During Thursday's press briefing, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was asked about the proposed budget.
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00:00Thank you, Mr. Leader.
00:03Obviously, House Democrats have spent a lot of time pushing back against these proposed Medicaid and SNAP cuts,
00:08but the budget resolution also includes up to $330 billion in cuts from the Educational Workforce Department.
00:15They put out their legislation that targets student aid and loan programs.
00:22On top of that, President Trump issued his FY26 budget that calls for 15% cuts to the department.
00:30While adding $60 million for new charter schools.
00:33First, I want to know, do you think that that's a part of the administration's push to continue to try to privatize education?
00:39As appropriation season picks up, how will House Democrats speak to the American people about how their taxpayer dollars should be invested in the public education of America's children?
00:50Yeah, the Trump budget is dead on arrival. It's not happening.
00:54Which leads to the question, why would you put forward such a reckless budget that you know House Democrats and Senate Democrats are going to strongly oppose?
01:06It's going nowhere.
01:06When we are in the middle of a reconciliation fight where you are already trying to do extreme things that hurt the health, the safety, the education, and the well-being of the American people.
01:21Our view, consistent with what the great Frederick Douglass once said, is that it is easier to build strong children than it is to repair broken men or broken women.
01:34And if you invest in a high-quality education at the front end, everyone in America benefits from investing in our public schools.
01:46That's what we should be doing.
01:48The reckless Republican budget, of course, includes cuts to health care that are devastating, cuts to food assistance that are devastating, cuts to housing that are devastating, and cuts to education that are devastating.
02:01There are numerous reasons to oppose the reckless Republican budget, and certainly the attack on public education is one.