DPCC Co-Chair Jeffries: Democrats Are Fighting For The People to Clean Up Corruption In Washington
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy & Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on MSNBC's All In With Chris Hayes to discuss how House Democrats are fighting for the people by cleaning up corruption in Washington. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the video
"We have to make sure that we can get big money out of politics. What we have seen is dark money flow into Washington DC – fueled by lobbyists and mega corporations who are buying off influence and essentially shaping legislation that this Congress has been pushing forward. The biggest example of it was the corrupt GOP tax scam where 83 percent of the benefits went to the wealthiest 1 percent. This was not done for the people - that's what we stand for as Democrats. It was done for the lobbyists, the mega corporations, the wealthy, the well off, the millionaires the billionaires – to subsidize the lifestyles of the rich and shameless. This is corruption happening in plain sight.
"Republicans are lying, they are cheating, they are stealing and doing it with impunity. And the reason is that this Congress has refused to do its constitutional oversight responsibilities. We are an independent branch of the government. A separate and co-equal branch of government. The House of Representatives doesn't work for Donald Trump. We work for the American people. But these guys on the other side of the aisle apparently have not gotten the memo – and so basically, they are acting as co-conspirators. They are refusing to do oversight and refusing to subpoena documents. They are refusing to expose these corrupt scandals to the American people and doing their constitutional duty. Democrats will do that.
"The Oversight and Government Reform Committee basically for years wasted millions of dollars on Hillary Clinton's e-mails - which was a fake scandal designed to undermine her presidency. But they refuse to do anything as it relates to the corrupt, after corrupt after corrupt instance that has arisen as it relates to Trump's cabinet secretaries. It is shameful, and you are not going to get them to act as constitutional check and balance as Devin Nunes disclosed to his donors.
"The so-called chairman of the Intelligence Committee is a complete embarrassment. But what is worse is that you have the number four person in the House Republican Conference apparently signing off on this – and we can't necessarily believe what the Leadership is saying when we know that Donald Trump wants to do is get rid of Rod Rosenstein because he wants to get rid of the investigation into the Trump campaign's collusion with Russian spies.
"Well a significant number House Republicans are part of what I call the cover-up caucus. Their sole objective in life is to deny the fact that we have a criminal conspiracy that appears to have taken place to sell out our Democracy to artificially place Donald Trump in the Oval Office. An ongoing serious investigation - they want to turn a blind eye to that investigation and distract the American people in part by doing things like going after Rod Rosenstein.
"[Democrats] want to lower prescription drug prices, raise pay and clean up corruption in Washington DC."