Leader Jeffries on MSNBC's Deadline White House

In Washington, D.C. right now, House Democrats are pushing back against Donald Trump as well. House Democrats are demanding funding for Obamacare subsidies as the government shutdown looms. Donald Trump, for his part, has canceled a scheduled meeting with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries scheduled for Thursday, making it more likely that a shutdown will take place seven days from today. An inflection point for the country and the coalition pushing back against Trump and his agenda is where we start today with House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Mr. Lear, thank you for being here. Good afternoon. Good to be with you. In the spirit of the public's work in making Disney re-examine their decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel off the air, what fight have you picked or have you led that you are most proud of or that you seek to sort of emulate on a day-to-day basis? Well, House and Senate Democrats stood shoulder to shoulder together in strong opposition, in fact, in unified opposition to the one big ugly bill that Donald Trump and Republicans jammed down the throats of the American people because it ripped away Medicaid. It was the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. It stole food from the mouths of hungry children, seniors and veterans. And all of this was being done to provide massive tax breaks to Republican billionaire donors. Now, legislatively, the Republicans bent the knee to Donald Trump, as they always do, and they were able to sneak it through the House and the Senate. But the bill is deeply unpopular because the American people have now come to the conclusion that Donald Trump and Republicans have no interest in making their life better. In fact, they are hurting everyday Americans in order to reward their billionaire donors. And so this is an extension of that fight in terms of Democrats aggressively pushing back against Donald Trump's efforts to continue to gut the health care of the American people and threaten the American people with a painful government shutdown. So talk to me like I don't live in Washington and explain what this shutdown is about. So Republicans have a responsibility holding the majority in the House and the Senate and the presidency to make sure that the federal government can continue to run. They're in the majority. Now, it's our responsibility as Democrats to find common ground on a spending agreement if that spending agreement actually meets the needs of the American people. And we're in strong opposition to the partisan Republican spending bill. It's a dirty bill because it continues to gut the health care of the American people. And we're not simply going to go along to get along. So there's so much coverage and so much of our conversations and frankly, so much of what we pick up from voters that they want to see Democrats fight misses this point that I think you're making. They control the White House, right? They control the Republican members of the House and Senate. They don't they don't buck Donald Trump in any way, shape or form. And they essentially they're batting about 850 in the in the Supreme Court. I think the Supreme Court has ruled for Donald Trump 19 times and against him twice. But they need you. They need you in this rare instance in this in this if you live outside of Washington, sort of obscure manner that to keep the government going to keep it funding, they actually need you, you and Senator Schumer, who are in the minority. What is the most that you can get from them in this rare instance that they need you? Well, what's important to understand, Nicole, is that Republicans have engaged in an unprecedented assault on the health care of the American people throughout this year, the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. Millions of people are going to lose coverage because of what Republicans have done. Hospitals and nursing homes and community based health clinics are already closing because of the one big ugly bill. They are refusing to extend the tax credits connected to the Affordable Care Act. What that means is that for more than 20 million Americans, they're going to experience in a matter of weeks, increased health care premiums, copays and deductibles. Because of actions that Republicans have taken in connection with the one big ugly bill, the country actually faces a five hundred and thirty six billion dollar cut to Medicare at the end of the year. And we know that Republicans have basically canceled medical research in the United States of America. So our position as Democrats is clear. Cancel the cuts, lower the cost, save health care. That's our fight that we're waging on behalf of the American people. And we're willing to sit down with anyone at any time, any place to try to actually get to a spending agreement that makes sense for the American people. But we're not going to simply bend the knee to Donald Trump's will when he's gutting health care for everyday Americans and actively hurting people. That's that's immoral. And it's not something for us to participate in. So if he doesn't agree to back off the cuts, what will you do? Well, our view, listen, we we voted no in the House and in the Senate on the partisan Republican spending bill that was before us on Friday because it continues to gut the health care of the American people. That's our public position. And we haven't