New York, NY – Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on Fox 5’s Good Day New York where he emphasized that Democrats will continue to aggressively push back against Republican attacks on Social Security as we know it. 

ROSANNA SCOTTO: With more on that and the latest in DC, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Nice to have you back on Good Day New York.

CURT MENEFEE: Thanks for joining us.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Good morning. Great to be back.

ROSANNA SCOTTO: All right, so what’s this day of action? Let’s start with Social Security.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, all across the country yesterday, House and Senate Democrats held a Save Social Security Day of Action, one, to make the communities aware of the fact that Social Security, unfortunately, is under attack coming out of Washington right now, led by Elon Musk, partnered with House Republicans. They believe that Social Security, apparently, is a Ponzi scheme. Our view is—it’s not a Ponzi scheme, it’s an earned benefit. And the attacks on the Social Security Administration have been devastating and are risking the ability of the American people and people here in New York to receive the benefits they’ve earned.

ROSANNA SCOTTO: I know you say there are threats. Do you have evidence? Because at this point, it just seems if you listen to the Trump administration, they’re going after waste, fraud with people who should not be receiving Social Security, I don’t know, totaling $100 million right now and administration cuts, but not benefits, because I monitor my mom’s Social Security, and she’s not gotten any kind of letter saying that there’s a threat to her Social Security.

LEADER JEFFRIES: We’ve got to stay vigilant so that there is no threat. What we’ve seen is that Social Security Administration offices have been closed. Wait times have dramatically increased.

ROSANNA SCOTTO: The wait times have never been good, Congressman.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, the wait times over the last year and the previous administration under Governor Martin O’Malley’s leadership, who was the administrator, had actually improved significantly. And now they’re being reversed.

ROSANNA SCOTTO: I had a problem with my mom’s Social Security last year, and every time I called, I was on the phone for over an hour, waiting to be disconnected.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, Rosanna, next time call me. We’ll make sure—or your congressperson.

ROSANNA SCOTTO: But I’m just saying. I would not tout like how wonderful it was before.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, listen. There are improvements that need to be made. But assaulting the Social Security Administration right now is totally unjustified. Actually, what we should be doing is improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the agency, not further undermining it.

CURT MENEFEE: You had the day to acknowledge Social Security yesterday. You’re doing the day to acknowledge the potential cuts in Medicaid. They want to cut $800 billion from the Medicaid budget. There have been a dozen Republicans who, yesterday, in the House, including Nicole Malliotakis and Nick LaLota from our area, who signed on and said, if there are those major Medicaid cuts, they’re not going to support the new budget reconciliation. So with the Republicans saying that along with the Democrats, does that mean that this is dead on arrival already? So there’s no need to bring attention to it?

LEADER JEFFRIES: No, listen. We’re going to work as hard as we can to make sure that these devastating Medicaid cuts never take place. The reason why you have House Republicans from New York State and beyond talking about these Medicaid cuts is because they acknowledge that it’s a real possibility. In late February, every single Republican but one voted for a House budget resolution to set in motion $880 billion in Medicaid cuts. That will hurt women, that will hurt children, families, people with disabilities, could result in the closure of hospitals and nursing homes here in New York City and beyond. And that affects everyone if your hospital closes or if your nursing home closes. And so our view is that it was irresponsible to propose $880 billion in Medicaid cuts. We’re going to do everything we can to stop it from happening. And the reason why it’s happening is because many Republicans in Washington actually want to give Elon Musk and their billionaire donors a massive tax break that they don’t need or don’t deserve.

CURT MENEFEE: Can I ask you a big picture question here now? A lot of Democrats, and it’s not just the progressive wing, have said that you, in particular, as leader of the Democratic Party in the House, have not been aggressive enough in pushing back on some of the Trump administration policies so far. Is this, what we’re seeing this week, a response to that?

LEADER JEFFRIES: No, not at all. In fact, at the end of February, what we saw is that every single Democrat voted against the Republican budget resolution that would have, if enacted, allowed for these massive Medicaid cuts. Certainly in March, we all stood strongly against the spending bill that we thought would devastate healthcare, devastate veterans benefits and devastate nutritional assistance. And we’re going to continue to stay vigilant.

