Washington, DC – Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show where he highlighted the devastating plans Republicans have to cut Medicaid and give handouts to billionaires.

RACHEL MADDOW: Joining us now is the man himself, Democratic Leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries. Leader Jeffries, it’s a real honor to have you here tonight. Thank you so much for joining us.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Good evening. Great to be with you.

RACHEL MADDOW: So every day now, I feel like we’re getting more and more tape and dramatic reportage from congressional town halls all around the country, seeing Republican members of Congress pressed by their own constituents, even by their own Republican constituents, about what Trump and Musk are doing that the public doesn’t like. But we also see voters imploring Democrats and you specifically to fight harder, to not be nice, to break protocol, to get arrested if that’s—if that’s what it takes. How are you hearing those—those calls? What can you tell voters tonight who say you could be doing more than you do?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I think—we understand the passionate outcry that we are seeing all across the country as it relates to the flood of extremism that’s being unleashed on the American people by this administration, by this president, by his allies like Elon Musk. And of course, it’s creating chaos and confusion and crisis, and it’s corruption that’s connected to it as well. And so we’re going to continue to operate in an all-hands-on-deck way. And that’s what we’ve said from the beginning. It means that we’ve got to push back aggressively in the Congress, as we’re doing. And certainly we’ll have a budget fight that will be on the floor as early as tomorrow, where every single Democrat, I believe, is going to stand in firm opposition to this GOP Tax Scam, which is all about rewarding their billionaire donors and wealthy corporations and undermining working-class Americans by sticking it to them and cutting Medicaid and things that are important to their health, their safety and their economic well-being. It’s all-hands-on-deck in the Congress. It’s all-hands-on-deck in the courts. And it’s certainly all-hands-on-deck in communities across the country. And you are seeing that kind of mobilization take place as you’ve illustrated.

RACHEL MADDOW: And I got to say, the mobilization is a bottom up, very, very grassroots, very organic, coast to coast uprising. And what they are pushing against is what’s happening in Washington. But what they are trying to push up and push forward is you and your colleagues to try to further empower you and further inspire you, by one way or another, to find new tactics, to find new avenues, to find new leverage. I mean, let’s take this budget thing. You’re going to expect this vote potentially as early—tomorrow in the House. The Republicans’ margin in the House is razor thin. We know at least one Republican is planning on voting no on that budget. You say you think you’ll have every Democrat voting no. You’ve also asked Members of the Democratic Caucus to meet tomorrow on the Capitol steps to try to make clear to the American people, Members of the House Democratic Caucus should join us on the East Capitol Steps at 12 noon tomorrow to make clear to the American people the stakes of what’s happening. What are you planning for that event? What should the American public expect around this budget fight and how consequential it will be?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, one of the things that’s important is we have to tell the story of the everyday Americans who are at risk of dealing with the pain and the suffering that these extreme MAGA Republican proposals and cuts will unleash on them and the American people. If you just take, for instance, the proposal to cut as much as $1 trillion from Medicaid, if not more, in connection with the Republican budget resolution proposal, that’s going to hurt children, hurt everyday Americans with disabilities. It’s going to hurt seniors. It’s going to close hospitals, including in rural America. It’s going to shut down nursing homes. It’s going to hurt veterans and others who rely on Medicaid benefits. And so we’ve got to be able to tell that story, of course with urgency, of course on the floor of the House, certainly in committees, but we also have to take the case directly to the American people. And tomorrow at 12, that’s exactly what we’re going to do, having stories told through the voices of those Americans impacted the most. Listen, I represent neighborhoods in central Brooklyn and beyond. I’m in those neighborhoods. I was there over the last few days, of course, and in other parts of the country. And so I understand that there’s a lot of anxiety that has been caused. The communities that I represent, in many ways, have been dealing with trauma and anxiety for a long period of time. And this is a moment where that anxiety, of course, has been heightened across America. And so we’re going to continue to rise to the occasion to meet the moment. The next three weeks will be critically important because we have the budget fight this week. And then, of course, Donald Trump will be on the Hill next week. And then after that, we’ll have to figure out where we’re going to land in advance of the March 14 funding deadline. Three critical weeks to push back against the extremism, and also to define ourselves as a party that actually wants to make life better for everyday Americans, drive down the high cost of living, solve problems for those hardworking American families who want us to give them a real shot at the American Dream.

