LEADER JEFFRIES ON MSNBC: "EXTREME MAGA REPUBLICANS CONTINUE TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THEY ARE THE PARTY OF LAWLESSNESS AND DISORDER"
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MSNBC's The ReidOut where he emphasized that House Democrats remain committed to avoiding a catastrophic default on our debt while extreme MAGA Republicans attempt to hold our economy hostage while catering to the most extreme members of their conference.
REID: Joining me now is House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. And, you know, I do want to get to the very most important thing we have to talk about, which is, of course, the debt ceiling and the debt limit. But, I do need to talk about Kevin McCarthy, because today he couldn't even answer a very straightforward question about probably the most embarrassing member of his caucus, George Santos. I just want to play that for you just for a moment.
MCCARTHY (Video): I think I would like the House to take up this work and look at it. And if it rises to that occasion, then because as we look through all these differences, I mean, we just had a report come out from Durham. What does that say about Adam Schiff? He lied to the American public. Should he be expelled from Congress as well?
REID: Okay. First of all, that is insane. Adam Schiff is barely mentioned in the Durham report. Three sort of passing mentions of him. He is not at issue here. That is who you all are negotiating with about the debt limit. Is he taking the debt limit more seriously than he's taking the presence of a potential felon in his caucus?
JEFFRIES: Well, first of all, it's great to be with you.
REID: Thank you.
JEFFRIES: Joy, you know, George Santos is a serial fraudster. He does not belong anywhere near the House of Representatives. He defrauded the people of the third congressional district in New York, lied about everything, lied about his life, lied about his jobs, lied about his finances, lied about his professional experiences, lied about being Jewish. He perpetrated a fraud on the people of New York. He was elected under false pretenses. And so I commend Congressman Garcia for bringing this privileged resolution forward. And the real question is are House Republicans going to stand on the side of truth or stand on the side of George Santos. It's important to mention Santos was referred to the Ethics Committee months ago.
REID: Right.
JEFFRIES: So what are we doing? You're either going to hold them accountable under the Constitution. Or you're not. It's going to be interesting to see how the so-called moderates in terms of New York House Republicans vote. They've all said that they want him out.
REID: Right.
JEFFRIES: That he doesn't belong in House of Representatives. Tomorrow, they will have an opportunity to vote their word.
REID: So that is going to come to the Floor. Right. And as you said, you're going to find out, we will all find out whether House moderates, to the extent that there are any House moderates left in the Republican Party, will vote him out. But on the debt limit, there is, in theory, a way, that you could bring a privileged resolution to see how serious those same House moderates are about averting an economic catastrophe. That's what Janet Yellen, the Treasury Secretary, said. It would be a disaster for every person in this country economically, would cause a recession, etc. Do you believe that there are enough Republicans who would vote if you did a privileged resolution to force a vote on whether or not we should allow ourselves to crash on the debt limit?
JEFFRIES: Well, that's an open question and remains to be seen, although I do think that we're going to have to probe those Republicans and they should be held accountable for their positions that were previously taken, which is to vote with the extremists on the Default on America Act, which would dramatically cut Medicaid spending for disabled children and seniors in their golden years, dramatically cut education, dramatically cut public safety funding, dramatically cut health care, dramatically cut food and nutrition assistance. Draconian cuts that the American people find objectionable all across the country. And, you know, we were essentially given a choice by some of the extreme MAGA Republicans, accept the Default on America act or accept an actual default that would destroy millions of jobs, crash the stock market, hurt retirees and skyrocket costs. Neither of those two choices are acceptable. And I think in the meeting today, which was positive because it was cordial, it was candid, and there's a potential path forward, Leader Schumer, President Biden, myself, we all made clear, default is not acceptable. And neither is a take it or leave it approach.
REID: The Washington Post reports that in that meeting that you were all in, the Democratic side, perhaps even yourself, offered up closing tax loopholes. You hear a lot of talk from Republicans about we need to close excessive loopholes. That was rejected summarily. That is what the Washington Post reports. Is that accurate?
JEFFRIES: Well, it is accurate that we had a real conversation about the appropriate way to deal with the deficit. President Biden produced a budget in March. It's a budget that will strengthen and protect Social Security. It's a budget that will build an economy that works for everyday Americans and reduce the deficit by $3 trillion by doing things like closing tax loopholes for Big Pharma, closing tax loopholes for big oil and finding other areas where you can eliminate that type of waste or fraud or abuse. And the Republicans indicated they had a different perspective about it. But our view is you can't have a real conversation about deficit reduction if you want to take revenues and closing tax loopholes off the table. And again, we're not interested in a take it or leave it approach. And that was made clear.
