LEADER JEFFRIES TO BLOOMBERG: “EVERYDAY AMERICANS ARE BEING HURT”

This week, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries joined Bloomberg's David Gura to discuss the Trump-Republican government shutdown and the healthcare crisis that is hurting people all across the country. The full interview can be watched here.

LEADER JEFFRIES: As Democrats, we continue to make clear to our Republican colleagues that we will sit down with them anytime, anyplace in order to reopen the government, to negotiate a bipartisan agreement that actually makes life better for the American people in terms of spending and funding. But we also have to decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis. We've maintained that position from the very beginning, before Republicans shut the government down and during the entirety of the shutdown, because it is a real crisis that has been created at this moment, particularly as it relates to the urgent need to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.

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The conversations have been very limited, unfortunately, because Donald Trump has not given House Republican leaders or Senate Republican leaders permission to negotiate, reinforcing the principle from our view that he made the decision to shut the government down. They want to continue to inflict pain on federal employees. They've done that from the very beginning of Donald Trump's presidency. In fact, more than 200,000 federal employees had been forced off the job prior to the government shutdown. And this is something that we've continued to see them build upon during the shutdown. Until Donald Trump gets serious about reopening the government, unfortunately, we're going to remain in this situation, and everyday Americans are being hurt.

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I think that the President has a responsibility, both domestically and throughout the world. However, what has been irresponsible is that throughout this shutdown, he's found more time to golf than he has to engage with Democrats on Capitol Hill. He's decided to try to steal $230 million in taxpayer funds from the Department of Injustice. Donald Trump and his administration have found $40 billion to bail out a right-wing wannabe dictator in Argentina and can't find a dime to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits to keep healthcare affordable for tens of millions of Americans. And on top of all of that, they are demolishing the East Wing of the White House in ways that have appropriately horrified the American people.

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This is a traumatic moment for the country that this has been inflicted on the American people. And then layer on top of it, right, just shutting the government down, as Republicans have done, is very problematic. But trying to communicate with the American people why we as Democrats also believe that addressing the Republican healthcare crisis is necessary and explaining the entirety of the assault on their healthcare that has occurred this year, beginning with the One Big Ugly Bill and the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, and the fact that there are hospitals and nursing homes and community-based health centers are closing all across the country. Home care will be adversely affected. The possible cut to Medicare at the end of the year. The Republican refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, and the threats that they're now making to even try to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And the assault on public health infrastructure. This is extraordinary stuff. We've never seen anything like this in the history of the country, which is why we believe it needs to be decisively addressed. Along with, of course, reopening the government, standing by our hardworking federal civil servants and making sure that we can enact a bipartisan spending agreement.

Full interview can be watched here.

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