Transcript of Leader Jeffries Challenges Trump to Public Meeting on Funding

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Democrats are calling Donald Trump and JD Vance and Maggie Mike's bluff. They're saying, We are ready to meet. We've always been ready to meet. It's been you, Donald Trump, who told the Republicans, Do not talk to any Democrats let alone negotiate with Democrats for several months. It was you, Donald Trump, your position officially from the White House to Democrats who tried to address these issues regarding the shutdown weeks ago was, Go F yourself. The official White House statement actually involved a curse. So I found it curious yesterday when J. D. Vance held that press conference and lied about basically everything. He was like, I'll be ready to meet with Democrats whenever. Just send me an invite and we'll be ready to go. Watch what J. D. Vance said yesterday. Here, play this clip.

To your first question, are we negotiating one-on-one? Are we negotiating in groups? Look, I will go to the US Capitol right now and meet with Chuck Schumer or any Senate Democrat if it helps us reopen the government. Most Most of the conversations, my experience, at least, have been one-off. We're also, of course, relying on some of our Senate Republican colleagues who have good relationships across the aisle. We're going to do whatever we have to do is the answer. I think it's tough to predict what shape this negotiation is going to take over the next few months.

Last thing he says is, Over the next few months, is what he said regarding the government shutdown. Let's be very clear, they're not speaking. The Republicans have been ordered, basically, do not speak and do not even show up to work, essentially. Remember back in 2013, when Donald Trump would make posts like this, Leadership. Whatever happens, you're responsible. If it doesn't happen, you're responsible. Or this, October 2013, Obama has not passed a single budget in four years. Democrats don't even vote them in Congress. He has failed to lead. Or remember this video back in 2011, where Donald Trump says, If there's a shutdown, no matter what, it's the fault of the President because the President is supposed to lead and meet and be transparent. And bring people together. Here, let's play this clip.

If there is a shutdown, I think it would be a tremendously negative mark on the President of the United States. He's the one that has to get people together.

I want to bring in Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffrey. Leader Jeffrey, it's great to see you. I want to just ask you directly. Tomorrow would be Friday, October third. Today, we're recording this October second of 2025. Are you willing to meet with Vice President J. D. Vance, Donald Trump, and Senate Majority Leader Thun in public before the press at the Capitol Building tomorrow? Are you willing to tell him that right now in front of the world that you are ready? I know you're ready to do that before. You're ready to do it again in front of the press this time.

Absolutely. Anytime, any place. We want to make sure that it's fully transparent. We should absolutely do it in public so we can air out our positions. They're hiding because they know their positions are indefensible. This is a Trump-Republican shutdown, and it's part of what we've seen from them in terms of unleashing extremism from the very beginning of this presidency. This may be day two of the Trump shutdown. It's, I think, day 256 of the chaos that Donald Trump has unleashed on the American people.

In response to that clip of JD Vance that I just played, so there's no ambiguity out there, Democratic leader Jeffrey is saying to Donald Trump, to Senator Thune, to JD Vance, show up at the Capitol building today or tomorrow. We're going to do this in front of the press, and let's address these issues in front of the American people like the American people want to hear. I guess we'll have to wait for their response, leader Jeffrey's, but that's your position right now, correct?

That's my position. And we'll even let Mike Johnson into the meeting as well.

Maga Mike Johnson, you're invited to the meeting as well. All right, let's jump into the latest Washington Post poll right now, which shows that by about a 17 point margin, Americans are blaming Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans for this shutdown. Seventy-one % of people who were polled here say that they want their ACA subsidies continued, that this is a big issue for them. I'm not sure the other 29 % truly know the stakes here because they probably either We have Medicare, Medicaid, or an Affordable Care Act plan, and maybe they're in that pool of disinformation out there. But 71% of people saying, We need these ACA subsidies because otherwise, we're going to go medically bankrupt. What's your response to that latest data?

We're standing on the side of the American people as Democrats, fighting to protect their health care and address the Republican health care crisis that has been devastating to people all across the country in terms of in working class America, rural America, urban America, small town America, the heartland of America, and Black and Brown communities all throughout America. Republicans want to continue to wreck havoc on the American people. That's why they've shut the government down because they are unwilling to provide health care to working class Americans. Our position has been clear as Democrats. We will find the common ground necessary in in order to reopen the government and enter into a spending agreement, but it actually has to meet the needs of the American people. That means addressing the Republican health care crisis in a variety of ways, including making sure we extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits so that tens of millions of hardworking American taxpayers don't experience dramatically increased premiums, copays, and deductibles, which is about to be the case because of the Republican unwillingness to address the Affordable Care Act issue.

