Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box, where he highlighted that as inflation and the cost of living continue to increase, Democrats are committed to fighting to end the Republican healthcare crisis and the government shutdown.

BECKY QUICK: Alright, let’s turn to Capitol Hill for the latest on the government shutdown, now in its 24th day. Joining us right now is House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Leader, thank you for being with us this morning. I think the big question is, how do we get out of this?

LEADER JEFFRIES: That’s an important question, and we continue to maintain that we will sit down with our Republican colleagues anytime, anyplace, here at the Capitol or go back to the White House to enact a bipartisan spending agreement that actually meets the needs of the American people, improves their quality of life, lowers costs in an environment where inflation continues to move in the wrong direction. And we also need to decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis that is crushing people all across the country, particularly now that tens of millions of people are receiving notices that their healthcare premiums are about to skyrocket.

BECKY QUICK: There was an op-ed in Roll Call recently that was pretty interesting on this. It said what you are asking the Republicans to do right now when they control the White House, the Senate and the House is effectively what the Democrats could not do when they controlled all three of those heads of government themselves. The 10-year set-up for this, for these, the three-year set-up for the expiration of these credits was intentionally put in. It was put in when you controlled the White House, the House and the Senate. You couldn’t get it passed for longer. And so, this is a set-up, kind of of your own creation, that you all couldn’t extend beyond that. Now you want the Republicans to do something you didn’t do when you were in power?

LEADER JEFFRIES: It’s not a set-up beyond what we could do. We extended the Affordable Care Act tax credits in 2022 for three years. The program is working. It’s providing healthcare to tens of millions of people in an affordable way, and it should be continued. It’s interesting to us that Republicans decided that they would prefer to permanently extend massive tax breaks for their billionaire donors in their One Big Ugly Bill, which also at the same time dramatically increased the debt and enacted the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, but refuse to consider extending Affordable Care Act tax credits that actually benefit working-class Americans, everyday Americans and middle-class Americans. Their priorities are misplaced. And as Democrats, we’re going to continue to fight for the American people all across the country in rural America, urban America, small town America, the heartland of America and, of course, Black and brown communities throughout America, all of whom are being devastated by this Republican healthcare crisis.

BECKY QUICK: Leader Jeffries, we were just joined by Senator James Lankford from Oklahoma. He’s a Republican, and his concern with this was that the ACA subsidies aren’t helping bring costs down overall. He said that in his state, Oklahoma, if you look over six years from 2013 to 2019, premiums for ACA plans were up by 200% versus premiums being up by 29% for commercial plans in his state. His concern is that there’s something that needs to be fixed within this. Some of the things he threw out would be things like limiting fraud by just requiring that there be at least a $20 premium or some premium that’s put down instead of zero premium so that people get enrolled in things without even knowing that they’re enrolled in some of these programs. What do you say to that?

LEADER JEFFRIES: We’ve made clear in the House that we will consider anything that emerges from the Senate in good faith in a bipartisan way that both reopens the government while at the same time addresses this healthcare crisis and extends the Affordable Care Act tax credits in a meaningful way. The 90% or so of the people who benefit from these Affordable Care Tax credits make $63,000 per year or less and a significant number of small businesses and entrepreneurs across the country rely upon the Affordable Care Act tax credits in order to provide health insurance for themselves and for their families. So this is an issue that needs to be addressed. In fact, we know that red state residents actually are disproportionately higher represented in terms of the Affordable Care Act tax credits than any other part of the country. And so, we’re fighting for the American people here. And hopefully we can find a bipartisan path forward.

JOE KERNEN: It’s such a complex issue, Leader, and what we’re seeing now with the shutdown, some real effects starting to happen, I guess. And that’s where people just separate out all the points that you’re making right now about what’s wrong with the healthcare system and when and how you fix it and when you’re able to have those discussions and those negotiations. And maybe it shouldn’t be done, you know, by shutting the, you now, using leverage which shuts the government down where you don’t really have time to do it effectively. This is what Senator Lankford—just talking about history—this is where he said when Republicans were going to do it about Obamacare.

VIDEO OF SENATOR JAMES LANKFORD: Well, in 2013, as folks recall, Republicans were mad about Obamacare. We were pretty clear about it. And we had a big government shutdown. It was shorter than this one. And Democrats at that time said, we will not negotiate on healthcare while the government is closed. Well, now it’s literally the opposite on it, that we’re saying we’re not going to negotiate on healthcare. Healthcare is incredibly complicated. You can’t do it while people are not getting SNAP benefits, people are not getting paid, air traffic controllers are not getting paid. You can’t sit there and say, we’ll do this little tweak, and that’s going to be enough. It’s not enough. So let’s actually have a real conversation about all these issues, but not while there’s a shutdown.

JOE KERNEN: And I think it’s possible, Leader, that Republicans all feel that way, and we’re just going to be stuck here until some really bad things happen.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Yeah, we haven’t shut the government down. Donald Trump is the President. Republicans control the House and the Senate. And what we’ve repeatedly made clear is that we would not support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people in an environment where Republicans already enacted the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. Hospitals, nursing homes and community-based health centers are closing because of Republican policies in their One Big Ugly Bill, all across the country. Medicare is facing a $536 billion cut at the end of the year, unless Congress acts, again connected to the One Big Ugly Bill. And now, Republicans are refusing to even consider extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits when Open Enrollment starts on November 1st. This is a now issue.

