LEADER JEFFRIES: "ALL WE WILL NEED IS A HANDFUL OF SO-CALLED TRADITIONAL REPUBLICANS TO JOIN WITH US IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE"
Washington, D.C. – Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MSNBC's The ReidOut with Joy Reid where he highlighted that while extreme MAGA Republicans are driving us toward a dangerous government shutdown, House Democrats will continue to put People Over Politics and work in a bipartisan way to keep government open.
JOY REID: Leader Jeffries, thank you so much for being here. I do want to start out with that last element, because it doesn't seem that House Republicans are taking this entirely seriously if their plan is to cut the Defense Secretary's salary to a dollar. Are the negotiations on the other side, in your view, serious or at this point, is it just for show?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, good evening, Joy. Great to be with you. And you're absolutely correct. It's just for show. These are not serious individuals, but they are being led by individuals like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is driving the House of Representatives toward a government shutdown that would be reckless and hurt the American people because we are wasting time doing things that have no shot of becoming law, like cutting the Defense Secretary's salary to $1 per year and also engaging in this illegitimate impeachment inquiry when there is a bipartisan bill moving through the Senate right now that 77 senators voted to advance yesterday, that would fund the government in a way that meets the needs of everyday Americans, provide support for the Ukrainian war effort, provide relief to everyday Americans who have been hit hard by extreme weather events across the country and also doesn't include any of these extreme policy poison pill amendments like trying to undermine reproductive freedom for women. That is the only option forward.
JOY REID: I want to just go through, just so our audience understands sort of what they're proposing, I'll put it up on screen. $1 million in cutting low income mothers and young kids to put them on a waitlist for nutrition aid. A 70% cut in home heating assistance, winter is coming. 80% cut in funding for public schools with high concentrations of students in poverty. 33% cuts to housing subsidies. 60,000 seniors would lose Meals on Wheels. And yet, despite the fact that if we have a shutdown, we're talking about 4 million federal employees, 850,000 workers furloughed, losing pay. Military—1.3 million active-duty members continuing to work without pay. Social Security and Medicare checks would be sent out, but you couldn't replace your Social Security cards, etc. Food assistance benefits would be would be slashed for SNAP. Air travel, TSA agents would have to work without pay. National parks—some would remain open, but maintenance would stop. I mean you could just go on and on and on, Leader Jeffries. And yet, Speaker McCarthy is blaming Joe Biden. He's saying that Joe Biden refusing to meet with him is the reason that we might have a shutdown. What does Joe Biden meeting with Kevin McCarthy have to do with passing a spending bill?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Absolutely nothing. President Joe Biden has done his job. In fact, we all did our jobs a few months ago when we resolved the reckless, extreme MAGA Republican default crisis. Came to an agreement. More than 300 members of the House of Representatives supported that agreement. Strong bipartisan vote in the Senate. It came to the President's desk. President Biden signed it into law. And that agreement included setting the top line spending numbers for the upcoming fiscal year. But a few days after that agreement was signed into law, the extreme MAGA Republicans in the House decided that they were going to go back on the agreement that they themselves negotiated and supported overwhelmingly on the House floor. Why? Because apparently they want to drive us toward this government shutdown or demand payment for an extreme ransom note, which, as you've articulated, Joy, includes things like cutting and slashing funding for public education. They want to impose, discontinue, march toward undermining reproductive freedom, criminalizing abortion care, cutting access to Social Security that would hurt millions of older Americans over time, you know, do things like undermine public housing and public health and things of this nature. It's extraordinary that they want to jam their right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people and – unless we pay those ransom notes – shut down the government. These are unserious people.
JOY REID: Let me ask you this, this is the bottom line question. You could provide the votes, the Democratic Caucus, to pass that Senate bill that you're talking about. Is there a plan for the Democrats to simply provide the votes with whatever Republicans are willing to be serious and just pass the Senate bill?
LEADER JEFFRIES: That is what should happen and we are calling for an up or down vote when the Senate sends over a bipartisan continuing resolution to fund the government and meet the needs of the American people. And if that happens, we will provide a substantial number of votes – the lion's share of votes – and all we will need is a handful of so-called traditional Republicans to join with us in the best interests of the American people and avoid an extreme MAGA Republican shutdown that will hurt everyone.
JOY REID: It is and very quickly, but we're running out of time and I apologize but if Kevin McCarthy refuses to put that bill on the floor, will a discharge petition follow? And because we know that he'll probably lose the speakership if that happens. Can you foresee doing a discharge petition, petition and forcing a vote on that Senate bill?
LEADER JEFFRIES: It's my view Joy that all options should be on the table, and we should be able to come together in a bipartisan way to do the basic things that we are here to do, which is fund the government and meet the needs of everyday Americans.
JOY REID: All right. We will wait to see what happens in three days. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, thank you very much, sir. We really appreciate you being here.
Full interview can be watched here.