I've seen a lot of data being published about how this is going to impact families. I saw one study, a family making $85,000 a year. Their premiums would go up to about $24,000 a year if it got tripled from its $8,000 a year portion. How is a family making $85,000 supposed to afford $24,000 premium? I saw Senator Warnock post the following as well. I was sent this by a Georgian this morning, 2025 premiums versus 2026 premiums for someone making $65,000 a year. It previously was $307 a month, and now it will be $964 a month. You add this with the Donald Trump tariff. It's a recipe for disaster leader, Jeffrey, isn't it?

That's absolutely It's one of the reasons why we are waging this fight on behalf of everyday Americans. Donald Trump and Republicans promise that they will lower costs on day one. Costs haven't gone down in the United States of America. Costs have gone up. Inflation is going up. The Trump terrors are making things worse, imposing costs of thousands of dollars per year on the average American family. Now, on top of that, because of their refusal to continue the Affordable Care Act tax credits, As Senator Warnock pointed out, you've got more than 20 million families that are likely to experience dramatically increased health care costs, which is going to lead to either one of two things, medical bankruptcy or people are going to have to walk away from their health insurance coverage. And many of those people who walk away from their health insurance coverage, if they confront a catastrophic illness, will die. And that cannot happen in the United States of America, which is the wealthiest country in the history of the world. Unfortunately, what we saw with Republicans in this assault on health care, they've already enacted the largest cut to Medicaid in American history.

Hospital hospitals and nursing homes and community-based health clinics all throughout the country are closing. They've triggered the possibility of a $536 billion cut to Medicare. They're going after your mother and grandmother, your grandfather, or father. This is unbelievable stuff. Then to add insult to injury, which is already severe, they could care less that millions of Americans are about to experience increased premiums, copays, and deductibles because they prefer to give massive tax breaks to their billionaire donors, which is what they did in the one big ugly bill, as opposed to continuing tax breaks for everyday Americans.

Leader Jeffrey, this is why I think Donald Trump and JD Vance and Maggie Mike and Thune were too scared to allow cameras into your meeting with them earlier this week. Donald Trump wanted to post those photos with the weird Trump 2028 hat where he's like, pointing at you. That's the behavior that he wanted to do there. It's also why I think that they are going to be too scared to respond to what you said in this interview, exclusively here, saying that you're ready to meet with them right now, but it's got to be done in front of the press today or tomorrow on Capitol Hill, because they've got their talking points about transgender surgeries in Peru, and blaming undocumented migrants. And it's very easy, I think, at a meeting in front of the press and public to say, This is not about that. You are lying. I'm telling the American people, You are lying. Do you hear me? They are liars. This is about you. I think they want to avoid that and that they actually enjoy the shutdown because Donald Trump could then go and talk about, The Project 2025 famous Russ vote. He's going after all the Democratic cities.

I think they're scared.

If they're lying, they're losing. And they know that they're losing because they're on the wrong side of this issue as it relates to the American people. The American people know who shut down the government is Donald Trump and the extreme mega Republicans. And the American people know that Democrats are fighting to protect their health care, to cancel the cuts, to lower the costs, and to save health care. That's not a fight that the Republicans want to have publicly. You know what's interesting in that oval office meeting? The meeting lasted for over an hour. The amount of time that we spent, literally, in talking about the issue of health insurance for undocumented immigrants was less than 10 You know why? Because they know it's a lie. They didn't even bother to bring it up because the cameras weren't rolling. But they'll go out to their press conferences without us, where we're not able to fact-check them in real-time, and they'll continue to try to spout that lie. But the American people aren't buying it. They know this fight is about Medicaid. It's about their hospitals and nursing homes and community-based health clinics. It's certainly about the Affordable Care Act.

Well, to JD Vans, to Senator to Thune, to Maggie Mike Johnson, and even to Donald Trump. You heard what Leader Jeffrey said right here on the Midas Touch podcast. You heard what he said, show up. They're ready to speak. They've always been ready to speak. You've been the ones ignoring them. In front of the press in front of the public and do this transparently. So the ball's in their court. We'll see if they respond, see if they show up. They should show up today. They should show up tomorrow. We will see anything before we go that you want the American people to know Leader Jefferson.

Senate Democrats are united. We're going to hold firm. We know that this is an important fight, and we're in this fight until we win this fight on behalf of the health care of the American people. Thank you, Ben, as always, for having me on, and look forward to staying in close touch.

Absolutely. I think the American people are going to be very comforted to hear that this is a fight. This is the fight they wanted to see, a fight for their lives, quite literally a fight for their lives if their health care is taken away. Thanks, Leader Jeffrey. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Thanks for watching. Be sure to add the Midas Touch podcast on Apple podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast for new updates every single day.