On Tuesday’s broadcast of “CNN NewsNight,” House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) argued that Democrats aren’t abandoning their position from prior shutdowns of arguing to just fund the government because “we’re saying, let’s fund the government, let’s sit down and have a conversation. Republicans have adopted a my way or the highway approach” and Republicans are “suggesting now that continuing that funding level is something that we should just accept and allow it to be jammed down the throats of the American people, when we voted against it in March because it hurt the American people.”
Jeffries began by saying, “Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the presidency. And we’ve indicated that we will sit down with anyone, anytime, any place to try to find a path forward in terms of reaching a bipartisan spending agreement that avoids a government shutdown, meets the needs of the American people, and deals with the painful Republican healthcare crisis that is devastating people all across America. Republicans have basically demonstrated zero interest in trying to work out any differences from a policy perspective that we may have, because, at the end of the day, they want to shut the government down, as they’ve done, repeatedly, over the last several decades.”
Later, after Jeffries mentioned prior shutdowns, host Abby Phillip said, “The difference, though, Leader Jeffries, between those incidents and this one, is that Democrats, in those times, were the ones saying, let’s just fund the government, let’s not negotiate in this moment. Now the shoe is on the other foot. You acknowledge that, right?”
Jeffries responded, “No, actually, we’re saying, let’s fund the government, let’s sit down and have a conversation. Republicans have adopted a my way or the highway approach. They basically have said, take it or leave it, with respect to our partisan Republican spending bill that continues cuts that were first put into place in March of this year, that hurt veterans, hurt children and families, hurt child care, hurt housing affordability, and hurt the health care of the American people. And they’re suggesting now that continuing that funding level is something that we should just accept and allow it to be jammed down the throats of the American people, when we voted against it in March because it hurt the American people.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
The post Jeffries: We’re Not Hypocritical Because We’re Saying ‘Let’s Fund the Government’ and GOP Wants Status Quo appeared first on Breitbart.
