| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| Violently assaulted a nearby clerk, Deputy Escadeda sprang into action. | ||
| His fellow detectives were able to narrow down an area of interest for the suspect's getaway vehicle, but unable to find the car, they ended up dropping the search. | ||
| Yet, Deputy Escada returned to the spot and was able to make a positive ID on the vehicle. | ||
| As he reported the news to his fellow deputies, he was killed in a cowardly ambush attack. | ||
| Deputy Escada was 28 years old. | ||
| His life unfairly taken in his prime, but his funeral last July, as so many of you know, brought over a thousand community members to honor and respect that great fallen hero. | ||
| And finally, we mourn officers like Hamilton County Special Deputy Sheriff Larry Henderson. | ||
| Now, I realize this case occurred not in 2024, but more recently, not even two weeks ago, in fact, but the story hits especially close to home. | ||
| Good afternoon, everyone. | ||
| House Democrats have spent all week aggressively pushing back against the GOP tax scam. | ||
| We will continue to make clear to the American people that Republicans promised to lower the high cost of living and improve the economy, and in fact, promised that costs would go down on day one. | ||
| Costs aren't going down, they are going up. | ||
| And Republicans continue to crash the economy in real time and are driving America toward a painful recession. | ||
| At the same time, StreamAga Republicans are trying to jam this reckless budget down the throats of the American people, take away health care from approximately 14 million Americans, including by undermining parts of the Affordable Care Act and enacting the largest Medicaid cut in American history, | ||
| while at the same time taking away more than $300 billion from nutritional assistance to the American people. | ||
| Literally, House Republicans have voted to take food out of the mouths of children, families, seniors, and veterans as part of their toxic scheme to enact massive tax cuts for their billionaire donors like Elon Musk. | ||
| This legislation is the height of irresponsibility. | ||
| It will hurt everyday Americans and does nothing to make the economy more affordable or make the lives of the American people better. | ||
| Which is why, as House Democrats, we will continue to strongly oppose this bill as members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Ways and Means Committee, and the Ag Committee did exceptionally well and in a unified fashion throughout this week. | ||
| Questions? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good afternoon. | |
| Thank you, Protector. | ||
| Can you be more specific about what would happen if there were to be an arrest? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Can you be more specific if there were to be an arrest or if there were to be sanctions against these Democrats? | |
| Let's be clear. | ||
| You just said last year. | ||
| Let's be clear. | ||
|
unidentified
|
They'll find out. | |
| Let's be clear. | ||
| Right. | ||
| They will find out to the extent that they cross any red lines that have been made explicitly clear to them. | ||
| There is zero basis to hold any member of Congress accountable, either as a result of House floor action or activity based on weaponizing federal law enforcement against members of the Democratic Party. | ||
| There's no evidence to suggest that any member of Congress who was in Newark visiting the detention facility in connection with their oversight authority has done anything wrong. | ||
| No videos have been produced suggesting that they've engaged in any inappropriate activity. | ||
| And if those videos existed, certainly they would have been put into the public domain by now. | ||
| Those videos haven't been released because they don't exist. | ||
| The members of Congress, Bonnie Watson, Coleman, LaMonica, MacGyver, and Rob Menendez were the ones who were subjected to overly aggressive behavior by people who are weaponizing the authority of the federal government as part of some effort to try to intimidate House Democrats. | ||
| It's not happening. | ||
| They will not be successful as it relates to their efforts to intimidate us. | ||
| Not today, not tomorrow, not next week, not next month, not next year, not ever. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Leader, are there any reforms to Medicaid that you would support to make it more solvent? | |
| We are always open to having a bipartisan conversation to see how we can make the federal government and important programs relied upon by the American people as efficient and effective as possible. | ||
| The House Republicans have not produced any evidence of meaningful waste, fraud, and abuse. | ||
| That's an excuse to try to find cuts to enable their massive tax breaks for their billionaire donors like Elon Musk. | ||
| From the very beginning of this process, Republicans have made clear they don't want to enter into any bipartisan conversation about making life better for the American people, which is why they've chosen to produce this one big, ugly bill through reconciliation so they can avoid Democrats being part of the legislative process. | ||
