House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries unleashes a fiery takedown of Donald Trump and the Republican Party in a powerful new address. Jeffries blasts the GOP’s agenda as a “sham,” accusing Republicans of pushing chaos over solutions and putting partisan loyalty above the American people. In this full, uncut video, Jeffries escalates his attacks as he dismantles GOP policy proposals, rebuts Trump-aligned narratives, and warns of the dangerous political path ahead. Watch the explosive moments, sharp exchanges, and the message now shaking up Washington.
#HakeemJeffries #JeffriesVsTrump #TrumpAttack #GOPSham #RepublicanAgenda #USPolitics2025 #DemocratsVsRepublicans #JeffriesSpeech #TrumpNews #GOPNews #CongressLIVE #PoliticalShowdown #JeffriesSlamsGOP #TrumpvsDemocrats #WashingtonDC #CapitolHill #PoliticalClash #BreakingPolitics #USNewsUpdate #FullVideo
Also Read
Biden Meets with New House Speaker Johnson and Democratic Leader Jeffries :: https://www.oneindia.com/international/biden-meets-with-new-house-speaker-johnson-and-democratic-leader-jeffries-gen-3668815.html?ref=DMDesc
#HakeemJeffries #JeffriesVsTrump #TrumpAttack #GOPSham #RepublicanAgenda #USPolitics2025 #DemocratsVsRepublicans #JeffriesSpeech #TrumpNews #GOPNews #CongressLIVE #PoliticalShowdown #JeffriesSlamsGOP #TrumpvsDemocrats #WashingtonDC #CapitolHill #PoliticalClash #BreakingPolitics #USNewsUpdate #FullVideo
Also Read
Biden Meets with New House Speaker Johnson and Democratic Leader Jeffries :: https://www.oneindia.com/international/biden-meets-with-new-house-speaker-johnson-and-democratic-leader-jeffries-gen-3668815.html?ref=DMDesc
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Coming up, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries holds a news conference on the party's legislative agenda.
00:06From Capitol Hill, this is 25 Minutes.
00:15Good afternoon, everyone.
00:19House Republicans went on an eight-week taxpayer-funded vacation
00:24while shutting the government down and hurting the American people.
00:30During that taxpayer-funded vacation, House Republicans didn't do a single thing
00:36to make life better for the American people.
00:40We've been back now in session legislatively for two weeks,
00:44and yet they still have not produced a bill to drive down the high cost of living
00:52to address the Republican health care crisis or to make life better for everyday Americans.
00:57It's clear to us that House Republicans have no intention
01:01to do anything other than continue to drive down right-wing extremism
01:09through the throats of the American people.
01:14House Republicans promised, along with Donald Trump,
01:17that they were going to lower costs on day one.
01:19Costs aren't going down in the United States of America.
01:22Costs are going up.
01:25Housing costs, through the roof.
01:27Electricity bills, through the roof.
01:30Grocery costs, through the roof.
01:33And now, as a result of the Republican refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits,
01:41tens of millions of people are on the verge of experiencing
01:45dramatically increased health care costs that will either push them into medical bankruptcy
01:52or prevent them from being able to go see a doctor when they need one.
01:59And yet, we still see nothing from the Republican Party
02:04as it relates to addressing the health care crisis that they've created
02:09because they're too busy fighting each other
02:13and spending time trying to find different ways
02:18to reward their billionaire donors.
02:21The American people deserve better.
02:23You deserve better.
02:25And House Democrats are going to continue to fight
02:27to lower the high cost of living,
02:29to fix our broken health care system,
02:31and to clean up corruption
02:32so we can deliver a country
02:34that actually works for working-class Americans.
02:37Questions?
02:38Good afternoon. Thank you.
02:41They had to pull this NIL bill on the House floor this week.
02:45Two things.
02:46Can you speak to what that means on an issue like that
02:49that is seemingly bipartisan?
02:51And number two,
02:52does it seem like that the issue of addressing college sports
02:55and money in college sports is a bipartisan issue,
02:58but this is now gearing off into partisan territory,
03:01and that's why Congress can't legislate on this?
03:04It's not that Congress can't legislate.
03:06It's that House Republicans can't legislate.
03:08It's the gang that can't legislate straight.
03:11These are individuals who continue to take a my-way-or-the-highway approach.
