Schumer, Jeffries Rip Johnson After He Brings House To Recess To Avoid Epstein Vote

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Democratic leaders hold a press briefing.

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00:00Okay, good afternoon everybody, and we had a great meeting of our Senate and House Democratic

00:12leadership, and we're in agreement. We all want to pursue a bipartisan, bicameral appropriations

00:23process. That's how it's always been done successfully, and we believe that should happen. However, the

00:31Republicans are making it extremely difficult to do that. One, which Rosa will talk about, by putting

00:38out a budget that is way beyond where everybody is at, but two, by talking about rescissions, pocket

00:46rescissions, impoundment, which would undo anything that we did in the budgets. So we are going to

00:53push hard to try and get this done, but make no mistake about it, the Republicans are making

00:59it much, much harder. One final thing. Speaker Johnson shouldn't be skedaddling out of town.

01:05He should be sitting here and negotiating with us, and instead, because he's so afraid of

01:11what people might say about Jeffries. Sorry.

01:17Jeffrey's as well. Yes. He might say about Jeffries, but what he might say about Jeffrey

01:24Epstein. And so he's not doing his job, and he should get back here and start negotiating,

01:30but they're running away. Hakeem.

01:33Thank you, Leader Schumer. We had a very strong and productive, open-ended, and comprehensive

01:41conversation about the way forward on behalf of the American people. House and Senate Democrats

01:46are in complete and total alignment. As Leader Schumer indicated, in order to arrive at an

01:54appropriations agreement that meets the needs of the American people in terms of their health,

01:59their safety, national security, and economic well-being, it has to be a bipartisan process

02:06that's bicameral in nature. Democrats, Republicans, House and Senate. And as has always been the

02:13case, we're prepared to engage in those discussions in good faith. But House Republicans are not

02:20there. House Republicans are, in fact, marching us toward a possible government shutdown that

02:25will hurt the American people. We remain ready, willing, and able to have the type of appropriations

02:34process that will yield a good result for the American people. But that process must be

02:42bipartisan and bicameral in nature.

02:46Thank you. Senator Murray.

02:48Yeah.

02:49He's doing a great job as our deputy member on the floor.

02:52Yeah.

02:52He has a great partnership with Rosa.

02:54Thank you. We are all united in making sure that we're doing the right thing for the people

02:59we represent. They're worried about their housing, their health care, whether or not

03:04they can put food on the table. And our process here is to make sure that we are doing the right

03:09thing in funding the programs that they count on to be able to support their families. That's the

03:16appropriations process. And the only way we can do it is by being bipartisan, bicameral. Here in the

03:22Senate, we started our process today with a very strong bipartisan vote. And we thank our Republican

03:27colleagues and we'll continue to work with them. It rejects the Trump's budget and vote. And we are

03:34moving forward and we'll continue to do that. We call on the House Republicans to do the same so that

03:39people in this country don't see the chaos that will ensue if the House Republicans continue down

03:44this path.

03:45Senator.

03:46Thank you. Thank you very, very much. And I want to echo what my colleagues have said. And

03:52I have been on the Appropriations Committee for many years. And there's always been the

03:56give and take of the appropriations process of Democrats, Republicans, House, Senate. It's the

04:02only piece of legislation that needs all of that cooperation in order for the president to sign

04:08the bill. And as as my colleague, Patty Murray, has said, it is the appropriations bill that every

04:16year at $1.7 trillion provides the goods, the services that the American people need, whether

04:24it's their health care, whether it's transportation, whether it's defense, the whole 12 subcommittees

04:29affect people's lives in a very, very profound way. That's what our job is. That process has been

04:36on the House side, I will say, thwarted in this regard, that the bills that we are, it's

04:44not a negotiation. It's a bill that comes forward that does not look to being bipartisan in a

04:53way that both Democrats and Republicans can come together. I will sit down. I will negotiate.

04:59I have over the years, anytime, day or night, because what we want to do, because of the effect

05:05of appropriations on the American people is to pass those bills. We believe in the appropriations

05:12process and what it can deliver for the American people. And that's the goal that we need to

05:18have. And that's the goal that my Republican colleagues on the House side need to have is

05:23to let's deal with bills that both Republicans and Democrats can agree on. That's what we're

05:29asking for and not a government that is run by reconciliation, rescissions, and that abrogates

05:41the appropriations process and puts that power of the purse where the Constitution said it

05:48belonged. That is in the Congress. Thank you. We'll take a few questions.

05:53Senator Schumer, what are you going to do if the House sends you another partisan CR at the end of

05:59September like they did in March? You voted for something like that in March. Do you have a different

06:03approach? Look, the bottom line is, as I said, we are for a bipartisan, bicameral bill. That's what

06:10always has been done. The onus is on the Republicans to help us make that happen by having a budget where

06:16they can negotiate with their colleagues, Democratic colleagues in the House, and by not doing

06:22rescissions, pocket rescissions, impoundment. Do you want to answer that, Kei Keen? I agree.

06:28Leader Schumer, what effect will it have Republicans send another rescissions package before the end of

06:35the decision? They shouldn't be doing rescissions, plain and simple. And that just spoils the whole

06:41process that we are trying to put together. So we urge them not to do it. It's unlawful.

06:48Yeah, and these rescissions are unlawful. These rescissions hurt everyday Americans. And this is

06:54consistent with the manner in which Republicans and Donald Trump have governed to date. Their one big,

07:01ugly bill hurt everyday Americans, rips health care away from the American people, steals food from the

07:08mouths of hungry children. And all of this was done to reward billionaires with massive tax breaks.

07:14This is their approach to governing. Rescissions is just a continuation of that. And it's problematic

07:21for a variety of reasons. But the most important reason is that Republicans are actively trying to

07:27continue to hurt the American people. And House Democrats and Senate Democrats will continue to stand

07:32up for the American people.

07:33And one other point. The reason you saw such a large vote, even on the Democratic side,

07:39for the MilCon VA is it undid the doge cuts in a bipartisan way. It helped our veterans,

07:47who they were cruelly just cutting health care and everything else from. And so when they're willing

07:52to work with us, we will work with them. But they got to work with us, not go around us. Yes.

07:58Yes. Well, the bottom line is that we are going to continue to pursue this process. But we're

08:14asking the Republican, not asking, we're demanding of the Republicans not to ruin it. Plain and simple.

08:19Last one. Considering neither of you have endorsed Mamdani, are you considering backing Andrew

08:26Cuomo instead? Or is there another candidate who might actually... I'll just say I had a good talk

08:31with Mamdani last week, and I look forward to meeting with him in New York. Same. Thanks.

08:37Thank you, everybody.

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