| To the extent this thing falls apart in some way, shape, or form, then as Democrats, like we've made clear from the very beginning of this Congress, we'll work with anyone in good faith who's actually committed to improving the quality of life of the American people and building an affordable economy. | ||
| Republicans clearly are not in that space. | ||
|
unidentified
|
But what about strengthening work requirements and those kinds of things? | |
| The Republicans have spent years complaining about unfunded mandates, and now we have this one big, ugly bill filled with unfunded mandates. | ||
| These aren't serious people right now. | ||
| And this is not just Democrats expressing concern about the assault on Medicaid and the health care of the American people. | ||
| Senator Josh Hawley has been very clear because he knows what we know, that this Republican budget, the GOP tax scam, represents an assault on Medicaid recipients and the health care of the American people. | ||
| This whole notion that Democrats are somehow making this up is belied by the fact that conservative Republicans have made the same observation, including people who are close to the Trump administration who have warned this Republican Congress that if they proceed with these Medicaid cuts, they are hurting their own people. | ||
| Rural hospitals will close and health care is going to be snatched away from working class Americans in blue states, purple states, and red states. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Leader. | |
| The Supreme Court heard all arguments today on Treasury Trump's birthright citizenship executive order. | ||
| I know House Democrats put forward an amicus brief arguing against it. | ||
| For Americans who are just tuning against this conversation, what's your message to them about birthright citizenship and why you all are fighting so hard to defend it? | ||
| Well, birthright citizenship is part of the fabric of the country because it's part of the fabric of the United States Constitution as included in the 14th Amendment. | ||
| The history of birthright citizenship, of course, relates to the fact that in the aftermath of emancipation and during Reconstruction, enlightened people in this Congress at the time, | ||
| in the 1860s and throughout the country, determined that there was a risk that newly freed, formerly enslaved Africans would not be treated as actual citizens and would be subjected to behavior that would relegate them to second or third class citizenship. | ||
| To try to avoid that circumstance, it was included in the 14th Amendment in a way that makes clear anyone born in this country is an American citizen. | ||
| Donald Trump does not have the ability to wave a malignant MAGA wand and wipe that away. | ||
| He can't do it. | ||
| And I think it's pretty clear based on the Supreme Court arguments today that a majority of the court will come to that conclusion that Donald Trump's executive order related to birthright citizenship was both unlawful and unconstitutional and another example of his abuse of power. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier this week that he supports banning members of Congress from trading stocks, which is something that you've said you support. | ||
| Have you spoken to all of the speaker about this and do you expect it to get a vote in this Congress? | ||
| I haven't spoken to Speaker Johnson about this issue, but what is clear is that there's corruption unfolding in real time amongst the executive branch and that to the extent that we tackle this issue as it relates to prohibiting members of Congress from trading stock, which I strongly support, we need to simultaneously explore how we can deal with executive branch corruption. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks. | |
| Kevin? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Do you plan on endorsing it all in the mayor's race between now and the end of June? | |
| Obviously, many of your colleagues have stepped into this. | ||
| I don't. | ||
| It's pretty easy. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I thought you were going to ask you another question. | |
| We can circle back to you on another question if you want. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Given the new allegations in Jake Tapper's book, do you have any concerns with President Biden's age or decline? | |
| And was there a cover-up by the Democratic Party? | ||
| We're not looking backward. | ||
| We're going to continue to look forward. | ||
| Certainly, I think President Biden made the decision not to seek reelection. | ||
| It's a decision that House Democrats strongly supported. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| So regarding this budget bill, what's your progress in getting four Republicans to kill it with Democrats? | ||
| Who are those Republicans you're looking to get to come to your side? | ||
| And additionally, what other avenues can Democrats explore to kill the bill? | ||
| Well, there were more than a dozen Republicans who in different ways have publicly communicated their opposition to supporting a bill that would strip away Medicaid and health care benefits from the American people, including those that they represent. | ||