JOE KERNEN: But Leader Jeffries, you kind of conflated a spending bill with a clean CR. It’s only 24 pages. It keeps the government open at this point. And the House passed it. It’s ready to go. The Senate has it. I know that the Republicans control everything, but you know how the filibuster works. And God forbid Republicans, you know, fold on the filibuster because it’ll be used, you know, both parties will use it against the other. It’s one of the last safeguards that make the Senate different than the House. And the only reason the Senate can’t do it is purely because of Democrats. And you had one of your colleagues in the Senate say this is the only leverage we have. People are going to get hurt. This is the only leverage we have to get what we want on healthcare. It’s a bad look.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Yeah, this is not about leverage. And by the way, if the votes of Democratic Senators are required, then of course there should be a bipartisan discussion about enacting a spending bill that is designed to actually make life better for the American people, lower the high cost of living in an environment where Donald Trump and Republicans promised that costs were going to go down on day one. Costs aren’t going down. Inflation is moving in the wrong direction. The Trump tariffs are causing thousands of dollars of additional expense on everyday Americans. Grocery costs have gone up. Housing costs are going up. Electricity bills are through the roof. And now people are facing, tens of millions of people, are facing dramatically increased healthcare premiums, in some instances $1,000 or $2,000 more per month. These are working-class people. This is unaffordable. And of course it’s a crisis that is before us right now.

JOE KERNEN: But what changed from when the Democrats said we will not negotiate when the government is shutdown on healthcare? Not now, reopen the government, then we’ll negotiate. That happened in 2013. What happened? What changed since then to where we are now, where you can use a government shutdown to extract concessions from Republicans?

LEADER JEFFRIES: We are not using a government shutdown to extract any concessions. We want to reopen the government immediately. Donald Trump has refused to meet with Democrats over the last 24 days. He spent more time on the golf course than he has actually talking to Democrats on Capitol Hill. He’s found time to demand that the Department of Injustice give him $230 million in taxpayer money. He’s found time to bail out a right-wing wannabe dictator in Argentina with $40 billion. He’s found time to demolish the East Wing of the White House in the most horrific way possible because he wants to erect a ballroom so he can be celebrated like a king. He’s found time for all of these different things, but somehow can’t be bothered to reopen the government or can’t be bothered to find a dime to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.

BECKY QUICK: Ok, let’s talk about some of these issues. You bring up inflation, and you’re right to do so. We just got the CPI. It was not quite as hot as had been anticipated, but inflation is higher than the Fed’s target range or than anybody feels comfortable with. The problem is inflation is often caused by government spending. Additional government spending is not likely to get it to the point where we are going to see less inflation out there. How do you handle that?

LEADER JEFFRIES: This is not additional government spending—

BECKY QUICK: It is additional government spending, you’re looking for another $350 billion of additional government spending over the next 10 years—

JOE KERNEN: That’s just with the Obamacare.

LEADER JEFFRIES: We’re actually extending a tax credit that currently exists, and what’s interesting is that in their One Big Ugly Bill, where Republicans raised the debt ceiling by about over $4 trillion, exploded the deficit and the debt, but then they used a policy framework called current policy baseline, which is to say, that if you just extend current policy, it has no fiscal impact. So the question is, why are Republicans willing to use that approach when it comes to massive tax breaks for their billionaires, but unwilling to do it for working-class folks?

BECKY QUICK: Not a big fan of how any elected officials tend to use figures to tell us what we want to hear with some of these things. Additional government spending, though, is going to mean worse numbers when it comes to inflation. Is there a way to get everybody together and try and find ways to fix the base problems with healthcare and try and make sure that people are being given the help that they need along the way? It seems like it’s a really tough thing to do when the government’s been shut for 24 days, that that is not a great situation that we’re asking other people to bear the pain.

LEADER JEFFRIES: We have a broken healthcare system, and it obviously needs to be fixed in a decisive way. But there are steps that should be taken right now with respect to the reality that tens of millions of Americans are receiving notices as we speak indicating that their healthcare premiums are about to skyrocket in ways that will bankrupt them or deprive them of the ability to go see a doctor when they need one, when their children or when their families need one. This is not an artificially made-up thing. November 1st Open Enrollment begins. The notices are going out. Marjorie Taylor Greene agrees that something needs to be done with respect to the Affordable Care Act tax credits, and traditional conservatives in the House agree. They just sent a letter to Mike Johnson indicating that this is an issue that needs to be confronted. It’s not made up. It’s real.

JOE KERNEN: That’s a first—

BECKY QUICK: There are problems—

JOE KERNEN: That’s a first for you, Leader, Marjorie Taylor Greene. I love it. You’ve got to love the irony there. Hey, you know what else has passed after November 1st? The election for Mayor in New York. Come on. Are you ready? Are you ready to endorse Mamdani yet, Leader Jeffries?

LEADER JEFFRIES: As I’ve repeatedly said, Joe, I’ll have more to say about the Mayor’s race when I have more to say about the Mayor’s race.

JOE KERNEN: Today is the day for more. Today is—this is part of the future you were talking about last time you were on. This could be the future that you were talking about when you could do it. No?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, let me say that, listen, I’m going to continue to lean into the principle, as Democrats, that we believe in a strong floor and no ceiling—

JOE KERNEN: Affordability—

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, listen, affordability, of course, is the top issue for the country. But as Democrats, listen, we believe in a country that brings about a strong floor and no ceiling. You work hard, you play by the rules, there should be no ceiling to your success. That’s what I believe in. But at the same period of time there should be a strong floor anchored in things like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

JOE KERNEN: Was that an endorsement? That almost sounded like you’re easing in, so that’s what Mamdani—A equals B equals C. That’s what he stands for, therefore you’re endorsing Mamdani? Is that, have I got that?

LEADER JEFFRIES: No, that’s not what I’m saying. That’s not what I am saying. But what I will say is that I do think that he took a important step in indicating he plans to retain Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who’s doing a great job by all accounts.

JOE KERNEN: Okay, so that’s getting you closer and closer. We appreciate as always speaking with you today, Leader.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you.

Full interview can be watched here.

###