LEADER JEFFRIES: "LET'S FIGURE OUT HOW TO SOLVE PROBLEMS FOR HARDWORKING AMERICAN TAXPAYERS TOGETHER"
BROOKLYN, NY – Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box where he emphasized that House Democrats are willing to work across the aisle to deliver for the American people while still combatting Republican extremism whenever necessary.
KERNEN: Joining us now, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. It's always a pleasure and good to see you again, Leader Jeffries.
JEFFRIES: Good morning. Great to see you.
KERNEN: I know I know you've seen this. And I just want to note again, just so I can feel good again about it, this can happen and we're going to roll this. And I think everybody's holding hands. And it was a obviously, it was something that is bipartisan and brought both sides together. But that there's Leader Schumer and Leader Jeffries, there's Speaker Johnson, you can see all together, all holding hands. Is that just a– can it happen again? Is it precedent– can I be optimistic Leader Jeffries?
JEFFRIES: I think there's always reason to be optimistic, you know, particularly when we lean into the American journey, American exceptionalism and our ability, of course, to continue to overcome turbulence and obstacles and adversity. Now, from the very beginning of this Congress, we have said as House Democrats that we are ready, willing and able to find bipartisan common ground with our Republican colleagues whenever and wherever possible for the good of the American people. And in fact, we've repeatedly done just that. We've done it with respect to the bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act that averted a catastrophic default on our debt. We did it at the end of September to avert a government shutdown at that point in time, Democrats provided the overwhelming majority of votes necessary to avoid a shutdown and to make sure that we provided disaster assistance for Americans who had been devastated by extreme weather events. And we were just able to do it once more in providing the majority of votes necessary to pass the continuing resolution at fiscal year 2023 levels and to make sure we avoided a shutdown that would have hurt the economy and hurt everyday Americans. So we can continue to do it, in my view.
KERNEN: But then we're going to get back to brass tacks again. And about how far off is that? A couple of months, I guess, and all those sticky issues that the two parties disagree so vehemently on are going to be front and center again, most likely your cordial relationship with Speaker Johnson, you know, he's going to be your pull in certain directions, obviously, by certain factions of the Democratic Caucus. We saw that recently with the issue in the Middle East. But, you know, Speaker Johnson is going to be pulled by the Freedom Caucus in a certain direction that is not going to be to the Democrats liking. How is it going to work?
JEFFRIES: Well, here's the interesting thing and here's the reason for optimism in this space. The bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act, as you would call it, Joe, set top-line spending numbers for fiscal year 2024. In fact, that was done at the insistence of the former Speaker who demanded that in exchange for avoiding a catastrophic default on America's debt, which would have happened for the first time in American history and consistent with our responsibilities to protect the full faith and credit of the United States of America – our Republican colleagues demanded that as part of that negotiation with respect to the debt ceiling, we set top-line spending numbers both on the defense side and on the non-defense discretionary side. And we did it. And so the numbers already exist. There's already a bipartisan agreement. More than 300 members of the House supported that agreement. The overwhelming majority of the Senate did so as well. And President Biden signed it into law. The problem that we confront is that the extreme MAGA Republican wing of the House Republican Conference have rejected their own agreement. And all we're asking Speaker Johnson to do is to keep the word of the House Republicans consistent with where House Democrats, Senate Republicans, Senate Democrats and President Biden have already agreed to land.
KERNEN: He could do that, but he probably won't be speaker for very long after that Leader Jeffries. That's going to be the issue. We saw what happened to, as you mentioned, former Speaker McCarthy did enter into that in good faith. And that's kind of what was what set in motion the subsequent events, unfortunate events for the Speaker.
JEFFRIES: It's hard for me to get involved in the intricacies of what's going on in the midst of the House Republican Civil War, other than to say, let's center the well-being of the American people. Let's figure out how to solve problems for hardworking American taxpayers together. Let's figure out how to continue the economic recovery, not undermine it. And let's do it not as Democrats or Republicans, let's do it as Americans. That is our job fundamentally. And we've articulated that as House Democrats from the very beginning. And I think our actions have now spoken for themselves. And we want to continue to find bipartisan common ground.
KERNEN: We probably need to do this-this the aid to a couple of the real pressing areas in the world, not here, but elsewhere, Leader. And are you optimistic you can get- I mean- are Republicans going to insist on a standalone Israeli aid package? Is it going to be linked to Ukraine? That-this is, you know, should be happening within the next couple of weeks, not sometime in mid-2024. We can't wait.
JEFFRIES: You're absolutely correct in terms of that timeframe. And it's my hope that the four corners within the House and the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, majority and minority, sit down sooner rather than later to hash out adhering to President Biden's national security request with respect to Israel. We have to be there for Israel in its time of need in the aftermath of the horrific attack on its people, on its sovereignty, on October 7th. We also have to stand with the Ukrainian people in their very important, courageous fight against Russian aggression. Of course, the President has called for humanitarian assistance for Palestinian civilians who are in harm's way in Gaza through no fault of their own and for civilians who are in harm's way in theaters of conflict all across the world. And that's something that we also need to urgently do. And I don't think it makes any sense for us to piecemeal the approach, because on the geopolitical stage you have the free world and then you've got the terrorists and authoritarians. And we need to continue to stand together on the side of the free world.
KERNEN: Oh, there's so much to talk about, talk about China. I just want to just a quick wrap. So I don't know what that I guess it's the opposite of what I'm doing right now, which is talking more and more. But let's do it again, Leader Jeffries, soon. If we could and we'll keep it going. Let's keep it going and hope for the best. Thank you.
JEFFRIES: Happy Thanksgiving to you, your family and all your viewers.
KERNEN: Thank you, to you as well, Leader Jeffries.
Full interview can be watched here.