LEADER JEFFRIES: "PRESIDENT BIDEN HAS A VISION TO GROW THE MIDDLE CLASS AND PUT EVERYDAY AMERICANS FIRST"
Washington, DC – Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MSNBC'S Morning Joe where he previewed President Biden's State of the Union Address and emphasized that Democrats are committed to putting people over politics, while extreme MAGA Republicans continue to engage in political stunts.
WILLIE GEIST: Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Leader Jeffries, thanks for being with us this morning. A lot to talk to you about. Let's start there with some of the cuts proposed in this funding bill. Do you think DOJ, ATF, FBI, EPA, do you think we'll see those cuts in the end?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we fought hard to avoid the type of dramatic cuts that the extreme MAGA Republicans wanted to visit on the DOJ, the FBI, the ATF, whose primary job is to try to confront the massive amount of guns that are flooding our communities and resulting in people being killed in classrooms, in movie theaters and in malls. The type of so-called cuts that Speaker Johnson is talking about were largely cosmetic in nature compared to what they wanted to do if they had their way, which was to cut hundreds of millions of dollars, if you can believe it, from the Department of Justice, or the FBI or other law enforcement–
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Leader Jeffries, do they not understand that these are the very agencies that crack down drug cartels? These are the very agencies that protect Americans from terrorists, whether we're talking about terrorist attacks in shopping malls, whether we're talking about terrorist attacks in train stations, whether we're talking about terrorist attacks in airports, do they not understand that? Are they too stupid to understand that? Or are they just fine with it? Because Donald Trump once said– it's just like southern border I guess? Like Donald Trump says, let fentanyl flood across the southern border for another year and blame it on me. So these people are saying, let hijackers have their way, let drug cartels have their way in the United States, because, well, Donald Trump told us to do it. Is that how Congress runs now?
LEADER JEFFRIES: What seems to be the case in terms of whatever one is trying to figure out how to explain the unexplainable, the simple answer is always that when the low-energy MAGA king Donald Trump says jump, the extreme, MAGA Republicans in the House of Representatives respond 'how high?' That's the reason why they continue to block a bipartisan, comprehensive border security bill necessary to stand with our Democratic allies, whether that's in Ukraine, or Israel, or the Indo-Pacific, certainly, in the midst of the defense of democracy and freedom and truth against authoritarianism, tyranny and propaganda, we are continuing to see the Republicans do the bidding of Donald Trump and undermine the best interests of the United States of America.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: So Leader, what what is it like listening to these Republicans carp year after year after year about the need to pass a tough border security bill and then a conservative like James Lankford gets together with Democrats, and the House and the Senate gets together with Republicans in the Senate, gets together with the president, and they come up with the toughest border security bill ever. And Mike Johnson and MAGA extremists kill it.
LEADER JEFFRIES: We clearly have a broken immigration system and real challenges at the border. And under the leadership of President Biden, partnering with House Democrats and Senate Democrats and, of course, Republican Senators like Lankford, we are ready, willing and able to try to find a way forward to establish a safe and strong, secure and humane border. While trying to also at the same time, find legal pathways towards citizenship so we can continue to be a thriving nation of immigrants. That's a competitive advantage for us. But again, the Republicans don't seem interested in solving problems on behalf of hardworking American taxpayers. We need less chaos in Washington, DC. More common sense. Common sense suggests that we have to address these challenges in a bipartisan way. We are willing to continue to do that. We just need partners on the other side of the aisle.
REV. AL SHARPTON: Leader Jeffries, we we just had the governor of New York here talking about crime, in the subways. And I know it's been brought out all over the country that some migrants have engaged in crime, even though I think it's been blown way out of the data that we see. But even in light of that hype, you're telling me that with many concessions to the Republicans, to the border control bill, that in many cases they had represented and they had written, that your conversations with Speaker Johnson, dramatically changed when Donald Trump said, no, don't vote for the bill. Even though the bill had many of us questioning it and saying it was given too much to Republicans, they wouldn't vote for their own bill under the orders of their presidential nominee-to-be Donald Trump?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, this is a group right now, in terms of the extreme MAGA Republicans, where far too often facts don't matter, hypocrisy is not a constraint to their behavior and they believe that shamelessness is a superpower. And we've seen it on issue after issue after issue. We are going to continue to do everything we can to put people over politics. From the very beginning of this Congress, we've said, as House Democrats, that we will find bipartisan common ground with our Republican colleagues on any issue, whenever and wherever possible, in order to make life better for the American people. Joe Biden has led in that way. Joe Biden is going to continue to work toward building a healthy economy, lower costs, better-paying jobs, safer communities, address the challenges at the border, but in a context of divided government, we need traditional Republicans to step up, work with us and reject the MAGA extremism that is poisoning the Republican Party.
JONATHAN LEMIRE: Leader Jeffries, good morning. I want to get your reaction to something we talked about a little earlier in the show. Hunter Biden, he testified behind closed doors a couple weeks ago. He is now set to do so in a public setting in the House later this month. Just give us your sense as to what your colleagues on the other side of the aisle are doing?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, from the very beginning, this effort to try to impeach President Joe Biden was clearly a directive that came from the former President, Donald Trump, of the United States of America, despite the lack of evidence that there has been an impeachable offense. There's no evidence that a crime was committed. There's no evidence that President Biden, in any way, shape or form has broken the law. That was also the case with the Homeland Security Secretary. This is just a political stunt to distract from the fact that this do-nothing Republican majority in the House has done nothing to address the issues of the economy, nothing on housing affordability, nothing on public safety, nothing on national security, nothing on the border. And so they want to distract the American people. That's unfortunate. And it's going to crash and burn because it has no basis, this impeachment inquiry and effort, in law or in fact.
WILLIE GEIST: Leader Jeffries, obviously, the State of the Union is tonight in the building where you're standing right now. What do you think is important for the President to say tonight? What have you spoke to the White House about?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, it's my understanding that the President is both going to talk to the American people about the progress that has been made with respect to how things started. A once-in-a-century pandemic, the economy completely shut down and the efforts, led by President Biden to turn things around, to build an incredibly healthy economy, to restore good-paying American jobs. We see wages are going in the right direction. Gas prices are coming down. That's an important context for the American people to understand. But I think the President will also make clear that we know we have to finish the job, that there are still affordability challenges that we have to address on behalf of everyday Americans. We're willing to do that in a bipartisan way, but that President Biden has a vision to grow the middle class, to put everyday Americans first, and the wealthy and the well-off and the well-connected last, in the context of how we prioritize public policy in the United States of America.
WILLIE GEIST: House Minority Leader, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Leader Jeffries, thanks for your time this morning. We always appreciate it.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you.
Full interview can be watched here.