On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) responded to his past criticism of government shutdowns by saying he “agrees with the Hakeem Jeffries of yesterday, from the standpoint of, listen, we’ve said to Republicans, get to the negotiating table, we want to find a bipartisan path forward.”
Host Kaitlan Collins said, “Before you were the House Minority Leader, there was a government shutdown back in 2013. It was Republicans who would not vote to fund the government at that time. I want to listen to something you had to say then.”
She then played video of Jeffries in 2013 saying, “We’re in the midst of a government shutdown right now that is unnecessarily forcing pain on the American people. It’s a shutdown that was manufactured by the House GOP that has resulted in a situation where Americans all across this country have now been put in jeopardy. That’s a tragedy of epic proportions.”
Collins then said, “I wonder what Hakeem Jeffries of today would say to the Hakeem Jeffries of 2013, who had that message, in terms of wanting to pass a clean CR so Congress could get back to work.”
Jeffries responded, “Well, the Hakeem Jeffries of today definitively agrees with the Hakeem Jeffries of yesterday, from the standpoint of, listen, we’ve said to Republicans, get to the negotiating table, we want to find a bipartisan path forward. We want to reopen the government. We are standing by hardworking federal employees, but we need a partner in that effort. But we don’t have a partner. Literally, Donald Trump, over the last 29 days, has spent more time talking to Hamas and to the Chinese Communist Party than to Democrats on Capitol Hill who represent half the country, and that’s extraordinary in and of itself. And we’ve said we will pass a spending bill that’s bipartisan, that makes life better for the American people. What we will not do is support continued Republican efforts to rip health care away from everyday Americans.”
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