Transcripts For CSPAN House 20240705 : vimarsana.com

During the wall street journal ceo council summit. Thank you so much for being here, lets jump right in. President zelenskyy is here today. You met with him this morning. Can you look him in the iata sure him that america still has ukraines back look him in the and assure him that america still has ukraines back. Rep. Jeffries what a way to start. I think its important, and as House Democrats we were very clear with the president. We thanked him for the leadership, the bravery of the ukrainian of war effort. The necessity of a continuing in america support continuing. Is my understanding that the meeting between president zelenskyy and the entirety of the senate went well, hopefully that will help. The senate arrives at an agreement sooner rather than over the next few days because we have no choice, no option but to continue to fund the ukrainian war effort, both in the interest of Americas National security. But also because ukraine is on the side of a real existential conflict thats going on throughout the world, as the Previous Panel talked about. Theres democracy versus autocracy. Freedom versus tyranny. Theres truth versus propaganda. Ukraine is on the side of democracy, freedom and truth. We should make sure we continue to stand with them. The funding is caught up in the political battle in the senate is trying to make a big deal on many issues, including border security. Was it smart for the white house to put all those issues together . Rep. Jeffries in terms of policy changes related to the border, that was injected by House Republicans back in september when you recall that the senate was moving in a bipartisan way on funding the government, and for funding about 6 billion in assistance to ukrainian war effort. There a test vote that got 79 votes, democrats and republicans standing together. It was working its way through the senate when we were up against a possible Government Shutdown on september 30. My House Republican colleague shortcircuited that effort, put a different bill on the floor, and basically created a situation where we were either going to shut down the government because of the asset absence of assistance ukraine, or we would make sure the government remained open, which is the choice that we ultimately made, but leave the bipartisan effort in the senate with respect to ukraine. This has been a continuing narrative, up until this point, injecting border policy changes. I think the white house has been clear, Senate Democrats have been clear and in the house we are clear that we recognize there are challenges related to the border that need to be decisively addressed. And it should be done in a comprehensive and bipartisan way. And in a manner consistent with two principles, two values important to what america is all about. One, we are a nation of immigrants, that has helped us from an economic standpoint, from a competitive standpoint, continue to be dynamic and involving in the context of the globalized economy. That has continued. For work short Workforce Shortage reasons. A has to continue. But we are also anchored in the rule of law. So, whatever reppo whatever resolution we arrive at, there should be one, we address the situation at the border that should be consistent with those two principles. The question is, can you arrive at a sensible, meaningful resolution of a clear challenge with a gun being held to the head of the American People in the context of our National Security interests in ukraine. That doesnt strike me as the appropriate way to do public policy, but that has been put on the table by my colleagues on the others of the aisle. Quick speaking of House Republicans, they are voting to open in impeachment inquiry and on the floor tomorrow, how do you view that effort . Rep. Jeffries its an illegitimate impeachment inquiry. No surprise there in terms of my answer. The biggest problem, beyond the fact that theres no evidence or wrongdoing connected to the president , no evidence of an Impeachable Offense being committed, no evidence that the president has in any way, shape or form broken the law, notwithstanding the fact that over 100,000 pages of documents have been turned over, people have been deposed, and yet, republicans are continuing with what we believe is a political hit job. The other problem is that, with all of the challenges that we have in america and throughout the world, an economy that has made significant progress under the Biden Administration but there still fragility connected to that, we can work on economic issues, we can work on inflationary pressure, we can work on a on affordable housing, not just on the coast of new york, l. A. , San Francisco or boston, all over the country right now. We can work on issues like lifting up reproductive freedom as opposed to moving in the other direction, which we see in horrific ways happening in texas. We can work on trying to deal with the gun violence epidemic. It should not be a partisan issue. Our children, students, faculty members, others are being slaughtered by weapons of war in Grocery Stores on college campuses, in classrooms, in movie theaters, in walmart parking lots. This is an extraordinary thing we are dealing with in america in terms of the explosion of mass shootings. None of these issues are on the agenda of my colleagues on