03:16First of all, what exactly was the rationale
03:19to bring a bill related to college sports to the floor this week
03:25at the same time that Republicans refuse
03:28to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits?
03:30Shouldn't we put the health care of the American people first,
03:35particularly when the votes clearly don't even exist,
03:38to bring the so-called SCORE Act to the floor?
03:42The question that a lot of people are asking this week
03:47related to the SCORE Act legislation
03:50is who exactly directed Mike Johnson and Steve Scalise
03:57to bring this bill to the floor this week?
04:01Was it the big donors connected to LSU?
04:04That legislation would not have benefited college athletes.
04:12It would hurt college athletes.
04:15Take away the antitrust exemption.
04:20It would preempt the ability of states to actually pass legislation
04:28that promotes the health, the safety, and the well-being
04:31of their own college students.
04:34It would take away legal rights to seek redress.
04:41The organized labor unions across the country were strongly opposed
04:50because it undermined the ability of college athletes.
04:55It undermined their freedom to negotiate.
04:57It took away collective bargaining rights.
05:02And, of course, the players' associations across every sports league
05:07led by the NFL Players' Association were opposed to it
05:11because they concluded when evaluating the bill on the merits
05:16that it would actually hurt college athletes, not help them.
05:23Why would Mike Johnson and Steve Scalise think it was a good idea
05:26to bring the Lane Kiffin Protection Act
05:29to the floor of the House of Representatives?
05:33Legislation that would do nothing to benefit college athletes
05:39and everything to benefit coaches like Lane Kiffin,
05:42who got out of town, abandoned his players in the middle of a playoff run
05:49to go get a $100 million contract from LSU,
05:54the home state of Mike Johnson and Steve Scalise.
05:57People are asking the question, why did you decide to bring this bill this week
06:03with all the other issues that the country is demanding that we focus on
06:09led by the affordability crisis that they claim is a scam and a hoax
06:14but that the American people know is very real?
06:17This morning, a bipartisan group of members led by Gottheimer and Kiggins
06:23announced a framework which, if the Democrats decided to back it,
06:26would have enough Republican votes in the House.
06:29Are you encouraging Senator Schumer to look at other options
06:32as opposed to the three-year clean extension that he currently announced,
06:36which is not expected to get 60 votes?
06:38The path forward that has the greatest number of votes in both the House
06:43and the Senate is a three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits.
06:47Time has run out.
06:49Republicans have been promising all year
06:51that they were going to get to addressing the health care crisis
06:56that they themselves have created.
06:59But clearly, they've had no intention to do anything
07:02about keeping health care affordable,
07:05beginning with extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits.
07:09This is December.
07:10The tax credits expire at the end of this month.
07:14What has taken so long?
07:16We started to raise this issue with great urgency in the spring
07:21while Republicans were trying to jam the one big ugly bill
07:25down the throat to the American people.
07:27They somehow found the time to enact the largest cut to Medicaid
07:31in American history, cut $186 billion from SNAP,
07:36the largest cut to nutritional assistance in American history,
07:39and then with great urgency,
07:42these Republican extremists enacted massive tax breaks
07:46for their billionaire donors
07:48and skyrocketed the debt by more than $3 trillion.
07:53And they made those massive tax breaks permanent.
07:57And now there's no viable path forward
08:01that Republicans in the House or the Senate have put forth
08:04to address the fact that the Affordable Care Act tax credits are expiring.
08:08I mean, the time has long passed to do anything other than move forward
08:15with the legislation that will be triggered by the discharge petition
08:20that House Democrats have filed that has every single House Democrat on it, 214,
08:25which means all we need are four House Republicans.
08:31Out of 219, we only need four to join us.
08:37And we can get this legislation onto the floor and out of the House.
08:43And I'm thankful for the leadership that Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats are showing
08:49and triggering an up-or-down vote on a three-year extension in the Senate.
08:54And the American people will see which party supports the health care
09:01of hardworking American taxpayers.
09:03That would be Democrats.
09:05And which party is continuing to break our health care system.
09:11That would be the GOP.
09:12Thank you, Mr. Leader.
09:15Earlier this year, you said that your relationship with Speaker Johnson
09:18was, I believe, productive and forward-looking.
09:21A lot has happened since then with the shutdown and everything.
09:23I'm just curious if your relationship has evolved at all throughout the year
09:26and how you characterize it now.
