, a 60 to 40 vote. They needed 60 votes, they got the 60 votes. The Republicans with one exception all voted for it. We spoke with one of those Democrats who caucuses—with one of those Democrats Angus King about why he decided to accept the Republican plan.

RECORDING OF SEN. KING: A lot of collateral damage was happening. People’s lives were being hurt. If the tactic isn’t working, and there were no prospects that it was going to work, then let’s move on, not make a lot of other people suffer in order to get a goal that wasn’t attainable.

WOLF BLITZER: Angus King of Maine, he’s an Independent, as you know Leader Jeffries, but he caucuses with the Democrats. What’s your response to his comment and his vote?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, the suffering that has been visited upon the American people over the last several weeks is very consistent with, unfortunately, the suffering that Donald Trump and Republicans have visited upon the American people since day one of his presidency, where we’ve seen these Republicans unleash extreme levels of aggressive behavior that does not make life better for these Americans. It makes life worse. And we’ve seen it—an all-out assault on the economy, an all-out assault on healthcare, an all-out assault on nutritional assistance, an all-out assault by these Republicans on veterans and farmers and law-abiding immigrant families and the American way of life and, of course, democracy itself. And so our fight obviously is going to continue through whatever happens this week because as House Democrats we’re committed to driving down the high cost of, to fixing our broken healthcare system and at the same period of time cleaning up the corruption that exists in Washington D.C in the Congress, at the Supreme Court and, of course, with the Trump administration, the most corrupt administration in American history, so we can actually deliver a country of the people, by the people and for the people.

WOLF BLITZER: I just want to be precise. You say the Supreme Court has been corrupt. Is that what you’re saying?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Yeah, what I’m saying is that the outrageous behavior by individual Justices like Clarence Thomas and Justice Alito and the failure to have an ethical code of conduct is corrupt. These are the only people in the country who can operate above the law. And so what I am suggesting is that as we focus on delivering a country that actually works for working-class Americans, we’ve got to make sure that every single branch of government is working in a manner consistent with lifting up the quality of life of everyday Americans and holding themselves to the same standards that working-class Americans are expected to live by, work hard and play by the rules.

WOLF BLITZER: The Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer voted against the deal last night, but he’s being severely criticized for not having enough control over his Caucus to stop those eight from defecting. Your colleague, Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California, says the time has come for a change. Listen to this.

RECORDING OF REP. KHANNA: He’s the Leader of the Senate. This deal would never have happened if he had not blessed it. It’s time for him to be replaced. He is not meeting the moment. He’s out of touch with where the party’s base is.

WOLF BLITZER: What do you think, Leader Jeffries, do you agree with Ro Khanna? Do you think Schumer should be replaced?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Leader Schumer did not bless this agreement. He voted against it. And, of course, Senate Democrats who voted no have made that clear. And what we’ve seen from Senate Democrats over the last seven weeks has been part of a valiant fight that we have waged together to stand up in defense of the health, the safety and the economic well-being of the American people. And we know Senate Democrats voted down the partisan Republican spending bill that gutted the healthcare of the American people 15 or 16 different times. And listen, it’s unfortunate that you had eight or so Democrats, seven Democrats, who made the decision to vote in a different way than the overwhelming majority of the Senate Democratic Caucus and what you’ll see from the overwhelming majority of House Democrats when the bill comes over to us, but they’re gonna have to explain themselves. This fight continues, and over the last several weeks, we have successfully elevated this healthcare issue such that the American people are demanding action. And now, it’s going to be on Mike Johnson and House Republicans to demonstrate, are they willing to actually do something for someone other than the wealthy, the well-off and the well-connected? And there’s an opportunity to do it by making sure that the Affordable Care Act tax credits are extended. Every single Democrat stands behind that proposition in the House. Let’s see what the Republicans decide to do tomorrow.

PAMELA BROWN: Well, let’s listen to Speaker Johnson for himself because he was asked about that by our Jake Tapper last night and here’s what he said.

RECORDING OF JAKE TAPPER: So you’re not committing to bringing up a bill that deals with the Obamacare subsidies before they expire?