the other cited the aisle, instead, we will spend time today and tomorrow on a political hit job against president joe biden. Probably because they were, in part, directed to do so by the likely opponent to President Biden in the election next year. The israelhamas conflict has divided your members and 20 democrats recently voted to censure a fellow democrat, rashida tlaib. What are those conversations like behind the scenes, how tents as a been . Rep. Jeffries we will continue to work through the issue. I think the overwhelming majority of us stand clearly and squarely behind President Bidens leadership, which has been decisive and comprehensive, with a level of moral clarity that i think is required because of the horrific events of october 7, the largest loss of jewish life on a single day since the holocaust. In the atrocities perpetrated that they dont leave our fully understood by the American People, but will be as we move forward. So i think that there are three objectives that need to be simultaneously worked on. Clearly, israel doesnt simply has a right, but it has a responsibility to defend itself, and decisively defeat hamas, a brutal terrorist organization. We also need to make sure we are doing Everything Possible to secure the witnesses that are still hostages being held by hamas. Third, i think we have to do Everything Possible to make sure we are serving humanitarian assistance to palestinians who are in harms way. And gaza, to no fault of their own. Also to make sure that as work continues and is being prosecuted, that everything is being done to prevent civilian casualties moving forward. I think the ministration is doing everything they can you may have a handful of members that have a different perspective. On the house side we have a view that unity is different than unanimity. Theres going to be a differing of opinions on a variety of subjects both domestic. That will always be the case on matters of war and peace, but we should maintain a unity of purpose in terms of how we approach solving problems, and that is to continue to pull people over politics. You have now worked with more than one republican seed speaker. Speaker johnson was here last night. How do you think hes doing and what do you think are the chances that they will be able to keep the government open next month . Weve rep. Jeffries we been able to narrowly avert to Government Shutdowns up into this point. Once on october 1, immediately before the end of the fiscal year. Most recently, midnovember. On each occasion it has been democrats who have provided the majority of the votes necessary to keep the government open. In our approach is that we will continue to be there to work in a bipartisan way. From the very beginning of the conference weve said that we are ready, willing and able to find Common Ground with our republican colleagues on any issue, bipartisan Common Ground, whenever and wherever possible, while at the same time making clear that we will push back against extremism whenever necessary. That has been sort of our guiding principle moving forward. And in that context, as it relates to keeping the government open, we are all in in doing what is necessary to meet the needs of the American People, which is what the government at has decided to do in terms of health, safety, economic wellbeing, the security of the American People here, and our National Security interests abroad. We will be able to find the Common Ground necessary. Theres been a lot of talk about a topline spending number, which is the challenge right now. We negotiated the topline spending number in may with respect to the bipartisan fiscal responsibility act as part of the f effort to avoid a catastrophic default on our nations debt, which wouldve had immense consequences for the American People, industries, business and the economy. As part of avoiding that catastrophic default, my republican colleagues, including the former speaker, who i have Great Respect for, insisted that we negotiate spending numbers as part of raising the debt ceiling. Their insistence, not ours. As a result of that insistence, we arrived at topline spending numbers for this current fiscal year. Less than one week after the bipartisan fiscal responsibility act was not just agreedupon, but past into law passed into law with two thirds of the house supporting it, my House Republican colleagues walked away from the deal they negotiated, passed into law and insisted be part of avoiding a catastrophic default. We are just going to proceed with what we believe is a reasonable position. The spending numbers are the spending numbers that the House Republican colleagues agreed to. House democrats are in agreement with those spending numbers. Senate republicans are in agreement with those spending numbers. Senate democrats are in agreement with those spending numbers. The Biden Administration is an agreement with those spending numbers. Weve got one group of people on an island by themselves, effectively trying to renegotiate in agreement that, by simply trying to do that, will take us down the path of a Government Shutdown. We are not asking for more than the numbers that were previously agreed upon, but we just dont think its a viable to do less. I apologize, the leaders on a tight schedule, we do have to let him go. Thank you leader jeffries for an access. This is under