LEADER JEFFRIES ON MSNBC: "REPUBLICANS DON'T WANT TO PROVIDE HEALTHCARE TO EVERYDAY AMERICANS."
Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MSNBC's Velshi, where he reiterated that Democrats will continue to fight on until a spending agreement is reached that saves the healthcare of the American people and puts and end to the malignant Trump-Republican government shutdown.
ALI VELSHI: For more on this I'm joined by the New York Congressman, Hakeem Jeffries. He is the Democratic Leader in the House. Congressman, it's good to have you here. Thank you for being with us.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Good morning, great to be with you.
ALI VELSHI: Typically, when we talk about these shutdowns, there's activity. Our reporters at the House are talking about negotiations that are underway or might be happening. What's happening? Are there any high-level talks happening between Democrats and Republicans that look like they're aimed at ending the shutdown?
LEADER JEFFRIES: There are not at this moment, and that's unfortunate. The White House and Republicans have gone radio silent since the Oval Office meeting on Monday. It's because they wanted to shut the government down, and they don't want to provide healthcare to everyday Americans. Our fight is to make sure we continue to stand up to address the Republican healthcare crisis. Republicans thought that we would back down as a result of their deepfake videos, threats, project cancelations and lies. But Democrats aren't going to bend.Democrats are not going to break because we're standing up for the healthcare of working-class Americans, middle-class Americans and everyday Americans.
ALI VELSHI: I'm going to get down to some of the substance of this in a second, but the White House has been messaging that what you are asking for, you and Chuck Schumer are asking for, is public money to fund the healthcare of undocumented immigrants. So starting with the fact that that would be illegal under current law anyway, you talked about the fact that when you were in the White House talking to President Trump, you said less than a minute was spent on that particular topic that seems to be central to their argument.
LEADER JEFFRIES: That's absolutely correct. In fact, that meeting in the White House lasted for over an hour, and it was probably around 10 or 15 seconds that was spent when Speaker Johnson raised the issue. Everybody else dismissed it because they know that's not accurate. Democrats are fighting to stand up for Medicaid and Medicare and our hospitals and nursing homes, our community-based health centers and certainly to make sure that we extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. As you pointed out, the law is crystal clear on this. Taxpayer dollars cannot be spent to provide health insurance to undocumented immigrants. And we're not trying to change that law, and they know it.
ALI VELSHI: So let's talk about the other part of it, which you are trying to fix, and that is health insurance premiums. There's a lot of discussion about the number of people who will either lose healthcare or see their premiums increase. It's the same thing. In other words, it's not that somebody gets thrown off of healthcare, it's that if your premiums increase by the amount that they will increase, there are millions of Americans who simply will not afford health coverage. They will fall off the rolls and become uninsured again.
LEADER JEFFRIES: That's exactly right. And these are everyday Americans. You know, one example, a married couple that makes $85,000 per year currently may pay about $8,000 for their health insurance coverage throughout the 12-month period of time. That in and of itself is already far too expensive. But that couple that makes $85,000 a year could see their premiums increase to $24,000 a year. There is no way they can afford that. They're gonna lose their coverage or be forced into medical bankruptcy. And as a result, if tragedy strikes, if illness strikes, if they face a significant healthcare situation, they're not gonna be able to receive the treatment or the care that they need for themselves, for their family, for their children and people are gonna die as a result of this. That's why Democrats are fighting hard and standing up.
ALI VELSHI: What's different about this time? Why is this? We've had, I think, 20 shutdowns since the mid-1970s. What's different about this one? I'll tell you, my interpretation is what's usually different is that everybody's trying to avoid the shutdown before we get there. In this particular case, this bragging by Donald Trump and Russell Vought about their ability during the shutdown to create a government that you can basically drown, a very small federal government, seems to be the goal.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, cruelty is the point as it relates to the Trump administration, and we've seen that from the very beginning on day one, on January 20. They made all these promises about lowering the high cost of living, but costs haven't gone down in the United States of America. They promised to lower costs on day one. Costs are going up, inflation is going up. The Trump tariffs are making life more expensive, and now Republicans on top of that are continuing to gut the healthcare of the American people and are gonna dramatically increase premiums, co-pays and deductibles on tens of millions of Americans. Those that benefit from the Affordable Care Act tax credits, and those are working-class and middle-class Americans, but people all across the country as a result of this healthcare crisis that Republicans have created, are actually going to experience increased healthcare costs as well. And that's unacceptable.
