Transcript of Leader Hakeem Jeffries Responds to Trump Cancelling Meeting on Shutdown

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Donald Trump just canceled a critical meeting that was supposed to take place on Thursday in the White House with Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffrey, and Democratic Senate leader, Chuck Schumer. This was to discuss the impending government shutdown, which will take place on October first. You will recall that Donald Trump had ordered the MAGA Republicans in both the House and the Senate to not even talk to Democrats regarding the funding bill, yet alone negotiate. Donald Trump said, We didn't need 60 votes. Have zero conversations with Democrats. We just want to deal with Republicans. Well, then the Republicans did not get the votes that were needed in order to pass this funding bill. So what would happen in normal political times is that there would be discussions and negotiations. Interestingly, Donald Trump actually agreed to have a meeting with Democratic leader Jeffrey's and Senate leader Chuck Schumer at the White House. It was supposed to take place Thursday. Maggie Mike Johnson said that he would be there. And it was like, wow, they're going to be responsible adults in the White House that are actually going to talk because let's also not forget what's taking place here. Those Affordable Care Act tax credits are set to expire soon, meaning your premiums are about to go up substantially, which is going to bankrupt a lot of Americans and rip away their health care in addition to what Donald Trump's doing to take away people's Medicaid and harming people's Medicare.

And Democrats are like, Can we please protect health care if you want to fund the government? So it was like, okay, Is there going to be responsible discussions taking place? Interesting. Then Donald Trump this morning posted this long screed. It's like, What's that mean? You really want me to read this, bro? But when you take a look at this, Donald Trump is like, after reviewing the details of the unserious and ridiculous demands being made by the minority radical left Democrats in return for their votes to keep our thriving country open. I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional leaders could to possibly be productive. They are threatening to shut down the government of the United States unless they can have over $1 trillion in new spending to continue the free health care for illegal aliens. It's just lie after lie after lie after lie. Democrats want to preserve and protect the ACA tax credits for Americans. For you watching this as Democrats fought as they could, but the Trump and the Republicans pushed those cuts on the disastrous budget bill, which has taken away people's Medicaid. We're already seeing rural hospitals cut. Just to remind you, this was what Donald Trump said a few days back where he told Republicans, do not negotiate with Democrats.

Let's watch it.

How does President Trump deal with the government? We have to get Republican votes. If we do, we have the majority, so we have to get- But you have to get 60, don't you? No, we're going to do a probably continuing resolution, or we're going to do something. We're going to do something that... Here's the problem. The Democrats, they're sick. There's something wrong with them. Schumer is at the end of the rope. He's going to be defeated in the next election. If you gave them every dream right now, every dream that they want to give away money to this and that and that destroy the country, if you gave them every dream, they would not vote for it. That's how it... I told, Don't even bother dealing with them. We will get it through because the Republicans are sticking together for the first time in a long time. Look, we got the big... I got the He did a great big...

You heard him say it yourself, Don't bother dealing with them. And then, Maggie Mike Johnson has shut down voting on September 29th and September 30th, the two critical days before the shutdown. He's canceled the vote. So the Republicans have canceled the meeting. Trumps canceled the meeting. Republicans have canceled the vote. I want to bring in Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffreys, to make sense of everything that's just taking place. Leader Jeffreys, what just happened today? Can you tell us what went down?

There was a continuing effort by Donald Trump and the Republicans to shut down the federal government because they want to continue their effort to gut the health care of the American people. We've been very clear that we will sit down and have a bipartisan bill to try to arrive at a spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people, which means their health care in the face of the unrelenting attack on the health care of every Bayes Americans. Largest cut to Medicaid in American history, hospitals and nursing homes and community-based health clinics, including in rural America, are shutting down because of what they did in the one big, ugly budget bill. The Affordable Care Act is under assault by these Republicans because they are unwilling to renew the tax credits that make health care affordable for 20 million Americans. At the same time, we know that they are attacking medical research, attacking cancer research, attacking our public health infrastructure, and they are potentially going to trigger a $536 billion dollar cut to Medicare because of what they did in the one big ugly bill if Congress doesn't act soon. Republicans clearly have no interest in protecting the health care of the American people, and our position is simple.

Cancel the cuts, Lower the cost, save health care.

Well, if you look at all the actions by the Republicans here, it seems like they want the shutdown. At the very least, you would expect that Maga Mike Johnson would keep Congress open and have votes happen the 29th and the 30th, but he at least announced that, Don't show up to the Republicans. That's an odd announcement. Then at least Maga Mike, I'm not trying to give the guy credit for anything, but at least He said he was going to show up at this meeting in the White House when he thought Donald Trump wanted him to do that. And then Donald Trump today says, No, we're not doing the meeting. And then he puts this like, I don't know, leader, what are you How do you even negotiate with? I'm putting it up to the screen. How do you negotiate with someone who literally looks like a freaking crazy person? It doesn't look like someone who is there, there, is is the counterpart.

