LEADER JEFFRIES: "ANY REASONABLE MEMBER OF CONGRESS WILL UNDERSTAND THAT YOU CANNOT KICK TENS OF MILLIONS OF AMERICANS OFF OF HEALTHCARE"
Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on CNN's News Central, Bloomberg's Surveillance and CNBC's Squawk Box to emphasize that, while Republicans refuse to negotiate an end to their reckless shutdown, Democrats are united and ready to find a bipartisan path forward that reopens the government and protects the healthcare of the American people.
LEADER JEFFRIES ON CNN'S NEWS CENTRAL:
JOHN BERMAN: With us now is the House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Leader Jeffries, thank you so much for being with us. We'll get to you and your friend Mike Lawler in just a second. But first, I do want your reaction to the word that all the Israeli hostages could be home within days. Your reaction to that and what you think President Trump's role was in brokering this deal.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Good morning. Great to be with you. It's a very, very positive step in the right direction. We're all hopeful that this agreement will be finalized, that the hostages will be released in a matter of days and returned home to their loved ones. Of course, that we can surge humanitarian assistance into Gaza to alleviate the pain and suffering that Palestinian civilians have been experiencing in a theater of war for the last two years and that we can achieve not just a ceasefire, but a pathway toward a just and lasting peace for both Israel and the Palestinian people.
JOHN BERMAN: So Leader Jeffries, let me ask you about the status of the shutdown and that confrontation with New York Congressman Mike Lawler. Among the many things that were exchanged back and forth there, he was asking you about the possibility of a one-year extension on the expiring Obamacare subsidies. Specifically, what is your opposition to that?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, MAGA Mike Lawler is an irrelevant individual. He doesn't even have the support of the House Republican leadership who have refused to address the issue of extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits. The Democratic position has been clear. We will sit down with anyone, anytime, anyplace, one, to reopen the government, negotiate a bipartisan agreement that has to actually make life better for the American people, not hurt everyday Americans. And a meaningful part of that is to address the Republican healthcare crisis, which includes, but is not limited to, the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, the failure of Republicans to address the Affordable Care Act tax credits that are expiring, hospitals, nursing homes and community-based health clinics closing all across America, including in rural parts of the country, because of the One Big Ugly Bill. These are real issues affecting everyday Americans, working-class Americans. And our view is that we need a meaningful response to addressing the Republican healthcare crisis, not simply a band-aid solution that Republican leadership in the House and the Senate don't even support right now.
JOHN BERMAN: Take Lawler out of it, Congressman Lawler, out of it for a second. I don't think you guys will be having a beer anytime soon. But are you suggesting that when it comes to Obamacare subsidies, you are for permanence or broke? If they're not made permanent, you won't change your position on the shutdown.
LEADER JEFFRIES: No, what I'm suggesting is that we need to have a meaningful bipartisan discussion that our position, as articulated in the legislation that we've introduced, is a permanent extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits. But we're open to having a conversation in good faith to try to address this Republican healthcare crisis. It's ironic, however, that Republicans just a few months ago passed their One Big Ugly Bill, which included permanent tax breaks for their billionaire donors, the wealthiest and the most well-off people in the United States of America. And so the question becomes, isn't it reasonable for working-class Americans, for middle-class Americans, for everyday Americans who are facing the possibility of dramatically increased premiums, copays, and deductibles—we're talking about thousands of dollars per year in additional healthcare costs. Isn't it reasonable for them to have a similar level of certainty in their lives? And that's what Democrats are fighting hard to achieve.
JOHN BERMAN: One of the things that has not happened in Congress is the swearing-in of Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva from Arizona. What do you think the holdup is there?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, it's been weeks since Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva has been decisively elected. And so it's very strange to us that House Republicans continue to delay her swearing-in. It could've happened last week. It could've happened this week. It's not been scheduled for next week. And it does appear to many of us that part of the issue is that she will clearly become the 218th signature on the discharge petition that will trigger an up-or-down vote on the release of the Epstein files because we know that House Republicans and Senate Republicans and the Trump administration have been hiding the Epstein files from the American people for months now, even over the wishes of the brave survivors who want full transparency so there can be full accountability. And that's what we support.
Full CNN interview can be watched here.
