On Sunday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) spoke to CNN's Dana Bash about the Republican budget that narrowly passed the House.
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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 in American history.
01:10It 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,
01:24increase the debt by more than $5 trillion.
01:28So I expect that you'll see strong Democratic opposition in the Senate,
01:34just like there was strong Democratic opposition in the House,
01:36and the bill just narrowly escaped the House of 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?
01:54The bill is deeply unpopular.
01:56If you go back to where we were in 2017,
01:59where Republicans, after several failed attempts,
02:03finally got their effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act
02:06out 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,
02:16but we can't let our foot off the gas pedal.
02:19I want to ask you about something that happened in your home state of New York
02:23In the past couple of days, Congressman Jerry Nadler said that DHS agents
02:29entered his congressional office on Wednesday without a warrant
02:33and handcuffed a member of his staff.
02:35This, of course, comes after the Trump Justice Department
02:38charged Democratic Congresswoman LaMonica MacGyver
02:42with obstructing ICE agents after an altercation at a facility in Newark, New Jersey.
02:47Now, I know you previously warned that the administration charging members of Congress
02:51was a, quote, red line.
02:53What are you doing now that the red line you talked about
02:57has apparently been crossed?
03:00Well, let me make clear that the House is a separate
03:03and co-equal branch of government, the Congress.
03:06We don't work for Donald Trump.
03:07We don't work for the administration.
03:09We don't work for Elon Musk.
03:10We work for the American people.
03:11And we have a responsibility to serve as a check and balance
03:15on an out-of-control executive branch.
03:18That's the constitutional blueprint that was given to us
03:22by the framers of the United States democracy
03:26that we have inherited over the last few centuries.
03:29And so we're going to continue to undertake our congressional responsibility,
03:33notwithstanding efforts by the Trump administration,
03:35to try to intimidate Democrats.
03:38It's unfortunate that our Republican colleagues continue to be nothing more
03:41than rubber stamps for Trump's reckless and extreme agenda.
03:46And the American people, I think, will ultimately reject that next year
03:50when we will take back control of the House of Representatives.
03:53In the meantime, in terms of how we will respond
03:56to what Trump and the administration has endeavored to do,
04:00we will make that decision in a time, place, and manner of our choosing.
04:06But the response will be continuous,
04:09and it will meet the moment that is required.
04:12What exactly does that mean?
04:15Have you not decided how to respond?
04:19We've publicly responded in a variety of different ways.
04:22We haven't let our foot off the gas pedal
04:25in terms of additional things that may take place
04:27with respect to our congressional oversight authority and capacity.
04:32We will respond in a time, place, and manner of our choosing
04:37if this continues to happen.
04:41You believe, as Jerry Nadler said,
04:43that the administration is trying to intimidate Democrats?
04:49I think the administration is clearly trying to intimidate Democrats
04:52in the same way that they're trying to intimidate the country.
04:54This whole shock and awe strategy,
04:56this flood the zone with outrageous behavior
04:59that they've tried to unleash on the American people
05:02during the first few months of the Trump administration
05:04is all designed to create the appearance of inevitability.
05:09But Donald Trump has learned an important lesson.
05:11The American people aren't interested in bending the knee
05:13to a wannabe king.
05:15It's the reason why Donald Trump actually
05:17is the most unpopular president
05:20at this point of a presidency in American history.
05:24The American people have rejected this approach,
05:27and we as congressional Democrats
05:29will continue to reject this approach.
05:31Mr. Leader, you brought up polls,
05:33so let me tell you about a new one
05:35that just came out here at CNN this morning.
05:37It shows that only 19% of Americans
05:40say that your party can get things done.
05:4236% say the same about Republicans.
05:45And just 16% say your party has strong leaders.
05:49It's pretty rough, and you are one of those leaders.
05:52How do you turn that around?
05:54Yeah, we don't have the presidency right now,
05:57so that's always going to be challenging
05:58a few months after a presidential election.
06:01But we have to continue to make the case,
06:03one, that Democrats, of course,
06:05are the party that is determined
06:07to make life more affordable
06:09for everyday Americans,
06:11for hardworking American taxpayers,
06:13that we believe that we need to lower
06:15the high cost of living,
06:17which for decades has been going up
06:20while the size of the middle class
06:22has been going down.
06:23So, understandably, there's real frustration
06:26amongst the American people.
06:27They should be frustrated.
06:29But they're frustrated with you as well,
06:31with Democrats as well.
06:33Of course, they're frustrated with the system.
06:36But what is interesting, Dana,
06:38I think you're aware of this,
06:39every single public poll that has come out
06:42since the Trump presidency
06:43has had congressional Democrats
06:45winning the generic ballot
06:47against congressional Republicans.
06:49And, in fact, we know this is not simply speculative.
06:52In every single high-profile special election,
06:55Iowa in January, New York in February,
06:59Pennsylvania in March,
07:00the Wisconsin state Supreme Court race in April,
07:03and most recently in Omaha,
07:06the mayor's race in May,
07:08Democrats have won.
07:09So, the American people are actually
07:11being very clear and decisive
07:14in saying who they trust more to govern.
07:20We're going to have to leave it there.
07:21Hakeem Jeffries,
07:22the leader of the House Democrats,
07:24appreciate you being here this morning.