09:28It's evolved and not necessarily in a constructive direction.
09:32Thanks.
09:33Thank you, Mr. Leader.
09:35I'm just curious, why three years on the AZA tax credits?
09:38It does not seem kind of unrealistic, if we're being honest.
09:41And wouldn't the bipartisan efforts that she mentioned in the House,
09:45like the Common Ground Framework, be a little bit more realistic path forward
09:48in regards to addressing the health care issue?
09:50It's my understanding that the Common Ground Framework has the support perhaps
09:54of a handful of members of the House of Representatives, less than 10,
09:59as far as I can tell.
10:00Now, we're open to having good-faith discussions with any House Republican
10:05who's serious about extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits.
10:08But the House Republican leadership is not.
10:11They've repeatedly said they have no interest in addressing the Affordable Care Act tax credit issue.
10:17In fact, Donald Trump and his administration were apparently prepared to put forth a proposal
10:22that Mike Johnson and House Republican leaders detonated because they have no interest
10:27in keeping health care affordable.
10:30The legislation that has the greatest amount of support in the Congress right now,
10:36both House and Senate, is a clean three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits.
10:43We believe that the American people deserve a similar level of certainty
10:46that Republicans provided to their billionaire donors
10:49when they made those massive tax breaks permanent in the one big ugly bill.
10:54Well, the tone that has consistently been adopted by Donald Trump toward members of the free and fair press,
11:22generally, and specifically, most recently, directed at female reporters, is disgusting.
11:30It's unbecoming of a president.
11:32It's unconscionable, unacceptable, and un-American.
11:35And this is part of the reason why Donald Trump's approval rating is at 36%.
11:40The American people know that Donald Trump and Republican control of the House and the Senate
11:48has been a disaster for them.
11:52And instead of actually focusing on the issues that matter,
11:55like driving down the high cost of living or fixing our broken health care system,
12:00continue to engage in personal attacks against folks,
12:03ad hominem assaults on the character of individuals who are just doing their jobs.
12:11Now, in our democracy, it's clear.
12:14We have a legislative branch, the House and the Senate, separate and co-equal.
12:19We're supposed to provide a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch.
12:23James Madison, in fact, one of the original framers of the Constitution,
12:29said that at its best, Congress should be a rival to the executive branch.
12:35But that's not what Republicans have done.
12:38These people are not rivals.
12:40They are a reckless rubber stamp for Donald Trump's extreme agenda.
12:44We've got the Article II executive branch.
12:46We've got the Article III judiciary.
12:49But, of course, connected to the fabric of our democracy is the free and fair press.
12:55And Donald Trump, of course, is behaving more like a wannabe king
13:03who's uninterested in the scrutiny that comes from being part of American democracy.
13:11Part of that scrutiny is the Congress.
13:14Part of that scrutiny is the judiciary.
13:16And part of that scrutiny, of course, should always be the free and fair press.
13:20Thank you, Senator.
13:22Going back to the Speaker Johnson, the reconciliation law.
13:26You know, he said the smokey toll reporter this morning
13:28that Americans will start feeling the relief from that bill next year.
13:35And some of the affordability concerns that they have now will start to subside.
13:39I know you've been critical of the Medicaid cuts, the SNAP cuts.
13:42But I'm curious how you and House Democrats will speak about some of those working-class provisions
13:48that they point to, whether it's on tips, overtime, Social Security, auto loan, interest.
13:55How are you all thinking about speaking to the American people about those particular provisions
14:01that it seems will be core to the Republicans' message next year about affordability?
14:08Yeah, House Republicans have no issue as it relates to affordability.
14:11They believe that the affordability crisis in the country is a hoax and a scam.
14:16That's what their leader has said, Donald Trump, who says he's both the president and the speaker.
14:22At the same time, Donald Trump's words, not mine.
14:26They don't plan to address the high cost of living in this country
14:30because they don't even believe that it exists.
14:32Now, the interesting thing is that I agree that the American people will continue to feel the impact
14:40of the one big ugly bill that Republicans jammed down their throats.
14:45But it's going to be an adverse impact
14:47because hospitals and nursing homes and community-based health centers are going to continue to close
14:54as a result of Republicans enacting the largest cut to Medicaid in American history.
14:59Electricity bills are skyrocketing because of the Republican attack on the clean energy economy.
