Transcript of Democratic Whip Katherine Clark Addresses GOP Disasters

We are 20 days from a government shutdown based on the MAGA Republicans' complete incompetence, their handling of the budget. Maga Mike Johnson darting out of a press conference when questions about Jeffrey Epstein were being asked. You'll hear a reporter say, You want to take an Epstein question? He got out of there awfully quickly. Here, play this clip.

January sixth, not a use.

You want to take the rest of the question?

Yeah. That's clear.

Run, Maga Mike. Run. Then you have Speaker Johnson, Maga Mike, doesn't think that that birthday card that's clearly sent by Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein, which has Donald Trump's signature and looks like all of his other signatures. It's his signature. We don't even need to be... It's not a debate. He sent the thing to Epstein. But here's Maga Mike doing what the regime tells him to do, saying, I don't see it. I don't think so. Here, play this clip.

Mr. Speaker, do you think the Trump birthday note to Epstein is real?

I don't. They say it's not. I don't. He says, Donald Trump told me it's not. So why would I even ask a question? And by the way, it's all of them at this point, like Byron Donalds and. Watch this brief montage of all of them saying the same thing, basically. Let's play.

I mean, anybody can do a signature. I don't think really someone might just forge this somehow. Yeah, I mean, somehow it's so easy to do.

From what I see, it's not a signature. I've seen Donald Trump sign a million things. This doesn't look like his signature to you?

I highly doubt that it is.

I mean, someone could have forged this? Well, are we talking about the birthday card drawing? The letter that's on the Trump, apparently. Oh, that's new for me. I've not seen that. We'll let other people decide whether it's real or not. What does that even mean? That's new to me. You were the one who brought up the birthday card. That's new to me. I didn't see it. You said, what were you thinking they were talking about when they were talking about forgery and birthday card? Again, it's the That was ridiculous stuff. And then you have James Comer, Big Mad, the new ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Congress member Robert Garcia for pushing forward and getting all that stuff. Because remember, it wasn't just the birthday card in that book for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003. There was a bunch of other documents in there, sick, disgusting documents of Epstein and Trump friends holding checks, talking about Trump paying 22,000 for a fully depreciated woman. There's women talking about meeting Prince Andrew and Donald Trump, thanks to Jeffrey Epstein. There's some grotesque stuff in that. But MAGA Republicans are pissed that Democrats are fighting back.

Listen to Kholmer here. Let's play it.

The auto schedule. Jeremy Kholmer. Can you give us a comment about the Epstein documents being released and what else is under review right now?

Well, the Epstein documents are released because I subpoenaed the estate for the document. That's why we have the document. I know the media has been obsessed with the discharge petition. The discharge petition didn't even cover the estate. This is a serious investigation, just like I said it would be. We're going to be transparent. I think we got the documents uploaded last night on the computer. It takes a few hours. Obviously, when I subpoena documents, they send them to the Republicans and the Democrats. Of course, Democrats, they find one thing in there and they promote it and try to get a narrative. This investigation is about providing justice and accountability for the victims. And the Democrats, it's really disappointing to see how they back it. I mean, Garcia, he's been on the job for about two weeks. He's proven to me to be a real big drama queen because this is all about providing transparency to the American people and justice for the victims. It's not about scoring political points. So hopefully, he'll mature up and get serious about the investigation. We've got a lot more documents we expect to get in. We're going to bring a lot of people in for depositions.

I mean, that was the guy for three years holding up nudies of Hunter Biden in the hearing. Then he's calling Robert Garcia drama queen, to which Congress member Garcia is like, Are you just saying that because I'm gay? What are you talking about? We got the book because Democrats pushed for it. You didn't want that to be released. We pushed forward, we released it. And then you're like, Oh, they're cherry picking it and all of these things. Absolutely. Absolutely ridiculous. Let's bring in Democratic Congresswoman Katherine Clarke, the Democratic whip. And a big deal coming in the very near future, 20 days, of course, is that if a budget doesn't pass, we're in a government shutdown. So I want to talk about that. But I think showing those Epstein clips, though, show that we're not dealing with, you're not dealing with, serious people who are in the world of reality I don't even know what that was. So let's address first what they've been saying. Just get your reaction to that. But I just want to talk about it's in everything they exist in this MAGA Club Rosegarden world.

I don't know where to begin. How can you look at these documents that came out in this Epstein birthday book that are disgusting, they are vile, and there are multiple ones, and just say, Oh, that's some democratic hoax. They have one master, and that is Donald Trump. They are willing to throw the American people, to throw justice, investigations, transparency, They will do nothing but raise costs on Americans. And he says, jump, and they just say, how high. It just makes them not only look absurd, but they are just barreling towards disaster for people at home who are unable to make it in this economy that Donald Trump and his, you know, devotees have created for them.

