LEADER JEFFRIES ON FOX: “THIS IS NOT A PARTISAN FIGHT FOR US”

Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on Fox News Sunday, where he emphasized that Democrats are ready at any time to negotiate a bipartisan government funding bill that puts an end to the Republican healthcare crisis and shutdown of the government.

SHANNON BREAM: Mr. Leader, welcome to Fox News Sunday. Good to have you this morning.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Great to be with you.

SHANNON BREAM: Okay, so let's start here. On Friday, your Senate counterpart, the Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, said this, 'Every day gets better for us,' talking about the optics of the shutdown we're all in now. So what's your message to the American people? Do you agree with his view?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, House and Senate Democrats have taken a principled position in defense of the American people to protect their healthcare. We're dealing with a cost of living crisis in this country right now, and we're dealing with a healthcare crisis. We have repeatedly made clear that we will sit down with anyone, anytime, anyplace, go back to the White House, to have a bipartisan discussion about reopening the government, reaching a spending agreement that actually improves the quality of life of the American people and addresses the healthcare crisis that threatens tens of millions of people across the country, including in rural America.

SHANNON BREAM: But do you agree that the optics of this are, quote, 'working in your favor' or good for you as a party at this point?

LEADER JEFFRIES: This is not about party. This is about the American people. We're dealing with a situation where, as a result of the One Big Ugly Bill that Republicans passed earlier this year, we have the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. Hospitals, nursing homes and community-based health centers are closing all across the country. If Republicans continue to refuse to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, then tens of millions of people are about to experience dramatically increased premiums, co-pays and deductibles that will result in health insurance costs doubling or tripling or quadrupling. People are going to face thousands of dollars of additional cost, including in the state that is represented by Speaker Mike Johnson. In fact, in his own district, I believe premiums may increase by about 380%.

SHANNON BREAM: Okay, so I want to get to that, but in a minute. First, let's talk about the continuing resolution that Democrats are voting against. It's been repeatedly voted against in the Senate. We're now, I think, eight votes into this. So the New York Times describes the bill this way. They say 'Democrats have misused budget jargon to assail the Republican budget proposal as dirty, but the bill is considered clean,' meaning all it does is extend current funding levels for, I believe, about seven weeks is what the Republicans are proposing. Now Democrats say you want to undo part of what Republicans call the Big Beautiful Bill, that you want to add money back for things like NPR and that's at the cost of funding the troops, funding air traffic controllers, funding SNAP benefits. So what's the message to the American people about why you won't vote for this clean measure, where you can continue to negotiate these things instead kind of holding it hostage, in Republicans' verbiage, to these other interests that are partisan in nature.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, Republicans control the House, the Senate and the presidency, and unfortunately, they've made the decision to take a my way or the highway approach. We've repeatedly made clear we want to sit down, reopen the government and negotiate a bipartisan path forward-

SHANNON BREAM: But it's important to make clear too that they need Senate votes. They do control all of those bodies, but they do need Senate votes from Democrats. And they've had some in order to move something there.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Which is why there should be a bipartisan negotiation. Now, my friends on the other side of the aisle, they seem to believe that healthcare is an extraneous issue. We don't believe it's an extraneous issue. It's a central issue. This is the wealthiest country in the history of the world, and people throughout this country should be able to afford to go see a doctor when they need one for themselves, their family, their children. We're fighting for couples, which in this particular moment in time-for instance, a couple that makes $88,000 a year, currently receives tax credits connected to the Affordable Care Act, pays about $8,000 a year, which is already too expensive. But if we allow the Affordable Care Act tax credits to expire, their costs will triple to $24,000 a year. That's unacceptable. And by the way, the states that are most affected are all states that Donald Trump has won. In fact, I think it's the top five states are West Virginia, Wyoming, Alaska, Mississippi and Tennessee. So this is not a partisan fight for us. We're fighting for everyday Americans, working-class Americans and middle-class Americans, by the way, who are also dealing with a cost of living crisis in this country cause costs are far too high. Life has gotten more expensive this year, not less, despite the Republican promise that they were going to lower costs on day one.

