Jeffries: With narrow margin, House GOP can’t ‘pass anything close’ to bill Johnson floating
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) argued House Republicans, with their narrow margin, won’t be able to pass “anything close” to what Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has been floating.
Jeffries joined MSNBC on Tuesday evening, where he was asked by host Chris Hayes about Johnson’s reconciliation package and the signs he may remove the debt limit from the sprawling legislation.
“We believe that we’re going to have to take this fight to the public domain, make sure we can win the battle for public sentiment,” Jeffries said of Democrats’ plans.
Jeffries noted that “the votes will not be there” from Democrats on ideas floated by top Republicans, including those that enforce nearly all of President-elect Trump’s campaign promises.
Johnson told reporters last week that it was his “intention” to deal with the debt limit in the reconciliation package. However, he backtracked the statement on Tuesday to say he is “not wed” to including the debt limit increase in the package.
It’s a sign the House’s top Republican may be considering taking the issue out of the sprawling legislation deal.
Still, Republicans will have to work with Democrats to raise the debt limit if they want to remove it from the reconciliation package. That is something Jeffries knows and expressed on air Tuesday.
“The reality is, if we’re successful in that endeavor, then I don’t believe, with their narrow Republican margin, they can pass anything close to what is being discussed by the Speaker or by House Republicans,” Jeffries said.
The House’s top Democrat said his party was willing to find “bipartisan common ground” with Republicans and Trump’s new administration. However, he slammed the opposing lawmakers as “not serious” about top issues they campaigned on, including grocery prices and childcare costs.
“What they want to do, Chris, is to pass massive tax breaks for billionaires and wealthy corporations, and then they want working families and middle-class folks and the poor, the sick and the afflicted to pay for it,” Jeffries said.