LEADER JEFFRIES: “HOUSE DEMOCRATS ARE NOT GOING TO PAY A SINGLE RIGHT-WING RANSOM DEMAND”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries held a press conference where he emphasized that while extreme MAGA Republicans are once again recklessly driving us toward a government shutdown, House Democrats will continue to fight back against extremism.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Good morning everyone. We have important work to do in just a few days. The federal government is once again at risk of shutting down because extreme MAGA Republicans in the House are apparently determined to do just that unless they manage to extract extreme ransom demands related to their highly partisan policy priorities that have no shot of otherwise being enacted into law under the normal legislative process.
To be clear, House Democrats are not going to pay a single right-wing ransom demand. We've not done it in the past. We're not going to do it today. We're not going to do it tomorrow. We're not going to do it next week. It will never be done. The only way forward is to come together in bipartisan fashion in order to meet the needs of the American people. And if Republicans are unable to do that over the next few days, then the only approach is to pass a continuing resolution at the fiscal year 2023 levels. Period, full stop.
The challenge that we confront is that the extreme MAGA Republican agenda, which is deeply unpopular all across America, has nothing to do with improving the quality of life of the American people. The extreme MAGA Republican agenda is all about defaulting on America's debt, shutting down the government, crashing the economy, criminalizing abortion care, cutting Social Security and Medicare, impeaching President Joe Biden and censuring House Democrats. That's the extreme MAGA Republican agenda. It's been that way from the very beginning of this year, and they've done nothing on their own to improve the quality of life of the American people.
House Democrats, we're going to continue to put people over politics, build upon the incredible track record of success under the leadership of President Biden, including the passage of the PACT Act, where we were able to stand up for veterans who had been exposed to toxic substances, burn pits and Agent Orange and were unable to get the health care that they needed until Democrats, under the leadership of President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer in the House and the Senate passed the PACT Act to make sure that millions of veterans now have the health care that they need.
That is the work that should be ongoing for the American people. Solving challenges for veterans, for hard-working American taxpayers and for people all across the country. Not the extreme MAGA Republican agenda, which has nothing to do with the health, the safety or the economic well-being of the American people. In fact, what they want to do is undermine the health, the safety and the economic well-being of the American people, including by continuing to try and march us to a nationwide abortion ban.
Full press conference can be watched here.