'You Don't Have The Votes': Hakeem Jeffries Pressed On How Democrats Can Oppose GOP's Budget

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On Sunday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) spoke to CNN's Dana Bash about how Democrats plant oppose the Republican budget that narrowly passed the House.

Transcript

00:00Here with me now is the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries.

00:04Thank you so much for being here this morning, sir.

00:06I want to start with that bill.

00:08You have vowed to keep the pressure on and stop it from becoming law.

00:13Obviously, you're in the minority.

00:15Same goes with Democrats in the Senate.

00:17How will you do that?

00:20Trump's one big, ugly bill narrowly escaped the House of Representatives,

00:24and we're going to continue to press our case across the country,

00:27partner with Senate Democrats in making clear to the American people

00:32the type of damage that this bill would do if it ever became law.

00:36This bill actually hurts everyday Americans in order to reward billionaires.

00:43It would strip away health care from approximately 14 million Americans,

00:47premiums, co-pays, and deductibles for tens of millions more will go up.

00:53Actually, if it ever were to be implemented into law,

00:56hospitals will close, nursing homes will shut down, and people will literally die.

01:02At the same time, this bill represents the largest cut to nutritional assistance

01:07in American history.

01:09It takes food out of the mouths of children, seniors, and veterans.

01:14And all of this is being done in order to enact massive tax breaks

01:19for their billionaire donors like Elon Musk.

01:21And then they want to stick the American people with the bill, increase the debt by more than $5

01:27trillion.

01:28So I expect that you'll see strong Democratic opposition in the Senate, just like there

01:34was strong Democratic opposition in the House, and the bill just narrowly escaped the House

01:39of Representatives.

01:40You made these arguments before it passed the House.

01:44Democrats are going to make that argument in the Senate.

01:46But again, you don't have the votes.

01:48So what makes you think that what you're saying will prevail and change the outcome?

01:53The bill is deeply unpopular.

01:56If you go back to where we were in 2017, where Republicans, after several failed attempts,

02:03finally got their effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act out of the House of Representatives,

02:08but it limped out of the House and then failed in the Senate.

02:11And I think the one big, ugly bill is setting up for a similar fate, but we can't let our foot

02:18off the gas pedal.

02:18So let's go.

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