Washington, DC – Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries held a press conference where he highlighted that while Democrats remain willing to work across the aisle to solve problems for hardworking American taxpayers, House Republicans are pushing their extreme agenda that restricts freedom and hurts the American people.

LEADER JEFFRIES: You know, from the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have repeatedly made clear that we are ready, we are willing, we are able to find bipartisan common ground with our Republican colleagues on any issue, whenever and wherever possible, in order to solve problems for hardworking American taxpayers and deliver real results for everyday Americans. Throughout this Congress, we have repeatedly done just that. In the same period of time, we’ve made clear that we will push back against MAGA extremism whenever necessary.

We will push back against MAGA extremism with respect to their efforts to criminalize abortion care. House Democrats will always defend a woman’s freedom to make her own reproductive health care decisions, and that includes birth control and IVF. House Democrats will push back against Republican extremism when it comes to their efforts to end Social Security and Medicare as we know it. We believe in protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare. House Democrats will continue to push back against the extreme MAGA Republican effort to decimate the progress that we made in combating the climate crisis through the Inflation Reduction Act. But we are ready, we are willing, we are able, at all times, to find bipartisan common ground with our Republican colleagues. We are prepared to do that with respect to reaching a spending agreement under the same terms that were agreed upon in connection with the Bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act. That means a topline spending number of $1.681 [trillion], not a penny less.

We are prepared to move forward with an enlightened farm bill. But that, of course, requires extreme MAGA Republicans to walk away from their effort to cut nutritional assistance for children and veterans by $30 billion, the largest proposed cut in three decades. We are prepared to find common ground in a bipartisan way with respect to the National Defense Authorization Act, but that will require extreme MAGA Republicans to walk away from any effort that they may try to inject into what is now a bipartisan agreement that came out of the Armed Services Committee by a vote of 57 to 1 and should be kept bipartisan. And if that, in fact, is the case, we can move on this legislation in a bipartisan way and get it out of the House in the next week or two. Our concern is that the extreme Republicans may try to jam their reckless right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people, criminalize abortion care or restrict the ability of women in uniform to make their own reproductive health care decisions.

If they go down that road again, that would be a futile exercise when it comes to actually a legislative result. So there’s some items that are in front of us that we are prepared to work through in partnership with our Republican colleagues, but it requires traditional Republicans to walk away from the Marjorie Taylor Greenes of the world and get serious about doing the business of the American people.

Full press conference can be watched here. 

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