How do you negotiate with crazy is the fundamental question. But we were prepared to go into that White House meeting anytime, any place, because of the importance of defending the health care of the American people. However, here's what is clear, as you've indicated, Ben, example after example after example, telling the American people that we are going to shut the government down unless everyone is willing to continue this process of gutting the health care of the American people is unacceptable. The government is scheduled to shut down on October first. The House was scheduled to vote and be present in Washington, DC on Monday, September 29th, and Tuesday, September 30th, in advance of the government possibly shutting down. Mike Johnson has said, Stay at home. That's ridiculous. Democrats are coming back to Washington, we will be there ready, willing, and able to do the people's business next week, regardless of whether Republicans are in town or not. As you pointed out for the last several weeks, Donald Trump was very clear, Don't even bother talking to Democrats. We're going to do this on our own, bro. You don't even know the rules of the United States Senate.

You can't do it on your own. It requires 60 votes, which means you have to talk to Democrats in the House and in the Senate. Now, of course, they cancel the meeting that Donald Trump just agreed to have in response to the letter that leader Schumer and I sent on Saturday, demanding a meeting so we could discuss the health care of the American people and the Republican health care crisis, as well as the need to fund the federal government so we avoid a shutdown that will hurt millions of Americans. They're totally out of control at this point, and they're spiraling in public, which will continue to hurt them among the American people.

I posited in a video that I made yesterday that since has gotten mega viral and over a million views that I think that Donald Trump sees the economic calamity that he's causing, and he does what he's done in the past when he's bankrupted casinos and businesses. He wants to find somebody to blame. He wants a version of when he completely botched the handling of COVID and Dr. Fauci was escape. He's looking, he's like, he sees what's happening, right? They cancel the annual inflation data. They're canceling reports on hunger in America. I think he's hearing from farmers across the country who are on the verge of bankruptcy. Everything is costing people a lot more money. And so I think he's like, I am the best blamer and winer and playing the victim, so I'm going to blame Democrats, and this is a convenient way. I'm just going to say they did it. Also, I posited the same way Republicans canceled lots of days of work over the summer because they wanted to hide the Epstein files, you and the Democrats and the Oversight Committee are getting closer and closer, I think, to getting those files. I mean, the birthday book gave more information than I think anyone expected with people holding checks about Trump buying depreciated women and all this even more disgusting stuff.

I just think this is Donald Trump being king. He doesn't like the pressure that's being put on him, whether it's the Epstein files or just Americans being pissed. I just think he wants it gone. I think he wants just no Congress and no Senate in playing the king. You think I'm far off base there? What do you think?

Certainly what we've seen from the Republicans, as you've pointed out, is that they've abdicated their responsibility to function as a separate and co-equal branch of government. Maybe Donald Trump is confused and thinks Democrats are going to behave like our Republican colleagues. Republicans have been nothing more than a reckless rubber stamp for Donald Trump's extreme agenda. The whole thing is embarrassing. Republicans on the Hill are a wholly owned subsidiary of Donald Trump, but that ain't us as Democrats. And so he's got a real challenge here in terms of navigating his way through the dual issues that we are presenting. One, we got to do something about the Republican American health care crisis and the fact that health care costs are about to skyrocket for millions of Americans at a moment when the high cost of living is already too high in the United States of America. America is already too expensive, and Donald Trump promised to lower the high cost of living on day one. But costs aren't going down. They're going up. Inflation is going up. Electric bills are going up. Housing costs are going up. Grocery prices are going up. Of course, health care premiums are going up for millions of Americans.

Donald Trump doesn't want to confront any of that. He's trying to bury all of it and thinks that he can just wish it away. But Democrats are taking the fight to him, and he was afraid of us taking the fight directly to him in front of the American people in the oval office, which is why he's canceled the meeting. But our message to him is clear. You can run, but we will not let you hide from the fact that you are trying to shut the government down and continuing to gut the health care of the American people.

Leader Jeffrey, before we go, I know this is a question that our viewers are going to want to know a lot. Is there a united front with the House and the Senate here? Are Democrats in a united way going to hold their ground? Donald Trump's canceled it. I think a lot of our viewers are worried what they saw happen last time on the other side of things, not in the House, but it felt like everybody was fighting. Then it was like there was this funding of the mast ice agents and all this horrible authoritarian stuff. People felt like, what happened? Trump seems that he's gung-ho for the shutdown. You know what they're going to do. They're going to blame Democrats. They're going to get Fox, and they're going to start pushing it on their... With their billions of dollars to get that message out. I just think our audience wants to know, are Democrats going to hold the line here in the House and the Senate? What do you say to them when they ask you that question?

Absolutely. It remains our intention. And what we've seen throughout the duration of the last several months, House and Senate Democrats were completely and totally united in standing up and pushing back aggressively against the one big, ugly budget bill, which is why it's so deeply unpopular. They ripped away health care from the American people, stole food from the mouths of hungry children, and all of that was done so they could provide their billionaire donors with massive tax breaks. And we stayed on that message, that narrative, because it's the right fight for the American people. And that's one of the reasons why his signature legislative accomplishment is deeply unpopular. And this is a continuation of that fight. And last Friday, Democrats in the House and in the Senate strongly opposed the reckless and partisan Republican spending bill, which is why it went down to defeat. We are committed to holding the line and protecting the health care of the American people in the face of this unrelenting attack by Donald Trump and sycophantic Republicans in the House and the Senate who continue to try to do his bidding while hurting the American people.

Leader Jeffrey, thanks for joining us here. We appreciate you as always.

Thank you, man.

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