SHANNON BREAM: So a couple of things. If Republicans say, listen, as part of the CR that's not the conversation to have. That issue comes up later in the year. Are you, would you be willing to vote on a CR moving forward with assurances that you would address the subsidies at some point, because a number of Republicans say they agree with you that they're going to need to do that. So what deals do you need right now to be a yes vote on a clean CR?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, first of all, we don't view the current bill as anything other than a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people-

SHANNON BREAM: But isn't the issue-it's at levels that you guys have already agreed to. A number of Democrats voted for this extension back in March. It's not adding or detracting anything. It's just continuing the levels of spending that currently exist.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Actually, it's not at levels that we agreed to. Democrats strongly opposed this legislation in the House because in our view, it gut veterans healthcare, gut funding for women, infants and children programming, gut funding for affordable housing. And we know we know we have a housing crisis in this country-

SHANNON BREAM: Just to be clear-

LEADER JEFFRIES: Housing costs are too high. And it gut funding for healthcare-

SHANNON BREAM: Just be clear, though. It's not-it's not changing current levels. Nothing's getting cut. It's at levels that you may not like, but it's about extending levels as they currently exist. Fair?

LEADER JEFFRIES: No, we agree that current spending levels are unacceptable. And it also incorporates massive cuts that have occurred over the last several months and cuts funding for local law enforcement grants to support police officers by $500 million. So there's a variety of different challenges that we have with respect to this partisan Republican spending bill. But the main one is that we're facing this healthcare crisis. Open enrollment starts on November 1st. Tens of millions of Americans are receiving notices right now that their premiums, co-pays and deductibles are about to explode, which is why we need to address it. Even Marjorie Taylor Greene agrees that we have to address this health insurance crisis right now.

SHANNON BREAM: Okay. So let's talk about an analysis of these enhanced Obamacare subsidies and where we are because you mentioned a number of figures there. They were passed, of course, under the Biden administration in '21, extended in '22. They were about being a temporary measure to help us through the COVID emergency. So here's what an analysis over at The Federalist says. Now, this is based on data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which tracks all this healthcare stuff. They say if the enhanced subsidies go away, the federal government would still pay for the vast majority of premium costs. The federal government would fund, quote, 'only 78% of the premiums, as opposed to 88% of the total premium under the enhanced subsidy.' So that means taxpayers will still be footing nearly 80% of the cost of the premiums. Should we be having a broader conversation about the fact that Obamacare was supposed to make everything more affordable, and yet that is the U.S. taxpayer, you and me and everybody who goes to work out there, who is footing nearly 80% of the cost of these premiums, even if the subsidies expire?

LEADER JEFFRIES: More than 70% of the American people agree that we need to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits because they are making a meaningful difference in the lives of the American people. We do need to have a broader conversation about fixing our broken healthcare system, and we want to do that in a bipartisan way. It's unacceptable, in our view, that legislation was passed by Republicans earlier this year that is actually triggering the closure of hospitals and nursing homes and community-based health centers throughout the country, disproportionately in rural America. We also need to talk about the fact that hundreds of thousands of veterans rely on the Affordable Care Act tax credits in order to ensure that they have access to a doctor when they need one for themselves, for their children and for their families. We also need to lower the high cost of living. I agree entirely. Costs are way too high. America's too expensive. Housing costs are too high. Grocery costs are too high. Electricity bills are through the roof all across America. And now you've got people who are facing dramatically increased healthcare costs because of the refusal of some of my friends on the other side of the aisle to even have a conversation about extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits. That's not acceptable in this moment.

SHANNON BREAM: We will take up the conversation there with the Speaker. Mr. Minority Leader, thank you for your time. We appreciate it.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you.

Full interview can be watched here.

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