It's a co-equal branch of government. Our founders, constitutional framers, believed that even out of self-interest, the other branches would want to defend its turf to push back. Being a congressperson is a big deal. I mean, Maggie Mike's the speaker of the House, but he may as well be Donald Trump's golf caddy as a summer job based on the way... It's just so strange to me that people with important positions to protect the people have been so willing to give it away because of Donald Trump in the White House behaving in such a bizarre and erratic fashion. I'm just trying to even understand how that works. How does that appeal to them when you know, Tariffs are a tax on Americans and they go, Oh, it's not. It's like, Yes, it is. That's his signature. Tariffs are a tax on Americans. You're taking away health care. How do you work with delusional colleagues, I guess, is my question. And how do you maneuver people who are so magged up that you can't do deals with these people?

Yeah. I mean, how do you who deals with people who, one, won't come to the table. When they do come to the table, they then go ahead and undermine and go back on everything they said. Even if it makes it through Congress, they stand by a President who shreds everything they just did, whether it's projects, economic development, keeping hospitals open in their own districts. You They just will do anything that he wants. The point we're making, 20 days out from a shutdown, which is 100% their responsibility. They have the majority in the House, the Senate, and Trump is President. So it is up to them to fund the government and keep it open and working for people. And what are they doing instead? They are taking away people's health care. So whether it is the half a trillion dollars in Medicare that this bill will trigger in cuts, the cuts they've already done to Medicaid, the 300 rural hospitals that are going to close, and every single day, we are already seeing hospitals close in states due to the big ugly law. This is coming true for people right now. I had farmers in in my office this morning who were talking about not only what is happening to them with the tariffs and how bankruptcies for farmers are up 95%, but that they have no place to go to get health care.

So they want to go ahead with this agenda, taking away the fundamental need of American people that when they are sick and they need to see a doctor, should be able to do that and be able to do it close to their home. They can do that on their own. We are not going to rubber stamp this extremist agenda.

So for our audience to know, the position of Democratic whip is whipping up the votes and coordinating and organizing unified positions amongst the party in terms of a vote and making sure the people show up to vote It's a lot more complicated than that, but at a high level, it's a big, important job. So when it comes to this government shutdown that is looming, can you articulate for our audience the democratic position? Because people, I know our audience says, do not support this MAGA, desecration of our health care. Shut it down. Our audience was very upset at what happened in the Senate before when that happen. What do you say to our audience right now?

That Democrats in the House are crystal clear we are not supporting a budget that decimates health care for Americans. That's where we are. If they want to go ahead and do a spending plan to pass a budget that continues to make these cuts, and just this week, they're talking about more cuts to mental health, to our public health infrastructure. They are not stopping. They are doubling down. They want to do that. They can do it without a single Democratic vote.

In other words, we're willing to shut it down, right?

Shutting it down is up to them. We're telling them we're not voting for a budget that doesn't make sure that people can access health care. The fact that they are barreling and notices are starting to They've gone out in my home state of Massachusetts telling people the premium increases they are going to experience because they are refusing to renew tax credits and support for the ACA so that people can afford to get health care. So they are looking at increased premiums, taking away the help that they rely on and need to get health care. And these guys are running around saying, Saying, Well, we don't care about that. We care about one thing, and that's tax cuts for our billionaire friends. And at the same time, utterly denying that Donald Trump had anything to do with his billionaire friend Jeffrey Epstein. I mean, you cannot make this up. So we're going to stay focused where we are. And that is, you cannot get away with doing these health care cuts at historic levels without a fight from House Democrats.

I just have one procedural question because I think maybe the audience... I think if I'm confused, the audience probably shares the. There's the budget bill they called the Big, Beautiful, blah, blah. It was a disastrous budget bill. That passed. Before that, there were all of these CRs that I would talk about, like a continuing resolution. Then they do the disastrous budget bill. How come then there's another budget that needs to be passed? Why do we even come close to a shutdown when they forced this other one through just in terms of the procedure of it all?

Yeah, the procedure is very difficult and complex. But in the simplest terms, our fiscal year in the federal government ends on October first. So every year, we have to have a budget in place. And in the last two years of Republican control, seven times they brought us to this place. Democrats have had to come in and say, We're going to try to come together, find some common ground. We're still at that place, but we are clearly telling our Republican colleagues and the President, that they cannot count on a single Democratic vote if they are going to rip health care away. 15 million people are going to lose their health care in this country. And premiums for 20 million people alone, just under the ACA, are going to soar, probably out of reach for most people who need it. And we cannot just sit by and rubber stamp their agenda. They want to hold the American people hostage by saying, Well, if you don't go along with our agenda of taking health care away, we're going to be in a shutdown, and those are painful. You just can't negotiate with these people anymore. And so we are very clear, you want to come and talk to us about how we can make health care accessible and affordable to the American people?

We are here to listen. We are ready to go negotiate with that. If you want to proceed doing whatever it is you want, imposing illegal tariffs, taking away Medicaid and Medicare and veterans health programs, children's insurance, food hungry people, we're out. We're out. You cannot rely on our votes. We will not help you succeed in that harm to American families.

Democratic Whip. Katherine Clarke, thanks for joining us, as always.

Thank you.

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