And if this executive branch and this White House is going to take the initiative to dig in and find those details and expose them, we applaud it.
unidentified
We're all on board.
Thanks for watching.
The president said that he wants to unwind U.S.A. The president said that he wants to unwind U.S.A. You don't think this is a balance for both predictions?
The chair of the House Democratic Caucus, Pete Aguilar, criticized President Trump's proposal to take over Gaza during the leadership's weekly news conference.
He also takes questions on the Trump administration and the Republican agenda.
House Democrats had a productive caucus this morning.
Leader Jeffreys laid out our path forward as we push back against the chaos and the corruption that we've seen from Donald Trump's White House.
One thing is clear.
With Trump and Republicans in control, America will be less safe and more expensive.
We are less safe because an unelected billionaire with controversial ties to China has access to personal information for every American, including potentially tax and social security information.
We're less safe because President Trump released violent criminals into our communities, some with records of domestic violence, rape, and attacking police officers.
We are less safe because hundreds of FBI agents are on the verge of being fired for not being sufficiently loyal to Donald Trump.
Women who serve in the military are less safe today because of an executive order Donald Trump signed preventing them from traveling across state lines to seek abortion care.
America is more safe because America is more expensive because egg prices are at an all-time high and Republicans in Congress have not taken a single step to reduce the cost of living.
The reckless Republican tariffs will increase costs for households by $1,200 each year.
Everything from groceries to alcohol to lumber used to build homes will be more expensive.
The Republican ripoff will increase health care costs by stealing from Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and corporations.
The American people voted for solutions to their economic challenges and instead got a corrupt White House in an America that is less safe and more expensive.
A number of times they have been stopped and they have had to back down.
So, for example, on the birthright citizenship order, a Reagan-appointed federal judge declared it unconstitutional, put an injunction on it.
And then, with the OMB freeze memo, there was pushback from Democrats, from the American people, and they had to rescind that memo, and a judge also declared that memo to be illegal.
And then, most recently, you saw Trump's signature issue, the tariffs.
He backed down because of the reaction from the stock market, the reaction from the American people.
unidentified
Basically, Canada and Mexico are doing what they said they were already going to do.
So, essentially, Donald Trump simply voted on that issue.
So, I want people to understand their power to shape public sentiment.
In California, Donald Trump ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to release a whole bunch of water from these dams when no one needed it.
So, over 2 billion gallons of water have now been wasted in California.
unidentified
This water from Northern California isn't even going down to Southern California.
It's largely going to evaporate when farmers don't need it.
And so, Republican Congressman David Valadeo is going to have to answer to his farmers when in the summer months they need water and they don't have enough.
Those are the harmful actions of this administration.
And I want people to understand that pushing back gets this administration to fold.
Mr. Leader, the Republicans just accused Democrats of being willing to shut down the government if they don't get their way in terms of these negotiations and pushback on Donald Trump.
You mentioned the legislative component of your plan to push back against Trump.
How far is your conference willing to go to try and prevent what you see as the usurping of congressional authority from Donald Trump?
Could it lead to a government shutdown?
Could it lead to the debt ceiling not being raised?
We will meet with folks and we will try to find common ground where it is possible.
But what we will not do is engage in an effort that gives Donald Trump money to direct our federal government that he has no plan to utilize or implement.
When we pass something, and this is where I would just strenuously object with Appropriations Chair Tom Cole, who said appropriations isn't law, it's a directive of Congress.
I think there's a number of past appropriations chairs who would disagree with that on both sides of the aisle.
These, this is law.
If we're going to pass law, we need to know that the law is followed.
And it doesn't appear that House Republicans are in a position to push back against Donald Trump to protect vital funding that supports our communities.
And if they aren't willing to do that, they should just be honest with this.
And so we will meet with them.
We will talk with them about funding government and the issues of the day.
But I think it's pretty clear based on what happened in December who they answer to.
They answer to Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
And so we need the certainty that the work, the legislative work that we do, will actually be implemented and passed.
And if we find thoughtful partners on the other side who are willing to do that, we'll engage.
unidentified
Republicans control the White House, the Senate, and the House.
I do want to ask, I know at the same time that a lot of your members, and just now you mentioned attempts to find common ground with the administration and Republicans while they're in power.
