Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on CNN’s The Source, where he emphasized that while Republicans remain on vacation, Democrats will continue fighting to find a bipartisan spending agreement to end the shutdown, protect the healthcare of the American people and restore the nutritional assistance that Republicans are ripping away.

KAITLAN COLLINS: My lead source tonight is one of those Democrats that the Speaker just mentioned, the House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York. And thank you, sir, for being here. What’s your response to Speaker Johnson saying that he has given up on Democratic leadership, i.e. you?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, Mike Johnson hasn’t even tried to sit down and negotiate with Democrats during the 29 days that Donald Trump and Republicans have actually shut the government down. And of course, they are completely and totally uninterested in solving or addressing decisively the Republican healthcare crisis that they’ve created, including their continued refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, notwithstanding the fact that on November 1st, when open enrollment begins, it’s going to be crystal clear to tens of millions of Americans across the country that their premiums, co-pays and deductibles are about to dramatically increase.

KAITLAN COLLINS: Would you say that Zohran Mamdani has anything to do with reopening the government for Democrats?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Of course not. It’s a silly, unhinged conspiracy theory. The thing that we know to be true about Mike Johnson and House Republicans is that they haven’t been given permission by their puppet master, that would be Donald J. Trump, to sit down and have a conversation with Democrats. We’ve said from the very beginning that we want to reopen the government, that we want to enter into a bipartisan spending agreement that actually meets the needs of the American people, while, at the same time, addresses the healthcare crisis that they’ve created and are visiting on the American people, which includes, but is not limited to, the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. The fact that hospitals, nursing homes and community-based health centers are closing all across America, including dozens potentially in Louisiana, the home state of Mike Johnson. And now they’re refusing to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which is going to adversely impact the ability of working-class Americans, everyday Americans and middle-class Americans to receive their healthcare or go see a doctor when they need to.

KAITLAN COLLINS: You’ve said that Mike Johnson’s not willing to sit down and have a conversation. Y’all did have a phone conversation, I believe you said earlier today. Who initiated that call? Was that you or was that Speaker Johnson?

LEADER JEFFRIES: It was a call from Mike Johnson. It was very brief. And it wasn’t a substantive discussion in terms of finding a path forward.

KAITLAN COLLINS: But was he calling to talk about the government shutdown?

LEADER JEFFRIES: I mean, you can say that that was in the ballpark, but, you know, it was a private conversation that will remain private. However, nothing meaningful came out of it, again, because Donald Trump has not given Mike Johnson permission to enter into a bipartisan negotiation. Kaitlan, I mean House Republicans have been literally on vacation for the last five weeks. They’ve canceled votes five consecutive weeks in a row. They are uninterested in doing anything other than jamming their partisan Republican spending bill down the throats of the American people. And as Democrats, we’ve made clear we will not support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people. Period, full stop.

KAITLAN COLLINS: I asked about y’all’s conversation because it sounds like based on the reporting here at CNN and other outlets that cover you closely on the Hill, that it’s a lot of the rank and file members who are trying to have these conversations on next steps here, whether that’s in the Senate or even in the House tonight. And some people might look at that and say, the leaders—should the leaders not be leading on these negotiations and these talks to find some kind of common ground?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, from the standpoint of what may emerge from the Senate, as House Democrats, we’ve consistently said that we will consider anything in good faith that emerges from the Senate as long as it’s, of course, bipartisan in nature and decisively addresses the Republican healthcare crisis. But we’re not going to, you know, continue to go down this road that Republicans have been taking the country since January 20th, which is my-way-or-the-highway because they just want to jam their right-wing ideology down the throat of the American people. We’ve seen the damage that they’ve already done in their One Big Ugly Bill, which, by the way, also includes the largest cut to SNAP in American history. They cut $186 billion in nutritional assistance. Literally, these people ripped food from the mouths of hungry children, seniors, veterans, women and families so they could reward their billionaire donors with massive tax breaks and make those tax breaks permanent. And now they’re threatening to take those benefits away from 42 million Americans on November 1st.

KAITLAN COLLINS: Well, can I ask you on that, because that’s what Leader Thune was shouting about on the floor today because a Democrat over in the Senate tried to introduce a bill basically that would just fund SNAP during the government shutdown. We’ve seen some Republicans who support doing that. And yes, you’re right, the Republicans just cut $186 million from SNAP in the One Big Beautiful Bill. We’ve talked about that at length with Republicans on this show. But I wonder, does that comfort the 42 million people, though, who are about to go without SNAP starting in November, who are being denied those benefits, while you’re fighting for these Obamacare subsidies? The question is, you know, which pain point, you know, is the worst, I guess.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, none of this pain that Republicans have inflicted on the American people is acceptable. It’s also important to note that the money currently exists within the Trump administration, including $5 billion in a contingency fund specifically for this kind of circumstance, to continue providing SNAP benefits to the American people, including 16 million children who might otherwise go hungry if Donald Trump successfully withholds these SNAP benefits. The Trump administration doesn’t need Congress to act in order to continue providing nutritional and food assistance to everyday Americans. They’re trying to weaponize this issue and cause people to go hungry in the most callous and cruel manner possible.

KAITLAN COLLINS: Yeah, but on that front, as you know, what basically they have in their contingency funds is about 5 to 6 billion dollars. It costs about $9 billion for SNAP benefits. So what happens if they do dip into that? I mean, that’s still not enough to cover all the benefits.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, there’s certainly other funding that they have the ability to move around, as we’ve seen them do throughout the entirety of Donald Trump’s presidency. And by the way, this is the same group of people who somehow found $40 billion in order to bail out their right-wing, wannabe dictator friend in Argentina. But they can’t find a dime in order to make sure that more than 42 million Americans, including more than a million veterans and eight million seniors, don’t go hungry because of their callousness? Of course they can find that funding. They are unwilling to because they want to weaponize hunger as part of their continuing effort to hurt the American people.

