Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box, where he made clear that unlike Donald Trump and Republicans, House Democrats are committed to fiscally responsible behavior in the fight for an affordable America.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Welcome back to Squawk Box. We are just five weeks away now from the midterm elections. Joining us right now is House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Good morning to you. Really wanted to spend some time thinking about what you think the Democratic agenda would be if you do win the House and how things change or shift under those circumstances.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, good morning, great to be with you. Our focus right now, of course, will be over the next 36 days making our case to the American people that we are committed to fighting for an affordable America. The cost of living in this country is way too high. Life is way too expensive. Donald Trump and Republicans promised to lower the high cost of living on day one. That’s what they said. Of course, costs haven’t gone down, costs have gone up. So we’re committed to driving down the high cost of groceries, driving down the high cost of gas, driving down the high cost of housing and also fighting to make healthcare affordable for every single American.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Leader, how much of the next two years do you think, if you’re to win in the House, would be a series of hearings effectively about Trump, about Trump’s family, about business executives, about giving to ballrooms and all of that?

LEADER JEFFRIES: We’re committed to an affordability agenda. As I travel the country, speak to people whether that’s in urban America, rural parts of America, the heartland of America, small-town America or Black and Brown communities throughout America, the one thing that is clear is that people are struggling. They are drowning in this failed Republican economy.They’re working hard, they’re playing by the rules, but they cannot thrive and can barely survive. It’s an unacceptable situation. And so, when we say we’re focused on affordability, we mean it. At the same period of time, we have seen unprecedented corruption unleashed on the American people. And if you have folks who are so focused on enriching themselves, their family members, their friends or their donors, then it means they’re not focused on making life more affordable for the American people. And we have a responsibility to visit the type of accountability that is consistent with the House as a separate and co-equal branch of government.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: The reason, Leader, I raised this question is because there is a question about just how much of this will be about recrimination versus affordability, and where the energy in the party comes from right now. I found—I don’t know if you agree with this, you’re talking about affordability now. One of the things that’s been very interesting about watching some of the folks, maybe on the far left, considered sort of the DSA world is they rarely actually talk about Trump or talk about Republicans per se or the family or all of these things. They almost always simply talk about affordability or other kinds of sort of forward-looking issues. How do you think about that versus this accountability issue? Because I know that there are others in the Democratic Party that have a real, you know, thirst for both accountability—maybe it’s a blood, but they want something.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, in the new Congress, there are going to be progressives, there are going to be New Dems, moderate Democrats, centrist Democrats, Blue Dogs, more socially conservative Democrats. But what does unite everyone is this commitment to lowering the high cost of living, to making sure that we can actually bring the American dream back to life for people all across this country. When it comes to the accountability aspect of what needs to happen, cleaning up the rampant corruption that exists in Washington, D.C., wherever that may be, whether that’s the Congress, the Supreme Court or certainly with the Trump cartel, our view is that we’re going to follow the facts, apply the law, be guided by the Constitution and then let the chips fall where they may on behalf of the American people. We have a responsibility, of course, as a Congress, to serve as a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch. That’s not partisan, that’s patriotic.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Where do you think AI and the debate around data centers, but increasingly—the conversation we were just having with Jensen Huang around regulation around some of these models, agentic models, getting out of sandboxes and the like—how much of that do you think is going to become a political football, not just in the midterms, but over the next two years?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, Congress, pursuant to the Constitution, has a responsibility to provide for the common defense of the American people and protect the general welfare of the American people. So when it comes to AI safety, it certainly seems to me that we need to actually lean in boldly and responsibly now. That’s why it was so extraordinary that, in light of pleas coming from people within the artificial intelligence industry itself that Congress needs to act, that Speaker Johnson, Republicans decided to get out of town and cancel votes for two weeks so they could save themselves on the campaign trail, as opposed to trying to save the American people from pending harm if this thing gets out of control with respect to AI safety.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Leader, I want to go back to the affordability issue because one of the big issues—we’re watching the price of treasuries right now, which is also affecting mortgages and the like. One of the things that clearly, at least, the bond investor community is demanding, is that we get our fiscal house in order. And my question to you is whether you think Democrats have any plan to spend less money rather than more.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, here’s the thing. The American people have made clear throughout the last several months that they trust Democrats on the economy, trust us on fighting inflation, trust us on lowering the high cost of living, trust us on ending this reckless war of choice in Iran, trust us on immigration and trust us on the deficit because what they’ve seen from Republicans is fiscally irresponsible behavior. They ripped away, these Republicans, Medicaid from 14 million Americans in order to provide massive tax breaks to their billionaire donors and then skyrocket the debt and the deficit by trillions of dollars. You’re not going to see that type of fiscally irresponsible behavior from Democrats. We’re going to put the American people first.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Do you see or could you imagine over the next two years any kind of real fiscal responsibility, also Democrats and Republicans coming together to try to deal with this budget?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I don’t want to get out ahead of what we’ll talk about as Democrats in the new Congress, but what is clear is that we can’t continue down this unsustainable path that Republicans have brought us along. I mean, when you think about a $40 trillion debt, 25% of that debt has basically been accumulated during the approximately six years that Donald Trump is President. That’s extraordinary. It’s unacceptable. It’s hurting us. And, certainly, we’ve got to find a path forward to change course from what Republicans have done—

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Leader, I think people want to understand what that path looks like. Obviously, a lot of Democrats have talked about taxes. They’ve talked about wealth taxes, raising money on one end. But I’m asking, is there a balanced approach where, and maybe it includes tax increases, but is there any effort in your mind, are there things that you could point to today that you can say to yourself, you know, we’ve got to cut this, it’s the only way?

LEADER JEFFRIES: What I’m saying, and of course, as Democrats, we’ve repeatedly made clear that we actually are authentically interested in dealing with waste, fraud or abuse where it exists. And we certainly have seen an unprecedented amount of waste, fraud, abuse and corruption unleashed on the American people by Donald Trump and the Trump cartel. But our focus has to be on lowering the high cost of living. That is what the American people want us to address decisively. Republicans have failed in that regard. Democrats will not.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Leader Jeffries, we’re going to leave the conversation there. We appreciate it. Good to see you.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you.

Full interview can be watched here.

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