'The Facts Speak For Themselves': Hakeem Jeffries Defends House Democrats' Tactics To Counter Trump

2 days ago

During a press briefing, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was asked about Democratic leadership's tactics in countering GOP legislation.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you. You mentioned earlier your challenge to speak into a debate,

00:06done press events with us virtually every day this week, not every day.

00:10Have you seen the need to make yourself more visible or more aggressive as a

00:14Democratic messenger, particularly after some of the early steps in this Congress?

00:20I think we're going to continue to be called upon every day, every week,

00:24every month to aggressively push back on the reckless Republican agenda and

00:31articulate our affirmative vision for building an affordable economy that makes

00:38life better for everyday Americans. And Donald Trump and House Republicans are

00:44going to continue to try to flood the zone with outrageous things. And it's going to

00:50be important on all of us, as we've seen repeatedly by members of the House

00:57Democratic Caucus to meet the moment, as Stephen Horsford did yesterday, as John

01:04Larson has previously done, as a variety of members are consistently doing over and

01:15over and over and over again. And I'm proud of the House Democratic Caucus. But we

01:20know that our work is just beginning in terms of the type of engagement that will be

01:28required to end this national nightmare being visited upon the American people by

01:34Donald Trump and compliant House Republicans and get to a place where we can

01:39bring the American dream to life for every single American in this country. Traditionally,

01:47it has been, as I directly communicated to the speaker, a colloquy that was held by the House

02:00Majority Leader, whoever that may be at the time, and the House Minority Whip. That was done

02:06every week. A colloquy. Eric Cantor did it. Steny Hoyer did it. Kevin McCarthy did it. For a time,

02:17Steve Scalise participated in it when he was the House Minority Whip. For some reason, last Congress,

02:27and into this Congress, they've stopped the practice, which I pointed out to Speaker Johnson, who I regularly

02:37communicate with privately and then, of course, publicly. And it's part of a pattern of trying to

02:45hide their extreme policies from the American people. And so a logical next step, if Leader Scalise refuses to do it,

02:57because Whip Catherine Clark is ready, willing and able every week to do it. And perhaps those are

03:05my Republican colleagues who are interested in tradition in the House that we actually step into

03:11the breach that has been created at a time of great uncertainty for the American people.

03:19I can just follow up briefly. Has your approach changed at all since the CR fight, when there are a lot of complaints

03:24at least outside this building about how Democratic leaders were approaching the moment?

03:30Our approach certainly hasn't changed, because as far as I can tell, were there any complaints

03:35about the approach that House Democrats took as it relates to the continuing resolution fight?

03:40It's a question I'm asking.

03:42I mean, I think there were complaints that party leaders were not necessarily aggressive enough

03:48overall, or maybe not created?

03:49That House Democratic leaders were not aggressive in strongly opposing the

03:55reckless Republican spending bill, that we were very clear would hurt families, hurt children,

04:03hurt seniors, hurt everyday Americans. I think the chronology around your question is off,

04:12and the substance is off, because what we did here in the House was very clear,

04:18and how the public responded to it was also very clear. In fact, what's been interesting is,

04:24I think Donald Trump himself made the observation a few days ago, the one thing House Democrats

04:31apparently do better than Republicans is stick together on votes. That's the opposition making

04:38that observation. So, I think the facts speak for themselves.

'The Facts Speak For Themselves': Hakeem Jeffries Defends House Democrats' Tactics To Counter Trump

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