I just want to get your reaction to one of your members, Congressman Al Green, filing these impeachment articles already.
Do you think that's an appropriate step to take, given that Trump's only been in office now for two weeks?
Two questions for you, one, California focused with the governor on the Hill today.
Are you hoping that these conversations he's having with leadership, as well as his meeting with the White House, will help with leveraging California's position in trying to get some of this wildfire aid?
And then more broadly, do you feel Leader Thune and Speaker Johnson are abdicating their constitutional authority by allowing the president to step on Congress's authority?
And how are Democrats planning to push back on that?
Vice Chair Liu and I were pleased and privileged to be able to join Leader Jeffries and Whip Clark, along with Brad Sherman and Judy Chu, to tour the fire devastation in Palisades in Altadena.
Our hope, our focus is to make sure that we help our fellow citizens, our Americans across the country, when there are disasters, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes.
All of that deserves an immediate response.
We lift up the work that FEMA and the Army Corps are doing to help residents recover and rebuild.
We need to keep the politics out of this, and I think that there are a number of Republicans who feel the same way.
Thankfully, we'll work in a process that meets the needs of the American public who are going through disasters, no matter if they are in a blue state or a red state.
So I appreciate the governor being here.
It's important to talk about the needs that our residents have, that the residents of Southern California have from this recent tragedy.
And so we'll continue to work to deliver.
On the second part, look, I think it's very clear.
I mean, the Constitution is pretty clear both on spending as well as the role of Congress.
And I do think that Speaker Johnson and Leader Thune are in a rush to deliver as much as they can for President Trump.
That is who they answer to, not their constituents or their conferences.
But that's who they answer to.
And so we see that in everything that they do, from deadlines to bills to the issues of the day, the vice chair mentioned, this is on them to deliver funding bills and to deliver for the president.
If they can't do that, they have the votes to do that.
We'll see if they can.
Chad and Michael?
unidentified
Thank you.
Good morning.
You talk about the pushback by Democrats on President Trump and some of the things the Republicans are trying to do.
What is the appropriate approach?
Is it to ask Senate Democrats to walk all nominees if possible, at least slow walk them?
Is it to say take over the streets of Washington, D.C.?
And if that's the case, also why then, saying this is not a focus of the caucus on the articles of impeachment from Mr. Greene?
I mean, it would seem that if you think that the administration is doing all of these dastardly things, that that's something that the caucus would want to get around, or is that bad to revisit since this guy's already been impeached twice and that didn't go too hot for the Democrats previously?
It's a different press conference that they don't invite me to.
But I think what the Vice Chair outlined is very clear.
Look, our focus is on outreach, mobilizing our communities, being responsive to our communities, a litigation strategy the vice chair laid out.
Each time these executive orders come before the judges, they've been beaten back or they've been pulled back.
Donald Trump does not have success in the court system.
I mean that both governmentally and personally.
So it's very clear that the litigation strategy will be one tool that we can use.
And then we have legislative strategies.
And I'll let the leader outline those in the coming days.
But we need to forcefully ensure that Americans' data is protected and that no third party can walk into the Treasury and start downloading information.
And so we need to protect the public.
That's what we're focused on.
That's what House Democrats this week are focused on.
But just to be clear here, I mean, and coming back to my point about Mr. Green, if you think that Elon Musk has control of the Treasury system and so on and so forth, why wouldn't you then be behind an idea of impeaching the police?
I mean, the Vice Chair and I are here to talk on behalf of the Democratic caucus.
I mean, the answer is still the same.
This isn't a focus of the Democratic caucus.
We've laid out our strategy, legislative litigation, outreach and communication, and that continues to be the focus.
If there are more focuses or if there are new ideas that we feel have the support of the caucus, you'll hear us talk about them.
unidentified
Michael.
Following up on kind of the spirit of the caucus, Leader Jeffries has mentioned that all Democrats need a three or a small number of House Republicans to join you all to stop some of the chaos that's going on.
Have you all targeted any Republicans that members can speak to that you all can kind of communicate with, whether it's a private to kind of discuss and get some feelers on are there any Republicans who could bypass leadership, their leadership, or kind of go against the Trump administration and survive a primary to work with you all to stop this?
Or again, are you all saying because they control all levers of government, it's up to them?