| All we need are four of those Republicans who have publicly said they do not support this effort to enact the largest cut to Medicaid in American history to actually stand on principle and oppose this Republican budget as it is currently written. | ||
| I do not believe that the Republican leadership believes that the votes exist right now for the GOP tax scam as it has currently been put together. | ||
| And so the next few days will be critical. | ||
| I urge my Republican colleagues to stop running away from their constituents. | ||
| House Democrats are going to continue to run toward our constituents and their constituents as we've been doing. | ||
| And we'll have these conversations in advance of returning to Washington. | ||
| And we'll see if just a handful of members can come up with the political courage to stand up for their constituents. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So just a quick follow-up to that. | |
| Are you personally going to talk to any of these Republicans to convince them to come to your side? | ||
| Those are conversations that are ongoing and private in nature at this moment. | ||
| We've also been very clear publicly with where we as Democrats stand and the fact that we look forward to finding four Republicans to partner with us in defense of the health care of the American people. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Leader Jeffries, do you think it makes sense to have citizenship verification for Medicaid and Social Security number requirement for child tax credit? | |
| I think that, you know, we support Medicaid as it currently exists and the efforts to enact the largest Medicaid cut in American history is unacceptable. | ||
| It's unnecessary. | ||
| It's unconscionable, and it's un-American. | ||
| If my Republican colleagues want to have a conversation about how we can make health care delivery in the United States of America more affordable, more effective, and more efficient, led by Frank Pallone, the Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee are more than willing to have that conversation. | ||
| But we believe that in America, access to high quality health care is not a privilege, it's a right. | ||
| And we've been moving toward getting to a place where every single American can have access to the health care that they need to live a life of dignity and respect. | ||
| Unfortunately, House Republicans, Senate Republicans, and the Trump administration are undermining the progress that has been made in the area of health care and are now putting access to health care at risk for millions of people all across this country. | ||
| Hospitals will close, including in rural America. | ||
| Nursing homes will shut down in every single community, and people will die. | ||
| This is not an effort that we can support, and House Democrats are unified in our strong and principled opposition. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Leader Jeffries. | |
| With everything that is going on right now inside the Democratic Party, including this growing grief between David Hogg and Malcolm Kenata, what do you see as the... | ||
| I'm sorry, I missed that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
They have a rift right now, the vice chairs, so including that rift. | |
| What do you see as the future direction of the party and how do you anticipate, if in any way, that this can translate to what you're doing here in the House? | ||
| Well, I think, you know, as House Democrats, we remain strongly unified and, you know, look forward to our continued partnership with Senate Democrats, governors across the country, Democratic attorney generals, other stakeholders, elected officials, unions, and of course the Democratic National Committee to continue to make our case to the American people and win elections. | ||
| It's interesting to me that we continue to navigate these sensational narratives when, as far as I can tell, from the very beginning of this presidency, Democrats are winning and Republicans are losing. | ||
| This is not a speculative theory at this point. | ||
| What exactly is confusing to people observing the state of the Democratic Party versus the state of the Republican Party based on five months consecutively of electoral data? | ||
| What exactly is confusing at this point in time? | ||
| There's a special election in January in Iowa. | ||
| It was a district that Donald Trump had just won by 21 points in a state Senate district that's in a swing congressional district that we will win next year. | ||
| And the Democrats won that state Senate seat in Iowa. | ||
| That was in January. | ||
| And then in February, there's a high-profile special election in New York because the Westchester County executive seat was vacant. | ||
| It was held by a Democrat who's now in Congress, George Latimer. | ||
| He's doing a great job. | ||
| Before Latimer held it, it was held for eight years by a MAGA Republican, Rob Astorino. | ||
| Trump endorses the Republican candidate in February in that special election, who then loses to the Democrat by 30 points. | ||