RACHEL MADDOW: The case that you’re making against Republican policies here is one that I hear and is cogent, and that plays to a greater or lesser extent, I think, all across this country. The other thing that Americans are stressed out about, though, right now is that policy doesn’t feel like it’s the main conversation right now. It feels like we are in the middle of a ketamine-fueled, middle-of-the-night, autocratic power grab that is rendering Congress irrelevant, that’s rendering policy irrelevant and that’s rendering the rule of law an afterthought, if not a joke, to those who are planning on staying in power indefinitely, without benefit of further elections. I mean it is not about—I mean, it is about a bad budget, that’s one of the things you have to contend with—but the fight here feels like it’s on a different scale than the kinds of legislative point, counterpoint stuff that I think Democrats and Republicans are used to fighting over. And I think what Americans are so clamoring for is to hear from you personally, as the senior Democrat in Washington in the House, where the margins are so narrow, to hear from you that you understand the scale of the threat, and you have ideas about how to interrupt what feels like something that we have not experienced since the Civil War in terms of the threat to our Republic.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, it’s certainly the case, that we understand the scale of the threat that can be down there. The CBC, which I’m a part of, definitively understands the scale of the threat. Our communities have been under siege, as you pointed out, since before the Civil War. I’m a direct descendant of those very communities, so we understand the struggle for history, the strength of people like John Lewis, which we’re going to channel. That’s my experience. That’s my personal experience. That’s my family’s experience. And so we understand that. And as a Caucus, it’s definitively the case that we understand that. Listen, we launched the Rapid Response Task Force and Litigation Working Group—it’s going to be led by Joe Neguse and, of course, a brilliant constitutional lawyer, Jamie Raskin—to be able to respond to and work with our allies like Tish James and others. And part of what we are responding to, listen, Elon Musk and Donald Trump, they’re flooding the zone in part to create distress, to create a sense of invincibility and inevitability. But the reality is, there have been more than 75 different lawsuits that have been filed by democracy reform groups, civil rights reform groups, by attorneys general like Tish James and others. And we’re winning in court. They’re losing. More than 35 different unconstitutional and unlawful executive orders and administrative actions have been challenged. And they’re not winning those cases, in terms of the Trump administration. They’re losing over and over and over again. That’s been a forceful pushback. And that, of course, will continue. The congressional battles will continue and the mobilization in the communities will continue.

RACHEL MADDOW: Does it help? Does it advance Democrats’ ability to stand up against Trump and Musk and what’s happening in Washington—to have people at these town halls, to have people protesting in various symbolic and important places, either that represent the government or that represent some of the forces that are at work right now within our government? Just people showing up and doing direct action, peaceful, nonviolent, direct action to try to put steel in your spine, among others. Does it does it help or is it more of a hindrance to you?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, listen, public sentiment is everything. As Abraham Lincoln once said, with it, nothing can fail, without it, nothing can succeed. I don’t think anyone needs additional steel put in their spine. Let’s be clear about that. And I think, you know, the House Democrats, under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi during the prior Trump administration, continuing to where we are at this moment, are going to continue to push back forcefully using every tool available. Now, I think it does help, for instance, that our House Republican colleagues are held accountable. Rachel, you appropriately mentioned, we’ve got the narrowest majority that any party has had in the Congress since before the Great Depression. Narrowest majority, 218 Republicans, 215 Democrats. The Democrats are holding together. We’re holding together, for instance, on this reckless Republican budget, which is a betrayal of working-class Americans. And cuts to Medicaid, cuts to SNAP, cuts to veterans’ benefits, that’s not theoretical. That hurts real people that I represent, and that every single member of the House Democratic Caucus represents. That’s not a theoretical fight. That’s a real fight. But here’s the thing, on any given issue, like the budget, we only need three. Not all 218 Republicans. We only need three to do the right thing for their constituents. And so the activity that we’ve seen over the last few days of the last week or so, I think, is going to let the Republicans know that no one is going to remove the spotlight from them. They shouldn’t be able to escape accountability and, as Democrats, we’re going to make sure that they don’t.

RACHEL MADDOW: Democratic Leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries. Leader Jeffries, it is a real honor to have you here. I know that your time is valuable. Come back sir, I’d love to talk to you any time you can stand it. Thank you so much.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you so much.

Full interview can be watched here.

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