RECORDING OF SPEAKER JOHNSON: I’m not committing to it or not committing to it. What I’m saying is that we do a deliberative process. It’s the way this always works and we have to have time to do that. And we will, in a bipartisan fashion.

PAMELA BROWN: So how do you see this playing out?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well let’s understand, this is the same group of people who rushed back to Washington in early July to enact their One Big Ugly Bill—the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, ripping health insurance away from about 14 million Americans. At the same period of time, they enacted a $186 billion cut to nutritional assistance. These people literally ripped food from the mouths of hungry children, seniors and veterans. And all of this was done—the attack on healthcare and the attack on SNAP—all of this was done so they could reward their billionaire donors with massive tax breaks that they made permanent. Yet they haven’t found the time to even bother considering extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits so that tens of millions of working-class Americans, middle-class Americans and everyday Americans don’t experience dramatically increased healthcare costs in an environment where the cost of living is already too high. Perhaps one of the reasons why they’re not dealing with this with any degree of urgency is because their leader, their puppet master Donald Trump, apparently believes that the affordability crisis in this country is all made up. And maybe that’s why we’re not seeing any action from Republicans—because they’re just taking orders from their boss.

PAMELA BROWN: Well, we have had Republican Congress[woman] Marjorie Taylor Greene on who actually has expressed the concern about affordability in America and the continuation of those ACA subsidies. As you know, she has been a fierce defender of President Trump, but recently she’s run counter to the White House message, and her change of tone has not escaped the President’s notice. I want to take a listen to this.

RECORDING OF REP. GREENE: I truly believe that’s an utter failure. And you can’t expect people to show up and be passionate about voting for you when you’re not even going to work, and they’re going to work every single day and struggling to pay their bills. I think domestic policy should be the most important issue that the President and the Republican-controlled House and Senate are working on. And that showed up in the election on Tuesday.

RECORDING OF PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don’t know what happened to Marjorie. She’s a nice woman, but I don’t know what happened. She’s lost her way, I think. So when somebody like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who’s now catering to the other side, I don’t know what, you know, I guess she’s, you know, got some kind of an act going, but I’m surprised at her. But when somebody like Marjorie goes over and starts making statements like that, it shows she doesn’t know.

PAMELA BROWN: Do you think she’s lost her way?

LEADER JEFFRIES: I think Marjorie Taylor Greene has correctly indicated that Donald Trump and Republicans have spent more time focused on bailing out their right-wing dictator friend in Argentina—they found $40 billion to bail out Argentina, but can’t find a dime to make life more affordable for the American people. Yeah, that’s a problem. It’s a problem that in the middle of this government shutdown—the longest Trump-Republican shutdown in American history—Donald Trump has spent more time on the golf course than he has actually talking with Members of Congress or Democrats on Capitol Hill who represent half the country as part of an effort to do what we’ve been saying from day one we should be doing, which is lowering the high cost of living. Donald Trump, in fact, promised on day one to lower the high cost of living, but in America costs aren’t going down, costs are going up. Housing costs under Republican policies through the roof. Grocery prices through the roof. Electricity costs through the roof. And now, tens of millions of people facing these unprecedented dramatic increases in health insurance costs. And Republicans don’t give a damn about it.

WOLF BLITZER: The Democratic Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries. Leader Jeffries always good to have you in the Situation Room. Thanks very much for joining us.

PAMELA BROWN: Thank you.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you.

Full interview can be watched here.
###
Subscribe to our e-newsletter that provides updates on important issues, my work in the Congress and what’s happening in our district.
REPUBLICANS HAVE SHUT THE GOVERNMENT DOWN BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT TO PROVIDE HEALTHCARE TO WORKING-CLASS AMERICANS
In the next few days, more than 20 million Americans are going to receive notices that will indicate that their premiums, co-pays and deductibles are about to skyrocket, which will bankrupt many Americans and prevent others from being able to access the healthcare they need.  Democrats are united in our resolve to make sure that we cancel the cuts, lower the cost and save healthcare for the American people.
During the Republican shutdown, my offices in New York and Washington, D.C. will remain open to serve the people of the 8th congressional district. We can be reached at (202) 225-5936 (D.C.) or (718) 237-2211 (Brooklyn).
FAQ on the Republican Shutdown