KAITLAN COLLINS: Leader Thune’s argument today was if Democrats want to fund SNAP, they’ve had 13 opportunities to do so by just funding the government. That would keep SNAP funded. For Democrats, is there a point, though, where the pain of the shutdown outweighs the fight for the extended Obamacare subsidies in your view?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we’re going to continue to fight on all of the things. And we’ve said from the very beginning that we want to find a bipartisan path forward to enacting a spending agreement that actually meets the needs of the American people. And we set out three criteria—their health, public safety and their economic well-being, particularly as it relates to driving down the high cost of living in an environment where Donald Trump promised to lower costs on day one. Costs haven’t gone down in America. Costs have gone up. Inflation moving in the wrong direction. Trump tariffs creating thousands of dollars in additional expense on everyday Americans. Electricity bills through the roof. Housing costs out of control. Child care costs out of control. And now they want to create this healthcare crisis because of their refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. So we’re fighting on all of the things, but anchored in a premise that we have to make life better for working-class Americans, everyday Americans and middle-class Americans.

KAITLAN COLLINS: Yeah, it’s just obviously going to be really tough for those millions of people who rely on SNAP and are about to not get it. You said today that there are zero cracks when it comes to your group, to the Democratic side. I want you to listen, though, to what your colleague from New Jersey had to say.

RECORDING OF REP. GOTTHEIMER: I think what’s a very fair deal is open the government and let’s just vote on extending these premiums for a year or more. I don’t understand what’s so hard about that. And by the way, Senator Thune has offered that, I believe. He said we’ll—he offered up a vote that we can actually have a vote on extending these premium.

KAITLAN COLLINS: Obviously Josh Gottheimer is a Democrat. What’s your reaction to his argument there?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Yeah, well, I speak to Josh five or six times a week. And, you know, we all are in this fight to make sure that we protect the healthcare of everyday Americans. And of course, that includes but is not limited to dealing with extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits. These Republicans can’t necessarily be trusted by simply offering a wing and a prayer. Understand, this is the same group of people who have tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act more than 70 different times over the last 15 years. They have zero healthcare plan that is credible. Don’t take my word for it. That’s what Marjorie Taylor Greene has made clear. She can’t find their healthcare plan. None of us can because it’s non-existent. And so we just want to make sure on behalf of the American people that there’s a credible path toward addressing the Republican healthcare crisis.

KAITLAN COLLINS: Congresswoman AOC told me that she believes—that she needs to see ink on paper before she would vote to reopen the government. Is that your standard as well when it comes to those subsidies and what’s going to happen with them?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I think we just need a credible path forward so that beyond—

KAITLAN COLLINS: Right, but what does a credible path forward look like? I think a lot of people want to know.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well a credible path forward to me means something legislative, and we’ve made that point from the very beginning. And we believe that it exists because there are Republicans—both traditional conservative Republicans who are in swing districts who are pleading with Mike Johnson to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits and then some people on the right like Marjorie Taylor Greene—who also recognizes that premiums, co-pays and deductibles absent congressional action are about to skyrocket for her constituents and people all across rural America, urban America, small town America, the heartland of America and, of course, Black and brown neighborhoods and communities throughout America, in some cases by a thousand or two thousand dollars per month. This is all unsustainable, and it’s why it requires dramatic, decisive action.

KAITLAN COLLINS: Before you were the House Minority Leader, there was a government shutdown back in 2013. It was Republicans who would not vote to fund the government at that time. I want to listen to something you had to say then.

RECORDING OF REP. JEFFRIES: We’re in the midst of a government shutdown right now that is unnecessarily forcing pain on the American people. It’s a shutdown that was manufactured by the House GOP that has resulted in a situation where Americans all across this country have now been put in jeopardy. That’s a tragedy of epic proportions.

KAITLAN COLLINS: I wonder what Hakeem Jeffries of today would say to the Hakeem Jeffries of 2013 who had that message in terms of wanting to pass a clean CR so Congress could get back to work.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, the Hakeem Jeffries of today definitively agrees with the Hakeem Jeffries of yesterday from the standpoint of, listen, we’ve said to Republicans, get to the negotiating table. We want to find a bipartisan path forward. We want to reopen the government. We are standing by hardworking federal employees, but we need a partner in that effort. But we don’t have a partner. Literally, Donald Trump over the last 29 days has spent more time talking to Hamas and to the Chinese Communist Party than to Democrats on Capitol Hill who represent half the country. And that’s extraordinary in and of itself. And we’ve said we will pass a spending bill that’s bipartisan, that makes life better for the American people. What we will not do is support continued Republican efforts to rip healthcare away from everyday Americans.

KAITLAN COLLINS: You were asked today if you will defer your paycheck during the shutdown. Obviously a lot of federal workers, TSA agents are going without paychecks. Have you made a decision on that yet, sir?

LEADER JEFFRIES: I’ll be commenting on that shortly, but I understand the sacrifice that people are making, including Capitol Police officers here, and I’m going to conduct myself accordingly given that sacrifice.

KAITLAN COLLINS: So that sounds like a yes, that you will defer your pay check?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I’ll have more to say about that shortly, but I think consistent with the values that I just articulated.

KAITLAN COLLINS: Leader Hakeem Jeffries, thank you for joining us tonight. Really appreciate your time.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you.

Full interview can be watched here.

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