Leader Jeffries has mentioned a few times that he invites three Republicans to join you all.
Is that something you all are talking about inside the caucus?
And each of us enjoys relationships based on our committees and based on when we came to Congress, the vice chair and I came together 10 years ago with Republicans.
Some of the reasonable partners on the other side of the aisle who I've worked with on things have moved on, you know, retired and left this place.
And that's unfortunate.
But look, we will continue to have conversations, but what you highlighted is incredibly important.
What Republicans say in the hallways and in the elevators is often very different than what they're comfortable saying and doing in front of a podium to push back against Donald Trump.
And so we will highlight time and time again that it only takes a couple.
If you want to protect Americans' data at the Treasury Department, join our efforts.
If you want to ensure that essential cuts to education in the classroom are not implemented, join us.
If you want to protect vital funding for people at nursing homes and young people to have health care, join us.
We will engage and have conversations with them if it is around protecting funding and protecting our communities.
I'll let the Senate speak to their processes and procedures and what tools they have.
I can speak to ours that we have here in the House.
This is a majority-run institution, and so this is a little different.
But we will use the levers and the tools available to push back legislatively and to communicate our message about the policies that we see from Donald Trump and House Republicans making us less safe and not lowering costs that people pay.
We'll continue to do that, and we'll use the levers that we have here in the House to do it.
You'll have to ask the folks on the other side of the dome what their tactics and strategies are.
It's my understanding that he's talking to Judy Chu and Brad Sherman, the members who were affected by the tragedies.
We all have a line in communication into the California team, and so we'll continue to uplift their needs as they arise.
We met with FEMA last week.
We talked about how much is in the disaster recovery fund, what that looks like.
They didn't give us an idea on the timing for a supplemental and where it's needed, but they did stress the urgency and the importance of a disaster relief fund and how that is allocating payments to people who are affected.
That all runs a risk on March 14th when government funding lapses.
When Donald Trump turned off the federal funding, that also will have an effect on the female recovery efforts.
unidentified
How confident are you that Californians will receive that disaster funding to rebuild their homes and communities?
Look, I'm confident that they have enough money in the short term to meet their needs, that FEMA has enough money in the short term to meet their needs.
I can't speak to what is beyond that and the recovery because Congress is going to have to act.
And it's my hope that we do so in a bipartisan way, just as we have in the past with disasters.
I think that there's energy around the country pushing back against some of these policies.
We also need to channel that energy.
We need to talk with our communities and folks in our communities about our efforts, our legislative efforts, and the litigation efforts that are underway.
But we also need to encourage them, look, I understand the anger.
Help us get a couple more folks to support our efforts.
Just like we said before, we're only three votes away.
Let's work to deliver votes that can push back, that can protect vital funding, that can ensure Americans' personal information and is secure at the Treasury Department, that can protect vital classroom funding from the Department of Education.
That's what this is about.
And so we're engaged in efforts to talk with members in our community about the importance of doing that.
unidentified
Was there any discussion in Congress meeting about the President's remarks last night on Gaza?
And how would the leadership feel about spending any money for this sort of project he has in mind?
This weekend, I went to the grocery store with my wife, and there were no eggs on the shelves.
So the American people want solutions that help them in their lives, make their prices lower, make sure they have the items that they need at grocery stores.
unidentified
None of this chaos coming from the Trump administration is helping families across America.
That's one reason the administration backed down on a number of these orders because the administration is not popular.
A reminder that Donald Trump won less than half of the popular vote.
He voted on a freeze memo that his birthright issue was blocked by the courts because he does not have a mandate no matter how much he tries because he's just not that popular.
unidentified
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Live Thursday on C-SPAN.
At 10 a.m. Eastern, the House continues work on a bill to permanently classify fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I drugs, the most restricted level.
On C-SPAN 2, the Senate continues work on President Trump's nominations after Democrats kept the Senate in session all night to protest the nomination of Russell Vogt to be White House budget director.
A final vote on his nomination is expected later in the day.
On C-SPAN 3 at 8 a.m. Eastern, President Trump joins lawmakers on Capitol Hill for the annual national prayer breakfast.
And then at 10, the Senate Finance Committee considers the nomination of Jamison Greer to be United States Trade Representative.
This comes after the President imposed tariffs on China and paused proposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada.