House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) held a press briefing on Tuesday.
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00:00Donald Trump and House Republicans spent all of last year promising to lower the high cost of
00:13living in the United States of America. In fact, Donald Trump said that costs were going to go
00:18down in America on day one. But costs haven't gone down, they've gone up. Inflation is on the way up.
00:27Donald Trump and House Republicans, who have been nothing more than a rubber stamp for Donald Trump's
00:34extreme agenda, are crashing the economy and driving us toward a recession. What piece of
00:46legislation do they decide to work on as their signature priority in this Congress? Is it
00:55legislation to make life more affordable? No. Is it legislation to lower the cost of housing in the
01:06United States of America? No. Is it legislation that actually enhances the ability for everyday Americans
01:14to provide childcare or afford groceries? In this country, no. House Republicans are trying to jam
01:25another GOP tax scam down the throats of the American people. The overwhelming majority of the benefits
01:32will go to the wealthiest one percent in the United States of America. And they want to pay for it by
01:39sticking us with additional debt, trillions of dollars of additional debt, and by enacting the largest health
01:49health care cut in American history along with the largest cut to food assistance in American history, literally
02:00taking food out of the mouths of children, veterans, and seniors in this country. It's shameful. The American people do not support this extreme and toxic bill, and we're going to hold every single House Republican
02:14who votes for it accountable. Questions? Mr. Leader, good afternoon. What would you, your statement the other day after there was this incident in Newark, you said they better not touch our members. Correct. What happens if they were to go and arrest these members or if they were to try to sanction them during the House of Representatives? They'll find out. What would you do? They'll find out.
02:41What would you do, though? I mean, what recourse? I mean, but doesn't that broach a... They'll find out. Doesn't that go across a... That's a red line. What's the red line, though? I mean, I know we have the speech... It's a red line. It's very clear.
02:52First of all, I think that the so-called Homeland Security spokesperson is a joke. It's a joke. They know better than to go down that road, and it's been made loudly and abundantly clear.
03:11to the Trump administration. We're not going to be intimidated by their tactics to try to force principled opposition from not standing up to their extremism. It hasn't happened during the entirety
03:32of this failed term. It didn't happen when Donald Trump temporarily was sitting high in the immediate aftermath of the election. Do you think it's going to happen now, when he's the most unpopular president in American history after his first 100 days? Give me a break. No one's intimidated by this dude. No one.
03:55And so there are clear lines that they just dare not cross.
04:02Speaking of red lines, Mr. Leader, were you informed that the White House intended to fire Dr. Hayden? No. Head of the Library of Congress? No. Is there anything you can do to reverse it, to discuss it? We're looking into it, but of course...
04:22The problem that we confront right now in this Congress is that House Republicans and Senate Republicans are nothing more than a compliant rubber stamp for Donald Trump's extreme agenda. They're not a check and balance. They're not working for the American people. They're actually working for an out-of-control executive branch. Now, it's the library of Congress, not the library of the executive branch.
04:49So clearly, there's going to be some reforms at this particular point in time. Moving forward, the president probably violated the law. What cause did he have to fire Dr. Hayden? There's no cause. It's all made-up foolishness.
05:07And so we're certainly going to look into that. And litigation will be evaluated strongly. But moving forward, I think what's clear is that perhaps the executive branch should be removed from the process.
05:28Once a librarian of Congress has been designated, if you're going to have an out-of-control executive who's going to abuse the authority that he, in this instance, has been given by the United States Congress.
05:48The vice chair of the DNC, David Hogg, he said today, quote,
05:51Too many leaders in the Democratic Party are asleep at the wheel. You're obviously a leader in the Democratic Party.
05:56Did he mention me by name?
05:58He did not, but you are a leader.
05:59Okay.
06:00Are Democrats asleep at the wheel? Does he have a point, and should he stay in his role?
06:04I think I've been very clear about my perspective on David Hogg, and I'm going to defend every single member of the United States.
06:11House of Representatives in the Democratic Party.
06:13Mr. Leader, on a similar vein of standing up for Congress's authority, what are you trying to do, if anything, about the Qatari plane, and what steps are you taking to assert Congress's authority over this, and when it comes to the Library of Congress?
06:33Well, Congressman Jamie Raskin has been very clear on this issue as it relates to the Constitution.
06:39A $400 million blind palace is an unconstitutional gift to this president or any president if it is not explicitly approved by the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.
06:58That's what the Constitution explicitly makes clear.
07:05There's no way around it as far as we're concerned.
07:10So the president presumably is going to take that next step and seek congressional authority, which I believe we will clearly and decisively reject.
07:20It's an embarrassment.
07:22Literally, millions of people in this country are struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, can't afford housing, can't afford groceries, can't afford to pay their utility bills, can't afford childcare, can't afford insurance.
07:41And Donald Trump is publicly defending, accepting a $400 million flying callus from a close ally of Iran and Hamas.
07:56Hamas, I mean, you can't make this stuff up, which is why even some of his closest MAGA sycophants have made clear this is a plane too far for them.
