House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) holds a press briefing.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Last week, House Democrats held a Medicaid Day of Action all across the country.
00:17Throughout the week, hundreds of events took place focused on the Democratic effort to
00:24save health care for everyday Americans and contrast that with the extreme MAGA Republican
00:33budget plan to visit upon the American people the largest Medicaid cut in American history.
00:43This is an issue of life or death for children, women, everyday Americans, people with disabilities
00:54and older Americans who rely on Medicaid for nursing home care and for home care.
01:05The notion that House Republicans are determined to enact the largest Medicaid cut in American
01:14history so they can give Elon Musk and their billionaire MAGA donors a massive tax cut
01:20is outrageous.
01:24That's the moment that we're in right now.
01:28Earlier today, every single House Republican leader tripled down on their harmful budget
01:44which will hurt children, hurt families, hurt seniors, hurt veterans, and hurt everyday
01:52Americans.
01:55House Republicans are successful in enacting their reckless budget.
02:04People all across America, including in the districts they represent, are going to lose
02:13their health care, lose veterans' benefits, and lose nutritional assistance for hungry
02:22children and hungry families.
02:27It's unacceptable, unconscionable, and un-American.
02:33And over the next few weeks, House Democrats are going to do everything we can to stop
02:42their reckless budget getting in its tracks.
02:47Questions?
02:48In a similar vein, with Social Security job cuts to the Social Security Administration,
02:57what tools do Democrats actually have to prevent these kind of things from happening?
03:01And do you anticipate missed checks coming from Social Security?
03:06And Donald Trump and House Republicans want to take a chainsaw to Social Security, Medicare,
03:13and Medicaid.
03:16Why?
03:18To pass a massive tax cut for Elon Musk and their billionaire donors.
03:25That's the whole scheme.
03:28It is a toxic scheme.
03:32Throughout the campaign, Donald Trump promised that Republicans were not going to touch Social
03:39Security, not going to touch Medicare, and not going to touch Medicaid.
03:44They lied.
03:48Republicans are detonating Social Security and its benefits and the Social Security Administration
03:57in real time.
03:59And benefits are going to be adversely impacted.
04:04That's the reality of the situation.
04:08It's the reason why House Republicans are running scared.
04:12They were directed not to hold town hall meetings.
04:15They were missing in action all of last week.
04:20Because they can't justify the attacks on Social Security, the attacks on Medicare,
04:26the attacks on Medicaid, and the attacks on the things that matter for the American people.
04:33Thank you, Mr. Maynard.
04:37Republicans are starting to raise concerns about Florida 6, the seat there that was filled
04:43by Mike Waltz.
04:44I wanted to see if you think Democrats have a chance of actually flipping the seat or
04:48if the DCCC should start investing in that race.
04:51I personally contributed to both candidates in Florida and have encouraged others to do so.
04:59These are races that should not, under ordinary circumstances, be on anyone's political radar.
05:06They are safe Republican seats that Donald Trump won by more than 30 points in both instances,
05:19including in Florida 6.
05:22The American people are not buying what the Republicans are selling.
05:27That is why they are on the run.
05:29All we hear about, including earlier today, was the notion that Republicans have some
05:34massive mandates.
05:36There's no mandate to enact the largest Medicaid cut in American history.
05:42There's no mandate to try to blow up the public schools in America.
05:48There's no mandate to fire thousands of veterans who served this country with great heroism
05:59and now they've been tossed aside and discarded.
06:08And so, chickens are starting to come home to roost.
06:13We've seen it in a variety of different special elections at the state and local level over
06:22the last several months.
06:26And it will be interesting to see what happens in Florida.
06:32These districts are so Republican, there would ordinarily be no reason to believe that the
06:40races will be close.
06:45But what I can say, almost guaranteed, is that the Democratic candidate in both of these
06:53Florida special elections will significantly over-perform.
07:01This will represent another sign that the Republicans are on the run and that Democrats
07:09are going to take back control of the House of Representatives next year.
07:14Thank you, Mr. Lear.
07:17Just changing topics.
07:18Obviously, I'm sure you've heard the story by now that Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic
07:21says he was caught on this text chain signal chat with top Trump administration officials
07:26as they were discussing these airstrikes in Yemen.
07:29What is your reaction to that?
07:30And do you believe there should be a congressional investigation?
07:34It should absolutely be a congressional investigation so that we can understand what happened, why
07:39did it happen, and how do we prevent this type of national security breach from ever
07:47happening again.
07:49This is reckless, irresponsible, and dangerous.
07:56Who are some of these people that Donald Trump has put into the most sensitive national
08:02security positions in America?
08:06We were promised that Donald Trump was going to hire the very best.
08:12It's all phony.
08:16The attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion, phony.
