LEADER JEFFRIES: "WE HAVE TO DECISIVELY ADDRESS THE HIGH COST OF LIVING AND FIX OUR BROKEN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM"
Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MSNBC's The Beat with Ari Melber ahead of tomorrow's elections, where he emphasized the importance of protecting Americans' healthcare and lowering the high cost of living.
ARI MELBER: We are joined now by someone in a position to work with the Republicans and reopen the government sooner or later, the top House Democrat, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, on Election Eve. Welcome.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Good evening. Great to be with you.
ARI MELBER: Great to have you. What is important for people to understand about the shutdown going forward as we pass a month? And do you think it's an issue for voters who are turning out tomorrow?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, this is day 34 of the Trump-Republican shutdown, and our position as Democrats remains very clear. We want to reopen the government. We want to find a bipartisan path toward enacting a spending agreement that actually meets the needs of the American people, including by lowering the high cost of living, which, of course, has gone up under Donald Trump and Republican policies throughout this year. But any agreement that we reach, of course, has to also decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis, particularly at this moment, as it relates to extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits so that tens of millions of Americans don't experience dramatically increased premiums, copays and deductibles.
ARI MELBER: We've seen a lot of backlash to what seemed like a very tone deaf set of parties by Donald Trump, use of jets and other government benefits by his aides, it's sort of collected into breaking through. And I want to show a TikTok because this isn't just political people talking about it. Regular folks and people around the country noticed that clear sort of Great Gatsby contrast. Let's take a look.
[TikTok video compilation plays]
ARI MELBER: People have had it. Your views on whether that matters and is breaking through—Trump throwing these lavish parties, doing the ballroom, taking private money, taking crypto money, while he leaves the government shut and the—and the benefits running out.
LEADER JEFFRIES: It's definitively breaking through, and what we've seen from the very beginning of this administration, of course, and this was the focus of the Republican One Big Ugly Bill, where they enacted the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. They cut nutritional assistance, SNAP, by $186 billion. Literally, they ripped food out of the mouths of hungry children, seniors and veterans. They did this in July. And all of this was done, of course, so that they could reward their billionaire donors with massive tax breaks. So, at the center of Donald Trump's administration and Republican policy in the House and the Senate is to benefit the wealthy, the well-off and the well-connected, all part of their scheme to subsidize the lifestyles of the rich and shameless, while everyday Americans, working-class Americans and middle-class Americans get hurt. And that's what we've seen during the duration of this Trump-Republican shutdown. They somehow found $40 billion, Ari, $40 Billion dollars to bail out their right-wing wannabe dictator leader of Argentina in a way that was also going to benefit some of their financier buddies in New York, but can't find a dime to make sure that 42 million Americans don't go hungry as a result of the Republican decision to unlawfully withhold SNAP benefits. And of course, during the same period of time, we see these lavish parties being thrown. We see the East Wing of the White House being destroyed so that Donald Trump can construct some gaudy ballroom to celebrate him as if he was a king. And during this period of time, we've also seen Donald Trump try to extort, hijack, steal $230 million from the Department of Justice so he could line his pockets. The whole thing is out of control. And the American people see it, and it's going to have real consequences tomorrow in New Jersey, in Pennsylvania, in California, in Virginia and in New York City, and it will have consequences next year when we take back control of the House of Representatives.
ARI MELBER: Yeah, look, Congressman, Leader Jeffries, you sound pumped. You sound optimistic about tomorrow. You mentioned all the places, including New York. When we spoke a while back, you had yet to endorse the Democratic nominee in New York, then you did. Your counterpart, Chuck Schumer, has not. Not unlike some of the debates people remember over AOC, there's been a question here about the big tent of the Democratic Party, but also the questions facing this candidate. I just put some of them to him, Zohran Mamdani. We just heard from him, and you're busy, so I don't think you probably caught the whole interview, but I'll play you a part where he talked about pros and cons for this Democratic Party. We'll see how he does tomorrow. Take a look.
RECORDING OF ARI MELBER: Something Democrats are right about.
RECORDING OF ZOHRAN MAMDANI: That we have to take on authoritarian administration in Washington, D.C.
RECORDING OF ARI MELBER: Something Democrats have gotten wrong.
RECORDING OF ZOHRAN MAMDANI: We need to bring back working people as the focus of our party.
ARI MELBER: Very direct, saying that the party, which you lead, hasn't always done that. Is that a place of overlap between you two? Are you excited for him to win tomorrow, or did you delay your support, partly to send a message that he's not your perfect avatar of a national Democrat?
LEADER JEFFRIES: No, Zohran has run a campaign that is relentlessly focused on the affordability crisis in New York City, and that, in fact, is a crisis that people all across the country are confronting. He's going to win tomorrow, and then it will be all of our responsibility collectively in New York City, the city that we love, to ensure that he has the greatest degree of success possible. Now, what's interesting—I was in New Jersey yesterday campaigning with and for Mikie Sherrill. At the core of her campaign is affordability and driving down costs for working-class people, middle-class people in New Jersey. We know that Abigail Spanberger in Virginia, who's on her way to a decisive victory, has put lowering costs at the center of what she's talked about. And House Democrats have repeatedly, from the very beginning of this year, made clear the cost of living is too high. Donald Trump promised to lower costs on day one. Costs aren't going down. They're going up. Grocery prices through the roof. Electricity prices through the roof. Housing costs too high, child care costs too high. And now, because of the Republican refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, we know tens of millions of working-class Americans and middle-class Americans are about to experience premiums that are going to increase by $1,000 or $2,000 per year, in many cases. This is unacceptable in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. And so our perspective is that we have to decisively address the high cost of living. We have to fix our broken healthcare system. And by the way, we have to clean up corruption in Washington D.C. That's the Congress, that of course is the Supreme Court and it also is the Trump administration, which is running the largest pay-to-play scheme in the history of the world.
ARI MELBER: Yeah, and you mentioned a couple of specific facts, DOJ, the President trying to take money out of taxpayers and put it in his own pocket in the foreign aid, and so it really adds up to that contrast. We're going to see what voters have to say about it tomorrow. We'll be listening, and we'll see whether your optimism is well-founded or not, but it's a busy night for you. Leader Jeffries, I appreciate you coming on The Beat, sir.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you, Ari.
ARI MELBER: Thank you.
Full interview can be watched here.