08:12Too far for them.
08:14Thank you, Mr. Leader.
08:17Speaking of planes, did you fly out of Newark this week?
08:20And I wanted to see if you support Secretary Duffy's proposed fixes to the air traffic control system.
08:26I flew out of LaGuardia this week.
08:28I look forward to having a conversation with Rick Larson, the top Democrat on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
08:34I have great confidence in him and his leadership to get his assessment on Secretary Duffy's recommendation.
08:40Are you open to a major overhaul of air traffic control technology?
08:44I think we need to make sure that our air traffic control system and technology is top-notch and first-rate.
08:55And to the extent that there are aging parts of the system, it definitively needs to be corrected.
09:01We also need an administration that should stop trying to undermine aviation safety in the United States of America,
09:08which is what they've been doing, perhaps at the behest of one of their lackeys, Elon Musk, from the very beginning of this administration.
09:16Thanks.
09:17On Library of Congress, there's a dispute where Trump has appointed A.G. Blanche.
09:24Library of Congress staff turned away those DOJ appointees yesterday.
09:28And Robert Newland is still addressing himself as an acting director.
09:32Who in this moment is leading the Library of Congress?
09:34As far as you're concerned, and will Congressional Democrats be offering guidance or weighing in?
09:40As far as I'm concerned, it's not this Robert Newland character or whatever his name is.
09:44I've never heard of him.
09:45And listen, at the end of the day, it's the Library of Congress.
09:50And so, this is another example of executive overreach.
09:58And, you know, it'll be challenged in court in all likelihood.
10:03And hopefully some of my Republican colleagues will actually stand up, show a backbone as it relates to their own authority.
10:10Stop being pumped by Donald Trump.
10:13I don't understand it.
10:15Congress is a separate and co-equal branch of government.
10:18They already are doing great damage to themselves by trying to jam this extreme GOP tax scam down the throats of the American people.
10:27That's not enough for them in terms of their sycophantic behavior.
10:33They literally are signing their own political death warrants in terms of the 2026 election.
10:41They should be doing what's in the best interest of the American people, not trying to visit upon everyday Americans the largest cut to health care in American history, devastating cuts to Medicaid, and at the same time, undermining the Affordable Care Act.
11:00Y'all didn't learn your lesson?
11:01How did that work out for you in 2017 and 2018?
11:09There's a number of different revelations coming out about President Joe Biden's decline with recent books.
11:15Is it helpful for your caucus for these to come out now?
11:18And would you want Biden to campaign for House Democrats?
11:22We're not looking backward.
11:24We're looking forward at this particular moment in time.
11:27Thank you, Mr. Leader.
11:31Richie Mill, Frank Pilon, and Andrew Craig may not be the most visible members of the caucus, but today they're going to be center stage as Republicans mark up the bill to, as you say, give tech breaks to the wealthy, take people off their health care, and take SNAP benefits away from Americans.
11:47What should Americans know about these three members and why they should trust their leadership the way that you and many of the members of your caucus do?
11:55I have great confidence in Richie Mill, great confidence in Frank Pilon, and great confidence in Angie Craig.
12:01They have been leading the charge, along with all of the distinguished members of those three committees, which really do represent and capture the gorgeous mosaic of the caucus,
12:13and a gorgeous mosaic of the American people in every possible way in terms of diversity that includes ideological, racial diversity, gender diversity, age diversity, and life experience diversity.
12:29All three of these committees, ably and incredibly led by Richie Mill, Frank Pilon, and Angie Craig, I think the American people will be impressed by what they see.
12:40We all are unified in trying to stop these extreme MAGA Republicans from jamming another GOP tax scam that benefits the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected and takes health care away from the American people down our throats.
12:57It is an egregious and outrageous bill, and it runs directly contrary to the central Republican promise that was made in 2024, which is that they were going to fix the economy and lower the high cost of living.
13:16They've done neither.
13:18They are blowing up the economy in real time and raising costs, and they're going to be held accountable for the mess that they are creating.
13:33Thank you, Leader.
13:34House Republicans have justified some of their spending cuts in the name of aiming to try and put the nation in better fiscal footing.
13:42Do you believe that we have a spending problem, and how would House Democrats go about this differently to address that?
13:49That will be explained throughout the various committee hearings that are going to take place throughout today, tonight, and into tomorrow.
14:00But the notion that Republicans are fiscally responsible is laughable.
14:06They have repeatedly inherited an improved fiscal situation, or in some cases, a budget surplus, as occurred during Bill Clinton's presidency,
14:22and an improved fiscal situation relative to a reduction of the deficit, a trillion-dollar reduction that Donald Trump inherited from Barack Obama,
14:33and then proceeded to blow up the debt and the deficit, just like George W. Bush did, just like Reagan did, and now Republicans are doing it again.
14:48We are not going to be lectured about fiscal responsibility by a bunch of people who have repeatedly spent the taxpayer dollars like drunken sailors
15:00in order to give their billionaire MAGA donors, like Elon Musk, in this particular instance, a tax cut.
15:09Thank you, everyone.