08:21This is never about hiring the best people.
08:26As Democrats, we actually believe in merit.
08:32Merit that should be based on what you know, not who you know.
08:39And understand, this whole Trump administration is filled with lackeys and incompetent cronies.
08:47I'm not talking about any particular individual, though I will note that the Secretary of Defense
08:53who was on that chain has got to be the most unqualified person ever to lead the Pentagon
09:03in American history.
09:06Think about that.
09:07You've put these people in charge in a very dangerous world, and then you want to attack
09:19communities of color, attack women, and attack others who are actually very qualified?
09:28C.Q. Brown, incredibly qualified, brilliant, served this country well.
09:37All of these attacks from the Trump administration on a diverse America, it's all phony.
09:47These people are incredibly unqualified, irresponsible, and they're jeopardizing America's national
09:56security.
09:57Thanks.
09:58Go back to the center.
09:59Thank you, Mr. Leader.
10:00You posted a video earlier today saying the House Democrats would prevent the Trump administration
10:06from closing the Department of Education.
10:08You mentioned two lawsuits were filed today.
10:10Are there any other plans in the works for you to push back against that executive order
10:15that the President signed last week, dismantling the Department of Education?
10:19The effort to dismantle the Department of Education is deeply unpopular, as is the fact
10:26that they are trying to detonate Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
10:29I mean, who are these people?
10:32This is the mandate that you claim to have?
10:36To dismantle the American way of life?
10:41This is why they're on the run.
10:43This is why they're hiding from the American people.
10:46This is why they're panicking in that Florida special election.
10:50This is why Elon Musk is pouring millions of dollars into Wisconsin.
10:58These people have overreached and failed to deliver on their core promise, which was
11:06to drive down the high cost of living in the United States of America.
11:11That's what they promised all of last year, and then ran away from Project 2025 as if
11:17it didn't exist.
11:20Lied in cold-blooded fashion to the American people.
11:24What are they doing this year?
11:26They have done nothing to lower costs.
11:29Costs aren't going down, they're going up.
11:32Inflation is going up.
11:33They're crashing the economy in real time, driving us to a Republican recession.
11:41Have done nothing to address inflation.
11:45Not a single bill, not a single executive order, not a single administrative action.
11:51They're unleashing the horrors of Project 2025, which they claimed last year didn't
11:58exist and that they knew nothing about.
12:01They're unleashing the horrors of Project 2025 on the American people by doing things
12:05like trying to blow up our nation's public schools.
12:10So House Democrats are of course going to push back aggressively against it.
12:15We will stop them in Congress, and we will stop them in the courts.
12:20The Department of Education was created by an act of Congress.
12:23A wannabe king cannot unravel it.
12:28The only way to unravel the Department of Education is through the Congress.
12:34Let's be clear, they don't have the votes to do it.
12:38It's not happening in the Congress, and it's going to get stopped in the courts.
12:45Mr. Leader, there was some criticism about how Democratic leaders weren't on the same
12:50page as it relates to the spending negotiations from a week ago.
12:55You're talking about standing up, preventing Medicaid cuts during these budget negotiations
13:00going forward.
13:01How can you assure your supporters that leaders are now on the same page?
13:04And I don't mean just within the House, but in the Senate as well.
13:07Well, the House was incredibly unified, and we will remain unified in opposition to pushing
13:13back against the effort to jam the largest cut to Medicaid in American history down the
13:20throats of the American people.
13:23Every single House Democrat voted against the reckless Republican budget at the end
13:30of February.
13:31Every single House Democrat.
13:33In fact, every single Senate Democrat voted against the Senate budget resolution.
13:41So I'm very confident that we will continue to be on the same page, because we have been
13:48on the same page as it relates to this issue.
13:51Leader Jeffries, just to follow up on the Signal Chat, Representative Chrissy Houlihan
13:56sent a letter to you, as well as Speaker Johnson, calling for further training of members on
14:01handling classified documents and information.
14:04That wasn't included in the rules package for this Congress.
14:07Is that something you support, and do you think that there are issues within the House
14:11when it comes to members handling classified information?
14:14I haven't had an opportunity to take a look at Representative Houlihan's letter, but we
14:21are going to hear from Ranking Member Jim Himes tomorrow, and I look forward to that
14:26presentation before the House Democratic Caucus.
14:31Thank you, Leader Jeffries.
14:33On the subject of Medicaid, you say that the House Democrats are unified on opposing the
14:38Republicans' plans, but as you know, for a reconciliation bill in both chambers, you
14:43only need a simple majority, and Republicans are in that majority.
14:48So how can you tell people who are skeptical, who perhaps agree with you that your strategy
14:52is going to be effective, what tangible steps do you have to actually thwart this agenda,
14:57if any?