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LEADER JEFFRIES ON BLOOMBERG:
ANNMARIE HORDERN: The Speaker told us yesterday that Congress is having these talks when it comes to subsidies reform. Are you part of these talks? And just a quick condolences, because I know you, like me, were up late watching the Yankees lose, and I know that you're a huge fan, Minority Leader Jeffries.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, thank you. They had a great season. Unfortunately, it didn't end the way that we expected, but on to next year. With respect to what the Speaker has indicated, there's been no conversation between House Republicans and House Democrats or between the Republican Party, Donald Trump, the administration and any of us on Capitol Hill, including conversations that should be taking place with Leader Schumer and Senate Democrats since that White House meeting that occurred last Monday. That's unfortunate. And the behavior of Republicans since that point in time has been unserious and erratic. And we continue to urge them to find a path forward, to sit down, let's talk, exercise common sense on behalf of the American people. But anything that's done has to address this urgent need. You know, the open enrollment period starts on November 1st. Over the next few weeks, tens of millions of Americans are going to receive notices indicating that their premiums, co-pays and deductibles are about to skyrocket, in many instances by thousands of dollars per year. People are going go without health insurance, face medical bankruptcy and be jammed up in a situation where they need care for themselves, their children and their families, but will be unable to access it because they'll be without health insurances.
ANNMARIE HORDERN: It was a Democratic policy, though. Your party voted for this temporary subsidy increase. Do you regret having an expiration date on this?
LEADER JEFFRIES: No, we were able to extend it through the end of this year in full anticipation that any reasonable Member of Congress will understand that you cannot kick tens of millions of Americans off of healthcare that's become affordable for them as a result of the tax credits. Unfortunately, Republicans chose earlier this year to pass their One Big Ugly Bill. Largest cut to Medicaid in American history. Ripped food away from the mouths of hungry children and seniors and veterans, and they did all of this to pay for massive tax breaks that they made permanent for their billionaire donors, while at the same time refusing to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits which is why we find ourselves in this situation right now.
LISA ABRAMOWICZ: Leader Jeffries, some people would argue that what the Republicans are offering is to have a clean continuing resolution and to continue negotiating this, given the fact that at the same time there are going to be service members who are not going to paid. There's going to be a question around food stamps and whether they're going to be funded. Air traffic controllers are calling out sick because they're not receiving paychecks. At what point do you just say, look, we need to keep people getting paid and we can keep talking?
LEADER JEFFRIES: We want to reopen the government and we want to reopen it immediately, but we also need to enact a spending agreement that actually improves the quality of life of the American people as opposed to hurting everyday Americans, which Republicans have been doing all throughout this year. And they've refused to negotiate at every step of the way throughout this year. They've taken a my way or the highway approach, they've gone it alone, and now we find ourselves dealing with this mess of this Republican healthcare crisis. And time has run out.
LISA ABRAMOWICZ: Leader Jeffries, do you think that you've gotten more leverage as this process has gone on or do you think that it's actually waning?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, it's actually not about leverage for us. It's about the American people. That's the fight that we're waging, particularly in an environment where the cost of living is way too high. People are already paying too much for groceries, for housing, for their electricity bills. And now, of course, they're confronting the very real possibility of being bankrupted by the rising cost of their health insurance. So we're just asking Republicans to sit down and negotiate. That's what should take place, not simply a my way or the highway approach, particularly when they're asking Democrats to support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people.
ANNMARIE HORDERN: But right now, what Republicans are asking is to support a clean continuing resolution, a stopgap funding measure, which we've seen time and time again, that Democrats also wanted Republicans to support in the past. Why are Democrats choosing to keep the government shut?
LEADER JEFFRIES: That's a Republican talking point, unfortunately, that they are putting into the public domain. It's not a clean continuing resolution—
ANNMARIE HORDERN: Why isn't it clean?
LEADER JEFFRIES: I'd be happy to explain that. In March, the Republicans passed a partisan bill in the House that Democrats strongly oppose. We opposed that spending bill because it hurt veterans, hurt children and families, it hurt housing affordability and it hurt healthcare because of the cuts that were included in it. There was actually a bipartisan spending agreement that we reached last December that passed overwhelmingly in the House and in the Senate. It was signed into law by President Joe Biden. And it had the support of then-President-elect Donald Trump. That would have been a clean spending agreement that could have been put before the Congress. Instead, they passed this partisan Republican spending bill in March that we strongly opposed, and now they want us to continue to sign off on that particular bill that also includes $500 million in cuts to law enforcement grants to support police officers all across the country. That's just not something, for a variety of reasons, we can support at this particular point in time.