REID: Is a privileged resolution on the table? Is this something you're seriously considering, meaning going around Kevin McCarthy and simply forcing a vote on the Floor about an up or down limit- a debt limit increase?
JEFFRIES: Well, my view is that all options have to be on the table and we've got to explore every opportunity to avoid a catastrophic and dangerous default. So, one of the options that could be available to us is a discharge petition. Now that doesn't– that doesn't go live until tomorrow and we'll have to have a conversation about the best way to proceed. But it will require not just the signatures of 213 Democrats, but as you pointed out in your opening question to me, we'd also have to find at least five Republicans to do the right thing. And my view is, look, we should just be able to find common ground with the fierce urgency of now, because a dangerous default would be bad for everyone.
REID: Right.
JEFFRIES: And this is a reckless thing. We have a constitutional responsibility to protect the full faith and credit of the United States of America. It can't be done in a hostage-taking situation. There seemed to be a better approach taken by my Republican colleagues in the meeting today in understanding the urgency of moving forward and there was agreement that there is no way out of this manufactured crisis unless we can reach a bipartisan agreement about moving forward. Our view, continuing to be that the debt ceiling should be raised in a clean way, consistent with what was done under Democratic presidents and Republican presidents. But of course, we can have a simultaneous conversation about the budget, about appropriations, because we do that every year.
REID: Right.
JEFFRIES: In determining what's the right mix of spending and revenue and investments to protect the health, safety and well-being of the American people.
REID: I do have to ask you just about dealing with this caucus. I mean, you do have Paul Gosar, who's employing a white nationalist, who, himself, has made some white nationalist commentary that, you know, you would think ten years ago even, a Republican would be shoved out of Congress or forced out. He's still there. You have the Matt Gaetzes of the world. You have Marjorie Taylor Greene and others who are out vocally supporting the choking death of Jordan Neely, which has been determined in your state of New York, my home state of New York, as being a homicide and they're out vocally supporting him, as is a former colleague of yours in the House, Ron DeSantis, the current governor of Florida. And I would find it difficult to work with people under those circumstances. But I wonder what you make of this rush to support vigilantism before there's even been an adjudication of that Jordan Neely case.
JEFFRIES: Extreme MAGA Republicans portray themselves as the party of law and order. That's phony, that's fake, that's false. They continue to demonstrate that they are the party of lawlessness and disorder. That's why they're supporting Santos, that's why they're– they appear to be supporting vigilante action. They've done this before. They did it in Wisconsin. This is who they are. They want to defund the FBI. They want to impeach the FBI director, who, by the way, was appointed by Donald Trump. But at the end of the day, they bend the knee to the insurrectionist-in-chief and they've become, in large measure, the party of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, George Santos, and, of course, former President Donald Trump. That's who they are–
REID: Right.
JEFFRIES: That's the reality. They are extreme. And it's our hope that we can find some reasonable Republicans on the other side of the aisle to help get us out of this default crisis and to figure out the common ground to move forward in a way that respects freedom and liberty and justice for all people, not just the privileged few.
REID: I do have to ask about one more New Yorker, Alvin Bragg, who has become a focus for Republicans, and they always throw in George Soros, another New Yorker who they love to demonize. What do you make of this constant second-guessing of his decisions on who to prosecute and who not to prosecute when it comes to both the man who strangled Jordan Neely– choked Jordan Neely– and also obviously Donald Trump.
JEFFRIES: Well, the extreme MAGA Republicans have clearly been directed to go after Alvin Bragg because they're just bending the knee to the insurrectionist-in-chief who has ordered them apparently to try to demonize Alvin Bragg because he doesn't want to face the music. But I think Alvin Bragg is a good and decent man. He's got an extraordinary track record in law enforcement, a former federal prosecutor, exemplary record. And I believe he's going to continue to follow facts, apply the law, be guided by the Constitution and present the information to the jury, present the information to the American people, and then we can all make our own decisions about the way forward. But no one in America is above the law. That includes the former president.
REID: Yeah. Privilege – can I ask one completely unserious question but it's serious to me and Spike Lee? Next year can the Knicks go further?
JEFFRIES: Absolutely. Listen, it was a great season, I'm so proud of them, it was a joy. New York is on fire when the Knicks are on fire and I'm looking at, you know, an Eastern Conference championship next year.
REID: They have broken my heart my whole life so I need them to start to you know, they did very well this year. All right. Thank you very much. Much appreciated. House Democratic Leader, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of the great state of New York.
Full interview can be watched here.