DPCC Co-Chair Jeffries: Democrats are Committed to Passing a Budget that Will Address the Priorities of the American People
Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy & Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on MSNBC's Wolf to discuss pending legislation to reopen the federal government and end the Trump Shutdown. Below are excerpts from the interview and a link to the video.
"I'm going to evaluate the particulars of the legislation in the next hour or so, but I anticipate it having enough votes to pass in the House of Representatives and be sent to the president for his signature. That's a good thing. Democrats believe in government, we believe in the ability of government to do good things for the American people.
"We want to see government reopen. what we need to do moving forward, however, is to end this continuous cycle of continuing resolution after continuing resolution, kicking the can down the road and not enacting a comprehensive budget and spending bill through the remainder of the fiscal year. That's what the American people deserve, that's what we should see moving forward. In terms of the original vote that was taken on Friday evening, there were Republican Senators like Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham who voted not to fund the government through the vehicle of the continuing resolution.
"There were some Democrats in the United States Senate who actually voted to support continuing to fund the government. I think that the agreement that has been reached, which is the one that shortened the use of this resolution from the original time period which was going to run through February 16th to this newly negotiated time period, February eighth, is important. More importantly perhaps is the agreement that was secured to have an actual up or down vote on the issue related to the Dreamers. That's what they deserve. That's what the American people deserve in terms of functional government. Let's see where everyone stands to try to resolve this issue moving forward."