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WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box where he emphasized that while House Democrats are focused on protecting the full faith and credit of the United States, extreme MAGA Republicans are taking the economy hostage and threatening to default on our debt for the first time in American history.
KERNEN: Joining us now, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York congressman. Leader Jeffries, it's great to have you on once again.
JEFFRIES: Good morning. Great to be back.
KERNEN: These are some of the same players from when you got all those votes. Yeah, I would- if I were you, I'd add up all those- the 15 times- you had like thousands of votes when it finally came down.
JEFFRIES: That would be correct, yeah.
KERNEN: So we saw...
JEFFRIES: Apparently- apparently 3,000. Yeah. I'll say apparently 3,179 votes. But who's counting?
KERNEN: Oh my- [laughing] You had the number ready to go. That's perfect. So, we know that Speaker McCarthy and Congressman McHenry- hope springs eternal for getting votes, but we can see that there are sometimes votes that you're counting that might not be there when you need them. Do you have confidence in what Congressman McHenry just said? You think they can pass something in the next couple of weeks?
JEFFRIES: Well, that remains to be seen. Right now, all we have is a speech and talking points, but we haven't seen the legislative proposal. The first thing that we need to do is to make sure that we cleanly raise the debt ceiling to avoid a default on our nation's debt for the first time in our history, it would have catastrophic consequences. Even the flirtation with a default is going to hurt everyday Americans. It risks raising car payments, it risks raising home mortgage payments, it risks raising student loan debt payments. It will hurt everyday Americans and crash our economy at a very fragile time, particularly in the immediate aftermath of the regional banking crisis. We will have a conversation about the types of future investments that we should be making in the health, the safety and the economic well-being of the American people but it should be done through a budget process and through the appropriations process, not in a hostage-taking situation.
KERNEN: Right. But we know that there are some issues in terms of where the debt is. And you've got one side that is definitely taking this position. You've seen that they are and you just outlined what your position is with a clean debt raise. So, we know that we're here and you say you do want to negotiate. Here's a quote just out of an op-ed today: The Speaker's requests are hardly radical, just returning to the federal government- the spending levels of the bad old days, fiscal 2022. These are reasonable limits to 1% annually over ten years and reasonable limits. And that a reasonable negotiation, which is what Speaker McCarthy is asking for, is not outlandish, with President Biden. It wouldn't be crazy just to talk, just to see if there's something we can do for both parties, for the United States, for the American people, to try to to talk about how to do this when one side is definitely wants to do it that way. Leader?
JEFFRIES: Well, here's what we're dealing with. I think Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump in 2019, Paul Ryan, the former Speaker of the House, have all made clear that when it comes to raising the debt ceiling, we shouldn't have partisanship, we shouldn't have showmanship, we shouldn't have gamesmanship because the debt ceiling is not a forward-looking vehicle. It has nothing to do with authorizing spending into the future. The debt ceiling relates to paying bills that the Congress has already incurred. That is why the full faith and credit of the United States is at risk because of the threatening of a default, separate and apart from the debt ceiling, which should be cleanly raised. We did it three times without fanfare during the Trump administration, and House Democrats helped to do that each and every time without engaging in a hostage-taking situation, though we may have disagreed with some of President Trump's spending priorities, certainly we did fiercely disagree with some of his tax policies, which exploded the deficit and didn't benefit everyday Americans. But, on the debt ceiling, we recognized that we needed to be responsible, and all we're asking extreme MAGA Republicans in the House right now is not to hold the economy hostage, but to be responsible. We can have a discussion about the budget. There's a process for that. President Biden released his budget. The House Republican budget is still in the witness protection program, Joe. Unfortunately, it's hiding. It's missing in action. No one has seen it. It's not on the House floor. It hasn't even been introduced. But we can have that discussion once the Republicans are willing to show the American people their plan.
KERNEN: I guess leadership on both sides has Members that they need to try to satisfy for them to move forward. So we know that Speaker McCarthy is going to try to introduce this bill. If there is a bill and if they do manage to get a majority, they need, I guess, almost, nearly every Republican to vote for it. And there's a couple of things in there that they send over to the Senate, but an offer to raise the debt limit for a year. Would you at that point think that the Senate, if the Senate changes a few things, is there anything that can come back that Speaker McCarthy wants that you'd be okay with. To say, whether it's the COVID relief funds that haven't been spent or, I mean, anything there where both sides can say, we got something out of this or it's just clean debt ceiling or nothing, because if it goes that way, you can maybe push the Republicans to that brinkmanship. But that's not good for anyone.
JEFFRIES: Well, we're in total agreement with President Reagan's position, with Donald Trump's position and Paul Ryan's position that there should be no brinksmanship when it relates to the debt ceiling. Now, some of the things that the Republican majority is demanding that all of us pass in order to raise the debt ceiling for a year and then be back at this gamesmanship in April or May of next year, which makes no sense. We need certainty in the economy so people can function, so industry can function, so business leaders can make decisions outside of the context of the hostage-taking situation. So even the offer to raise the debt ceiling for a year, I think is irresponsible. But separate and apart from that, some of the things that are being attached, for instance, are that we pass the so-called H.R. 1 Republican bill, which is a partisan bill that puts Polluters Over People. That makes no sense. That's a legislative item and there's a legislative process to have a discussion about what is the right thing to do for the American people. We certainly shouldn't entertain cuts to Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and veterans' benefits and things of this nature that some of the extreme MAGA Republicans in the House majority would like to do and are demanding be done in order to pass a debt ceiling. That is all irresponsible. And I think that the right thing to do is for us to make sure we protect the full faith and credit of the United States of America, particularly during a fragile time for our economy.
KERNEN: But there are times where- I mean, some of these things, I think that almost anyone on either side of the aisle would say, yeah, I can live with that. And if it gives us the opportunity to, you know, just by accident, actually do something good in the debt ceiling negotiation, I don't know why you can't at least- maybe President Biden should show the leadership to just enter into negotiations as he said he would 75 days ago and hasn't.
JEFFRIES: Well, President Biden has shown extraordinary leadership. He produced a budget. He produced the budget over a year ago. It's in the public domain.
KERNEN: It wasn't a serious budget.
JEFFRIES: The American people can evaluate it.
KERNEN: It wasn't a serious budget, though.
JEFFRIES: No, no, Joe. It's a serious budget that will do several things. One, it will protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare. The American people care about that issue. That's a serious proposal. It will invest in building an economy that works for everyday Americans from the middle out and the ground up. Continue to drive down costs for the American people, protect Social Security...
KERNEN: ...I just meant that it's not going to go anywhere. That's all I meant. It don't have a chance of passing the House. That's the thing.
JEFFRIES: Well, listen. No, no, it's our responsibility to present our ideas to the American people so we can have a serious discussion. President Biden's budget also reduces the deficit by over $3 trillion.
KERNEN: With a lot of different tax increases.
JEFFRIES: We don't have a Republican budget to even have a conversation about, Joe. And that's the problem.
KERNEN: But that's the two sides- that's in a nutshell. I mean, there's a lot of tax increases that aren't going to fly with Republicans. I don't see how, when both sides are so intractable and entrenched that it just, you know, we're out here just thinking, how is this ever going to- going to fix itself? But Congressman, we always appreciate having you on Squawk Box to have these discussions. I think we make some progress occasionally and it's grindingly, but we do appreciate it today, Leader.
JEFFRIES: We're going to work- we're going to work it out. We're going to work it out, Joe. Thank you.
KERNEN: I think. I hope so. I think so, just like we just did. Alright. Thank you.
Full interview can be watched here.
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