CURT MENEFEE: So what do you say to those that say you’re not pushing back enough?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, listen. It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment. And I understand that Donald Trump is intentionally flooding the zone day after day after day. It’s a parade of horribles. And that, of course, has people disconcerted. We understand that. And all of us have to continue, as Cory Booker eloquently said on the Senate Floor, do more to make sure we are protecting the American way of life. And that’s our intention to continue to do so. Certainly, these days of action build upon things that have happened in the past.

ROSANNA SCOTTO: Can we talk a little bit about DC? Because there’s a lot of name-calling on both sides. And I was very surprised, Congressman, that you had a DEI word for our Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth. What did you call him? A ‘dumb effing—’

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I said that the problem that we have right now is if you’re going to go after our history—and in the Naval Academy, apparently ordered by the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, remove 400 or so books about the civil rights movement, a book written by Maya Angelou, books about slavery and horrifically, books about the Holocaust and then allow, at the same time, books written by Adolf Hitler to remain in the Naval Academy Library? The only way I can explain that, that’s a move by a Dumb Effing Individual. That’s the reality.

ROSANNA SCOTTO: Well, you know that Pete Hegseth had a comment. We’ll let you listen to what he said.

MARIA BARTIROMO [VIDEO]: He came up with a new description of DEI. I’m sure you saw that. ‘Dumb Effing Individuals.’ DEI.

PETE HEGSETH [VIDEO]: Oh, boy. That’s how far they’ve fallen. It’s astonishing—not surprising. Of course, they don’t like the fact that we’re ripping DEI out of the military and making it colorblind and merit-based.

ROSANNA SCOTTO: So obviously, he looked at it differently. But, you know, for those of us who were sitting on the sidelines, we see—this is high school behavior and talk.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, listen, it’s not how I would normally refer to any particular individual. But listen, the reality of his particular behavior cannot be explained in any other way. He’s intentionally gone after, right, diversity in the military. We support merit. But merit has to be based on what you know, not who you know. And the reality is, objectively, Pete is the most unqualified individual ever to be the Secretary of Defense. This is a serious position in the American government. That’s not just the Democratic position. Mitch McConnell voted against him for that reason. Lisa Murkowski, another Republican, voted against him for that reason. And Susan Collins, a third Republican, voted against Pete Hegseth for that reason. And so it was a colorful description, but I meant it.

CURT MENEFEE: You know, I know that we could go on for hours to talk about what’s going on in Washington right now, but there is a time limit we have. I want to ask you one question, though, about the letter that a lot of people received from the Department of Homeland Security today saying, if you’re here illegally and without paperwork, it’s time for you to get out of the country. What do you know about that? Did you know in advance? And what’s your response to it?

LEADER JEFFRIES: I did not know about it in advance. And here’s my position on these general issues. One, we have to secure the border, okay. Everybody agrees with that who’s rationally looking at the situation. We have a broken immigration system. We’ve got to fix it. It should be fixed in a bipartisan and comprehensive way. But at the same time, we have to protect—and will—our Dreamers, our farmworkers and our law-abiding immigrant families who have contributed to our country and American exceptionalism. We know that’s the case in New York City, but that certainly has been the case throughout the nation. And we’ve got to get this done the right way and not bully individuals who are actually contributing to the country and are here lawfully.

ROSANNA SCOTTO: Do you think the Democrats and Republicans can ever work together?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Yes, and I think we have to. We have to. And I’ve done it in the past, including working on criminal justice legislation with the Trump administration and my very conservative Republican colleagues. And we have repeatedly done it in a whole host of other areas. And I do look forward to getting back to a time where that’s possible, when that’s possible. But the assault on the American way of life over these first few months of the Trump administration has also been unprecedented. And by necessity, it requires a forceful response.

CURT MENEFEE: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, thank you so much for stopping by while you’re in town.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you both.

Full interview can be watched here.

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