Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press, where he reiterated that Democrats remain committed to lowering the high cost of living and protecting Americans’ healthcare in the midst of the Republican healthcare crisis.

KRISTEN WELKER: And joining me now is House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Leader Jeffries, welcome back to Meet the Press.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Good morning.

KRISTEN WELKER: Good morning. Thank you for being here. We obviously have to start with the capture and indictment of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. You have called him a “criminal and authoritarian dictator who has oppressed the people of Venezuela for years.” Is Venezuela better off without Nicolas Maduro in power?

LEADER JEFFRIES: He’s a bad guy, of course, and he’s going to stand trial in the American court of law. At this particular point in time, it remains to be seen whether the people of Venezuela are going to be better off. Donald Trump claims that he’s gonna run Venezuela. He’s done a terrible job running the United States of America. Life hasn’t gotten better for the American people over the last year. Life has gotten worse. He promised to lower the high cost of living. Costs haven’t gone down, they’ve gone up. The healthcare system is broken. Donald Trump refuses to do anything about it to address the Republican healthcare crisis, so the notion that he’s going to run Venezuela and make life better for the Venezuelan people, of course, is belied by the facts as to what he’s done as President here in the United States of America.

KRISTEN WELKER: Well, you just heard my conversation with Secretary Rubio. I asked him about the administration’s decision not to inform Congress ahead of this operation until President Maduro had been captured. Secretary Rubio saying this was not the kind of mission where they could have afforded to notify Congress. There were concerns about leaks. He made that point. President Trump made that point. Was the administration justified in this case in not briefing Congress?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, there’s been no evidence that the administration has presented to justify the actions that were taken in terms of there being an imminent threat to the health, the safety, the well-being, the national security of the American people. This was not simply a counter-narcotics operation. It was an act of war. It involved, of course, the Delta Force, and we’re thankful for the precision by which they executed the operation and thankful for the fact that no American lives were lost. But this was a military action involving Delta Force, involving the Army, apparently involving thousands of troops, involving at least 150 military aircraft, perhaps involving dozens of ships off the coast of Venezuela and South America. So, of course, it was a military action, and pursuant to the Constitution, only Congress has the power to declare war, to authorize acts that take place in this regard. And we’ve got to make sure when we return to Washington, D.C., that legislative action is taken to ensure that no further military steps occur absent explicit congressional approval.

KRISTEN WELKER: Alright, let’s talk about when you return to Washington, D.C. One of the big topics at the forefront of Congress will be, of course, the fight over these Obamacare subsidies. They expired just days ago. The House set to vote on a three-year extension of those subsidies, but as you know, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said it’s a non-starter in the Senate. Why are you putting forward a bill that has absolutely no chance of passing the Senate?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, let’s take it one step at a time. We’ve got to make sure that a straightforward extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits passes out of the House upon our return next week so we can protect the healthcare of tens of millions of Americans who are about to experience dramatically-increased health insurance premiums, co-pays and deductibles. In some instances, health insurance costs will increase by $1,000 or $2,000 per month. That’s completely and totally unacceptable. And Republicans have a responsibility to partner with us as Democrats to stop it to protect the healthcare of everyday Americans, working-class Americans and middle-class Americans. Now, when we successfully pass this bill out of the House of Representatives, we know that there’s a bipartisan majority in the Senate—every single Senate Democrat and at least four Senate Republicans—who support a straightforward extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits. The votes exist to pass it in the Senate, absent procedural hurdles that John Thune is erecting because Republicans apparently have no interest in protecting the healthcare of everyday Americans. They’d rather protect the interests of Big Oil and their billionaire donors, which is why they enacted massive tax breaks as part of their One Big Ugly Bill.

KRISTEN WELKER: Let me ask you, because as you know, we are 26 days away from another potential government shutdown on the heels of the longest shutdown in U.S. History. Would you support another government shutdown over this battle over healthcare subsidies?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, what we’ve said from the very beginning. First of all, we need to resolve this issue within the next week or so, protect the healthcare of the American people, and then continue to fix our broken healthcare system and address the Republican healthcare crisis that’s devastating everyday Americans, including as a result of the fact that they enacted the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. Now, we’ve also said, as it relates to the appropriations process, that we will sit down anytime, anyplace, with anyone in order to find a bipartisan path forward to enact a spending agreement that actually makes life better for the American people. As Democrats, we’re committed to driving down the high cost of living that exists in this country. Donald Trump promised on day one of his presidency that Republicans would lower costs. Costs haven’t gone down, costs have gone up. Housing costs out of control. Grocery costs out of control. Utility bills out of control. Healthcare costs out of control. We’re committed to actually addressing the needs of the American people. That’s one of the problems with this action in Venezuela. How does it actually improve the quality of life of everyday Americans? How is it in America’s national security interest? Why doesn’t Donald Trump and the administration focus on dealing with the affordability crisis? That is not a hoax. It’s very real and something meaningful needs to be done about it. That’s the Democratic commitment.

KRISTEN WELKER: Leader Jeffries, let me ask you, because Tuesday marks the fifth anniversary of the January 6th attack on the Capitol. House Democrats are planning to hold a hearing criticizing President Trump’s decision to pardon all of the rioters. And I wonder, is there anything tangible that you anticipate coming from this hearing, or is this hearing for show?

LEADER JEFFRIES: It’s a substantive hearing. It’ll be about the concerns that have been raised by people all across this country after the fact that on his first day in office, Donald Trump pardoned hundreds of violent felons who brutally attacked the Capitol and beat police officers, more than 140 who were seriously injured. Psychological and physical damage that was done that is permanent in nature. And it was all part of Donald Trump’s effort to halt the peaceful transfer of power, which is one of the bedrocks of American democracy. We’re in our 250th year of representative government. Our democracy is not perfect, but it’s a glorious thing, and it fundamentally has to be protected and preserved. So at minimum, on this fifth anniversary of that horrific attack on the U.S. Capitol, we’re going to address issues of concern related to ensuring we continue to have free and fair elections. We’ve got to get rid of this compliant Republican Congress who function like a reckless rubber stamp for Donald Trump’s extreme agenda as opposed to actually trying to enact policies that make life better for the American people.That’s at the essence of our democracy. And so on Tuesday, it’ll be an important hearing. We’ll hear from Americans from across the ideological spectrum about the horrors of January 6th and why we’ve got to make sure that something like that never happens again.

KRISTEN WELKER: All right, very busy time in this new year on Capitol Hill. We’ll be tracking all of it. Leader Jeffries, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you, and Happy New Year.

KRISTEN WELKER: Happy New Year to you.

Full interview can be watched here.

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