15:08Clean energy is cheaper energy.
15:10But they gutted those provisions of the tax code.
15:15Republicans did so they could reward big oil and their donors.
15:19But as a result, the American people are seeing their electricity bills skyrocket.
15:24And then, of course, if you rip $186 billion from SNAP, which Republicans did in their one big ugly bill,
15:33they're going to cause everyday Americans to go hungry.
15:36We're talking about 42 million people, 16 million children who are going to be hurt
15:44by what Republicans did in their one big ugly bill, 8 million older Americans,
15:49and over a million veterans who rely on SNAP.
15:54And so the adverse impact, the harm that Republicans have done to the American people,
16:01actually, we're just scratching the surface in terms of the hurt that everyday Americans will experience.
16:11And then we have the ongoing Trump tariffs, which, of course, in real time are increasing costs
16:17on the American people by thousands of dollars per year.
16:20And the American people know it in terms of what they're paying now for groceries and for goods.
16:27The American people are concerned about the fact that housing is totally out of control,
16:33health care is totally out of control, child care is totally out of control,
16:36and Republicans have no plan to deal with any of it.
16:44Donald Trump is fighting with Marjorie Taylor Greene.
16:48Marjorie Taylor Greene is fighting with the House Republican Conference.
16:52Corey Mills is fighting with Nancy Mace.
16:55Nancy Mace is fighting with Mike Johnson.
16:57Mike Johnson is fighting with Elise Stefanik.
16:59Elise Stefanik is fighting with Lisa McClain.
17:02The whole thing is a mess.
17:05The 119th Congress has turned into a bad episode of Republicans Gone Wild.
17:11And here's the problem.
17:14Republicans are so busy fighting each other,
17:17they can't be bothered to fight for the American people.
17:21Big difference between us and them.
17:25House Democrats are going to continue to fight for you to drive down the high cost of living
17:29and to fix our broken health care system.
17:34Yep.
17:35You got it.
17:36Okay.
17:37Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso got his name for Rep. Velasquez's spot for next Congress.
17:45He's a Brooklyn guy, you're a Brooklyn guy, you talked to him yet,
17:48and at what point do you start really focusing on 2026?
17:53Yeah, I have not had a conversation with Borough President Reynoso.
17:57I did note with great interest that he decided to jump in the race.
18:01He's a well-respected public servant.
18:04I have no plans to get involved in the 7th Congressional District race at this time
18:08or perhaps at any time.
18:13Two-pronger here.
18:14One, are we steering on the possibility that, quite frankly, nothing is going to be on health care?
18:21I mean, is that kind of your operating assumption?
18:23And if so, are you basically, is this whole scenario proving you true from shutdown?
18:30And two, if there was a vote of no confidence in Johnson,
18:33which is certainly much more of a live wire than it was a couple weeks ago,
18:36what would you tell your members to do?
18:37Well, we'd have to have that discussion in terms of what House Democrats might do
18:44to the extent there is such a vote.
18:47But clearly, nothing that the Speaker of the House has done over the last several months
18:53has endeared himself to Democrats in the Congress.
18:59The Congresswoman Luna's filed a discharge petition earlier this week
19:02that would force a vote on the stock trading ban bill
19:05that a congressman magazine or a congressman I've been working on.
19:09Do you anticipate supporting that?
19:10And would you anticipate Democrats probably supporting that?
19:14Well, we haven't had a caucus-wide conversation about the best path forward,
19:19but there's overwhelming support for the legislation to ban congressional stock trading.
19:25It is long past time that that is done.
19:29I think part of the challenge, again, is that Mike Johnson apparently said
19:33he's got zero interest in moving the legislation that is actually bipartisan,
19:38led by Chip Roy and Seth Magaziner.
19:40Mike Johnson, zero interest in banning congressional stock trading.
19:45So we'll evaluate the different vehicles moving forward,
19:50and I look forward to having a conversation with many of the stakeholders
19:53over the next few days into the early part of next week,
19:57including Seth and Pramila and Alex,
20:01as well as, of course, Joe Morelli, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee,
20:08to figure out the best path forward.
20:10We want to clean up corruption in this institution, in the Supreme Court,
20:15and also as it relates to the administration.