backed off that position in any way, shape or form. And the fact that Donald Trump is running scared would cancel this meeting shows that they know they have a weak position as it relates to the Republican health care crisis that they've created. So next week, we were scheduled to be in session for votes on Monday and Tuesday. And House Republicans canceled those votes. They don't even want to show up, even though we're on the brink of a government shutdown, but Democrats will be in town. They're ready, willing and able to do our jobs and to also communicate with the American people the stakes of this shutdown fight. If you had to, you know, prepare your members for what's ahead, what is your sense from your your perch and all of your experience in Washington about what the coming days will hold? Well, it's going to be incredibly important. We're in the midst of a health care cost of living week of action where all across America, House Democrats partnering with Senate Democrats and governors are holding events related to health care costs, related to protecting our hospitals and nursing homes and community based health clinics, related to protecting Medicaid and related to making sure that the tax credits for the Affordable Care Act continue, because all of this matters for the well-being and the health of the American people. This is not a fire drill. This is real in terms of what's happening right now related to the Republican assault on health care and the crisis they've created. And that's why Democrats have drawn a line in the sand as it relates to what's in front of the American people. And we're going to continue to make that clear. We can find bipartisan agreement, but it has to make sense for the quality of life of the American people. It has to lower costs. It has to protect the health care of everyday Americans. I had a victim of Jeffrey Epstein on my program yesterday, and she described feeling like the effort to have the files released doesn't feel as partisan as a lot of other issues in the nation's capital. And I shared with her that the polls suggested it isn't. But I wonder what it feels like there. I mean, it seems in covering the efforts of Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna to release all of the files and to listen to the victims and try to recenter the debate around them, that maybe there is some bipartisan momentum behind transparency. But then you hear the victims and you watch Alex Acosta and you watch Republicans seem to make excuses for him and other members of the Cabinet. I just wonder your thoughts on the efforts centered around the victims for transparency in the Epstein files. Well, we're going to continue to charge forward on behalf of the victims and on behalf of everyday Americans who care about making sure that predators are held accountable at this full transparency and that whatever may be in the Epstein files is completely and totally released to the public so that folks can be held accountable in a manner consistent with what the victims have so powerfully asked to be done in this instance. Now, Democrats are going to swear in sometime soon in the Congress an additional member, which will bring us to 214. She will also represent, I think, the number that brings us to a majority in the House to trigger our ability to actually force the Trump administration to release the Epstein files. And so we're going to continue to partner with whatever enlightened Republicans want to partner with us, though we recognize as Democrats that we're going to have to carry the overwhelming load here because Donald Trump and the Trump administration, despite all of their promises throughout the years, are clearly trying to keep these files from becoming public. When Trump was president last time, Speaker Pelosi, and she was the Speaker of Democrats for the majority, she seemed to relish going toe-to-toe with him on a daily basis. Do you relish the fight with Donald Trump? I think it's an incredibly important fight for the American people, and I'm just not clear why Donald Trump is backing away from that fight. He agreed to the meeting. We demanded it on Saturday. Leader Schumer and I sent a letter laying out our position very clearly as it relates to government funding and the health care of the American people. He agreed to that meeting. We were prepared to go into that meeting and lay out our position, cancel the cuts, lower the cost, save health care for everyday Americans, and make very clear we are not down with the Republican health care crisis, and that's why this line in the sand has been drawn. That's an important fight for the American people. It's the right fight, and it's the fight that, as House Democrats, we certainly are committed to waging. In this position that we're in right now, with Republicans temporarily holding the gavels, but we also believe that we're going to change that dynamic next November. We're going to take back control of the House of Representatives, and then we'll finally have a Congress that actually can function as a separate and co-equal branch in government and a check on the out-of-control Trump administration as opposed to what the sycophantic Republicans are doing right now, which is to serve as nothing more than a rubber stamp, a rubber stamp over and over and over again for Donald Trump's extreme agenda. Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, thank you very much for starting us off today. Thank you.