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ANNMARIE HORDERN: Is there an opportunity for standalone legislation to make sure that the more than one million active duty service members get paid next week?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Certainly, our view in the House is that we should stand by our men and women in uniform and make sure that they do not miss a paycheck. Unfortunately, Speaker Johnson has ruled that out, saying it's not really an issue that he's prepared to deal with, in part because Republicans canceled votes last week, canceled votes this week. Apparently, they may not be coming back next week and what is that all for? Why are they on vacation in the middle of a government shutdown, particularly as it relates to the real possibility that our military families might miss a paycheck that they cannot afford to miss? We're urging Republicans to get back into town, allow us to deal with the military pay issue, allow us to deal with the Republican healthcare crisis and allow us reopen the government so we can enact a spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people.
Full Bloomberg interview can be watched here.
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LEADER JEFFRIES ON CNBC:
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: I appreciate your position on the healthcare issue. The question I have is, there's clearly a game of chicken going on here, and I think it was expressed in many ways by Senator Schumer in terms of how strategically there is a view among Democrats that the longer you can hold out, perhaps the better chance you have either to get what you want or to push the Republicans into some kind of other place. And my question to you is how you think about that given the trade-off, of course, which is all of the government workers which are currently being furloughed, and not being paid.
LEADER JEFFRIES: I think that Leader Schumer and Senate Democrats have taken a strong and principled position for all of the right reasons in the face of this Republican healthcare crisis. Remember, this is something that has been ongoing from the very beginning of this Congress. The largest cut to Medicaid in American history, forcing, we believe, 14 million people off of healthcare coverage. Hospitals and nursing homes and community-based health clinics are closing right now all throughout the country, including in rural America, because of what Republicans did in their One Big Ugly Bill. Medicare is facing a possible cut of $536 billion at the end of this year if Congress doesn't act, connected to that toxic piece of legislation that Republicans enacted, which hurts everyday Americans in order to reward their billionaire donors with massive tax breaks. And by the way, those tax breaks were made permanent. And then now we're facing the Republican refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits in an environment where the cost of living is already too high and Donald Trump has broken his promise to lower costs on day one. And by the way, on top of all of that, medical research has been effectively ended in the United States of America. And in this Republican appropriations bill on the House side, they want to cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control by $1.7 billion and cut funding for the National Institute of Health by $500 million. This is extraordinary stuff. And we are simply not going to go along to get along the Republican effort to continue to gut the healthcare of the American people. This is a cost of living issue, and it's a life or death issue for millions of Americans.
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BECKY QUICK: Minority Leader, can you do that? Can you do those negotiations while the government is reopened? I think that's the offer that's been on the table. We did hear the House Speaker, Mike Johnson, talking about how, look, he passed a clean CR. There's not really much for him to politic in because there's nothing to take out. Any Republican pork that they pushed into this to take out of it to offer as a way of getting around this. Can you reopen the government and have these conversations if there is a willing party on the other side, which it sounds like there is if you talk to some of the Republicans who see this as an issue in their district as well?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, certainly Marjorie Taylor Greene has made clear that it's a very real issue. It's an issue that Republicans have ignored throughout this year, and it's an issue that needs to be addressed right now. Mike Johnson has made the representation, including at that White House meeting that we had last week, after Chuck Schumer and I reached out to demand that we have the conversation. Unfortunately, it took place literally a day before the government shut down because Republicans have refused to engage in bipartisan negotiations or even conversations up until this point. And our view is, what Johnson said, is that healthcare is an irrelevant, extraneous issue. No, it's not an extraneous issues, it is a central issue. And we need to deal with it right now. And we're willing to sit down and have that conversation.
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JOE KERNEN: But Leader Jeffries, we know that there are, you know, varying opinions on both sides of the aisle, sharply differing opinions on how to do everything. And you've just outlined a lot of things that Democrats, a lot problems they have with Republicans. Republicans have a laundry list of things that happened during the Biden administration that they feel the same way about. And I guarantee if they had shut down the government and said, we want a bipartisan talk on doing all this, but what Republicans went. Democrats, their hair would have been on fire. Democrats would have said that's not the way to do it. You can't do it through a government shutdown and now you're employing that same tactic on what I'm sure you feel are very important issues, but it just looks like politics as usual to a lot of people.
LEADER JEFFRIES: I think this is very personal for the American people who are at risk of literally experiencing thousands of dollars in a potential increase in their health insurance in a manner that will bankrupt many folks or deprive them of access to healthcare. We're talking about a married couple of two individuals, for instance, that makes $88,000 a year, currently receives tax credits from the Affordable Care Act and pays about $8,000 a year. Now this is a situation that's already unaffordable. But their premiums may actually triple to $24,000 a year, unable to afford that. That's what we're talking about.
Full CNBC interview can be watched here.