20:19I think one of the challenges that some members have raised directly with me
20:22about the Anna Paulina Luna approach
20:29is that apparently she's unwilling to prohibit stock trading within the Trump administration.
20:35Unwilling to prohibit stock trading as it relates to Donald Trump, J.D. Vance,
20:41or Cabinet Secretaries like the Treasury Secretary.
20:44That's kind of extraordinary to me, since they have concentrated executive power.
20:49We definitely have to deal with the issue of members of Congress trading stock.
20:53It should be banned.
20:55But it also seems to many of us, at the same period of time,
20:58there's got to be a path forward to banning stock trading within the administration.
21:05I think Donald Trump literally just purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock
21:09in Warner Brothers when his administration is in the middle of a merger review.
21:17How is that acceptable?
21:19That's corruption in plain sight.
21:22And it also seems reasonable to many of us
21:25that we've got to find a path forward toward addressing it.
21:29On the ACA subsidies, you framed this debate as Democrats fighting to protect millions of people
21:38from Republican policies, in this case the expiration of the subsidies.
21:42But those same people went to the polls last November, many of them,
21:46and voted for Republicans, who they must know by now
21:50that Republicans don't like the ACA.
21:52They've been fighting for 15 years.
21:53So is the expiration of the subsidies not simply democracy at work?
21:59And at what point do you risk accusations that you're trying to protect voters from themselves,
22:05which is sort of inherently undemocratic?
22:08Well, many voters were promised that costs would go down on day one.
22:14January 20th came and went, and Republicans didn't do a damn thing to lower costs.
22:20Donald Trump didn't do a damn thing to lower the high cost of living.
22:23Why? Because they don't give a damn about everyday Americans.
22:26That's increasingly clear.
22:28Now, the American people have come to that conclusion with a greater degree of intensity
22:35because they were lied to by Donald Trump and Republicans.
22:39We're giving our Republican colleagues a chance to actually keep your word to the American people.
22:45Start by extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits.
22:48So this fight is not over.
22:50And, you know, to Kevin's question as well, this fight is not over as it relates to the Affordable Care Act tax credits.
22:58Let's see what happens on the Senate floor next week.
23:01Thankful that Senate Democrats are bringing legislation that would extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits for three years.
23:07And we're going to continue to press our case in the House.
23:10Every single House Democrat on the same page, Republicans in the middle of a civil war, which is why they can't even focus.
23:20Just a handful of them can't focus on keeping their word to the American people and driving down the high cost of living.
23:28We've still got a couple of weeks for them to change their tune.
23:35Thank you, Mr. Jeffries.
23:37You had a majority of other Democrats voted against a pair of bills on the floor earlier today.
23:41The Republicans have argued the same about keeping foreign influence out of schools.
23:44Could you explain the reasoning for Democrats' opposition?
23:46Republicans have not brought a single credible bill to the floor.
23:52I think Bobby Scott and others did a good job of explaining our concerns.
23:58We just want to educate our children.
24:02Focus on reading, writing, and arithmetic.
24:05Developing a holistic child.
24:09Giving the ability to them to think critically.
24:12And we're not going to be lectured by a group of Republicans who are dismantling the Department of Education in real time.
24:21Literally, 90% of the Department of Education as it existed last year is now gone.
24:28It doesn't exist within the Department of Education.
24:30It's been broken into pieces.
24:34Republicans are attacking public education.
24:38Just like they're attacking public health and attacking public safety.
24:45And it's the reason why Republicans are either underperforming dramatically across the country, electorally,
24:50or have been crushed, as was the case, across the country, up and down the ballot,
24:57in the off-year elections in early November.
25:00However, the American people are through with these extremists, done, had enough.
25:07The extremists have gone too far.
25:08They've broken all of their promises.
25:10They spent the entire year rewarding their billionaire donors and trying to implement the most toxic parts of Project 2025,
25:18which is a difficult thing because the whole thing is toxic.
25:21But they've been focused on doing things that they know will harm the American people.
25:31And our view is Democrats.
25:32We're just going to continue to fight for a country where when you work hard and play by the rules,
25:39you should be able to live an affordable life, a comfortable life, live the good life.
25:45Good-paying job, good housing, good health care, good education for your children, and a good retirement.
25:51Not too much to ask for in the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world.
26:03Subscribe to One India and never miss an update.
26:08Download the One India app now.
Be the first to comment