14:58At the end of the day, we only need three House Republicans to do the right thing and
15:03protect the health care of their very own constituents, and there are dozens of House
15:12Republicans who know the right thing to do is to vote against this effort to jam the
15:18largest Medicaid cut in our nation's history down the throats of the American people.
15:25They know it.
15:27This is why House Republicans are refusing to engage with their constituents.
15:34They are running away from their constituents.
15:37They are refusing to hold town hall meetings all across the country.
15:44And so it's going to be incredibly important for the citizenry in every single district
15:51to make their voices heard as it relates to Republicans and make clear, keep your
16:01hands off our health care.
16:06In the same way that everyday Americans were able to do that in 2017 during the fight to
16:16protect the Affordable Care Act.
16:20I would note, despite this claim that is so entirely baseless about some massive mandate
16:35that House Republican leaders continue to put out there as if they have a mandate to
16:42take away health care from the American people, which is ridiculous.
16:48Back in 2017, when Donald Trump won election the first time, he lost the popular vote,
16:57but there were 241 Republicans in the House of Representatives and only 194 Democrats.
17:04We were buried deep in the minority, and yet the American people rose up, and as a result
17:14in the House and then subsequently in the Senate, buried deep in the minority, we stopped
17:21them from repealing the Affordable Care Act, even though they had massive numbers available
17:31to them at the time.
17:34In 2024, Donald Trump wins the popular vote.
17:40That's better in every single state in America than he had previously done, and yet he comes
17:50to Congress and at full strength there are 220 Republicans, maybe, and 215 Democrats.
18:01That's the smallest majority that any party has held since the Great Depression.
18:13So on any given vote, by the time this comes to the floor, a few weeks, but more likely
18:20a few months from now, because Republicans can't get their act together on how extreme
18:24they want to be at this moment.
18:28It only takes three Republicans to do the right thing.
18:34That's a very different situation than the country found itself in, in 2017, and yet
18:41we were successful then, and as long as the American people show up and stand up and speak
18:47up for what we all know is right, we can be successful once more.
18:54Thank you, Mayor Jeffries.
18:55Rep AOC drew some large crowds on the trail this past week, stumping out West with Senator
19:01Sanders.
19:02Is it wise to elevate her as a party messenger, and to what extent are you concerned that
19:08she could become a prominent boogeyman for the GOP ahead of 2026?
19:13She's already a prominent member of the House Democratic Caucus, I expect that will continue.
19:20On community project funding, obviously the recently passed continuing resolution didn't
19:24include any for the fiscal year 2025.
19:28I'm wondering if you can speak to, A, what the impact of that is in your district and
19:32other districts, and B, how you and your members are going to approach the loss of that funding
19:38going forward.
19:39Will you be re-requesting for 2026?
19:41The absence of community project funding is another example of Republicans making the
19:47decision to hand over the power of the purse to Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the administration.
19:53It's obviously a decision that we are strongly opposed to, as evidenced by our strong opposition
20:01to the reckless Republican spending bill.
20:06For reasons that related to veterans benefits, healthcare cuts, and cuts to nutritional assistance
20:13to children and families, as well as housing support all across America, moving forward,
20:23our view will be represented if there are in fact bipartisan discussions that take place
20:31broadly relating to the congressional power of the purse, and making sure that members
20:38have the ability to help determine what spending priorities are most needed for the districts
20:44that they are privileged to represent, as opposed to some out-of-touch, unelected, billionaire
20:53puppet master making decisions on behalf of everyday Americans throughout this country.
21:01Last question.
21:02Last question.
21:03One of the more tenured members of your caucus is facing a primary challenge.
21:08There have obviously been a lot of other discussions around the country about progressive activists,
21:13grassroots activists, primarying members that they don't think are taking a hard enough
21:19attack against President Trump, or have simply been in office too long.
21:22Are you concerned at all about incumbents getting ousted this cycle, and what specific
21:27steps are you taking to prevent that?
21:28I'm not familiar with what you're talking about.
21:31Shikowsky is facing a challenge from Kat Abu-Bizala.
21:34She's a long-standing member, obviously a long-standing stalwart progressive member.
21:41I'm unfamiliar with this particular challenge, so I can't comment on it beyond having a conversation
21:47with Jan at some point.
21:49There's a lot of energy, a lot of angst, a lot of anxiety, of course, across the country
21:55as it relates to the parade of horribles that Donald Trump has been unleashing on the
22:02American people.
22:04Our focus is going to be stop bad things from happening to the American people, and there'll
22:14be a time and place where the politics will take care of itself.
22:18Thanks, everyone.
22:25Thanks, everybody.
22:26Thanks.
22:27Thanks.
22:28Thanks.
22:29Thanks.