ALI VELSHI: What is going on in the Democratic Caucus? What kind of pressures are you under? Because there are some people who don't like the idea of a government shutdown. There are some people, including in the Democratic Party, who don't want to see the system of Congress broken any more than it already is. What kind of pressure have you got to, hey Jeffries, go in and work this out versus hold your ground?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we all share the view that we are ready and willing and able to sit down with anyone, anytime, anyplace, the White House, Republican leadership, to try to find a bipartisan path forward to reach a spending agreement that reopens the government, but it has to be a spending agreement that actually makes life better for the American people, improves the quality of life of the American people and, of course, decisively addresses the Republican healthcare crisis, which is crushing people in rural America, in urban America, in small town America, in the heartland of America and in Black and brown communities all across America. And there's unity in the House, in the Senate, amongst Democrats, that this issue has to be addressed. The time is now.
ALI VELSHI: So how long can that unity keep? Because at some point, one argument is, because of the hardship for the people who are not being paid, either to work or not to work. There's the argument that Donald Trump and Russ Vought say they're gonna fire people, not just furlough them. On the other hand, there's the argument that they're going to do this stuff anyway. They wrote it all down in Project 2025. This is their plan. So if you give in, you're just giving them carte blanche. How do you think about this?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we are gonna continue to stand by our hardworking federal civil servants. And it's unfortunate that Donald Trump and Republicans have decided to now use them as pawns because of the Republican refusal to provide healthcare to working-class and middle-class Americans. At the same period of time, Ali, you make a very good point. And that's the reality. Donald Trump, Russ Vought and this malignant crew that's part of this administration, they have been engaging in mass firing since January 20. They've been doing it outside of the context of a government shutdown. And so, to the extent that they're claiming that a government shutdown may force their hand, that's just pretext for something that they've already been doing. This is why it's important for us as Democrats, of course, to continue to hold the line on behalf of the American people, while also making it clear we'll sit down with the Republicans. We want to find a bipartisan path forward. It's always been done that way in the past when we found ourselves in the context of a government shutdown. But this administration is trying to bully us and we're not going to be bullied.
ALI VELSHI: So the process would be that you'd have some sort of negotiation. The Senate perhaps would get a bill passed. House Speaker Johnson told a reporter for Scripps News that even if the Senate were to reach a deal, he doesn't know if he'd actually let that go to a vote on the House Floor. Let's listen together and you can tell me about it on the other side.
VIDEO OF REPORTER: I just want to be clear here. Are you ruling out putting up a compromise on the Floor for a vote if the Senate reaches one?
VIDEO OF MIKE JOHNSON: I am right now because we sent a clean continuing resolution. There's no Republican priorities in the CR at all. It's a very neutral, simple, straightforward status quo.
ALI VELSHI: All right, what's your reaction to that?
LEADER JEFFRIES:The House Republican partisan spending bill is a dirty piece of legislation that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people and it's riddled with toxic, right-wing Republican priorities because it's connected to a March spending bill that Democrats in the House uniformly rejected. And we rejected it significantly because of the fact that it was an attack on veterans, an attack on children, an attack on housing affordability and certainly was an attack on healthcare at the time, in November—excuse me, in March of last year. And now they just want to continue that. So it's irresponsible in our view for Republicans in the House to continue to insist that they aren't trying to advance their own extreme right-wing priorities. Of course that's what they're trying to do. They've been doing it all year. At the same period of time, it's also irresponsible that House Republicans continue to be on vacation throughout the country and the world. They canceled votes last week and now they've canceled votes again this week because they're not interested in actually trying to find common ground in a common-sense way. We are, so we can promote the common good, but it requires good faith acting on the other side of the aisle with Republicans. And so far, they've been missing in action.
ALI VELSHI: Leader Jeffries, good to see you. Thank you for joining us this morning. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic Congressman of New York and the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives.
Full interview can be watched here.