| And then in March, there's a special election in the state Senate district in Pennsylvania, a district that Donald Trump had just won by 15 points. | ||
| As far as we can tell, no Democrat in recent memory in the 20th or 21st century has ever represented Lancaster County until now because the Democrat won in the swing state of Pennsylvania in March. | ||
| And then in April, Elon Musk spent $25 million in Wisconsin, a state that Donald Trump had just won in what was widely viewed as a competitive election for the state Supreme Court seat that was open. | ||
| And the Democrats won decisively in a swing state defeating the MAGA extremists who was backed by Donald Trump and company by double digits. | ||
| And then just this week, in Omaha, Nebraska, in another electoral upset, the Democratic candidate, John Ewing Jr. defeats the incumbent Republican mayor by 13 points. | ||
| This is happening all over the country, five consecutive months. | ||
| So if that's losing, what does winning look like? | ||
| I'm confused. | ||
| We have a very clear, quantifiably evident roadmap as to how Democrats are doing in this country and how Republicans are doing during this Trump era. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Have you had any contact with the Departments of Homeland Security or Justice about what happened with your members in Newark? | |
| No. | ||
| Thank you, Leader. | ||
| Congressman Al Green faced a censure vote, and several Democrats did vote in favor of censoring or voted present. | ||
| Are you concerned that could happen this time around with these three Democrats in New Jersey? | ||
| No. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Yesterday in the morning, it seemed as though Congressman Shreef Van Barf was going to introduce a resolution to bring up impeachment. | ||
| By the end of the day, that had been canceled or changed. | ||
| Were there any conversations throughout the day with the Congressman or with leadership about that effort? | ||
| The decision by Congressman Danador not to proceed with his resolution speaks for itself. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Earlier today, several House Democrats held a press conference outside calling on Speaker Johnson to put up the plaque honoring the January 6th first responders. | |
| Is there anything you can do or as minority leaders to try and force a vote to try and force them to put it up? | ||
| You know, this is police week, and it's a week where we honor the service and the sacrifice, the heroism, the courage, and the bravery of the law enforcement community and also pay our respects to those fallen officers and support the families of those officers who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. | ||
| In the context of Police Week, it seems to us that respecting the members of the Capitol Police Department, the Metropolitan Police Department, federal, | ||
| state, and local law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol, the Constitution, and the country on January 6th is something that should happen immediately. | ||
| There was a law that was passed in 2022 requiring a plaque To be placed in a position of honor on the western front of the Capitol by March 15th of 2023, | ||
| listing the names of the brave officers who defended us as members of Congress on that fateful day on January 6th against a violent mob. | ||
| About 140 officers were seriously injured as a result of defending the Capitol. | ||
| And several subsequently died as it relates to things that unfolded on that day. | ||
| This is where there's a clear difference between Democrats and Republicans. | ||
| House Democrats have made clear we're going to respect and honor those law enforcement officials and police officers who defended this Capitol on January 6th. | ||
| Republicans would rather pardon violent felons who attacked police officers on that day. | ||
| That's what they've done. | ||
| Pardon thousands of people who were part of that violent mob, many of whom who brutally beat police officers and are now back at home across the country threatening the safety and well-being of people in the United States of America. | ||
| It's outrageous. | ||
| And on the House floor yesterday, when we asked for unanimous consent to discharge legislation that would make this happen, the Republicans rejected it. | ||
| Why? | ||
| Because they don't support honoring those officers on January 6th. | ||
| And they should be held to account for it. | ||
| The reason why the law hasn't been complied with and a plaque hasn't been erected is because Republicans, directed by their puppet master, Donald Trump, have been told, try to erase January 6th as if it has never happened. | ||
| Erase January 6th, you pardoned violent felons who brutally attacked police officers on January 6th as part of some effort, perhaps, to overturn the results of an election where Donald Trump was defeated by Joe Biden. | ||
| And we're going to stay on this case until the officers who defended the Capitol of the United States of America on January 6th are treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Can we continue our live coverage here on C-SPAN? | ||
| Take you to the State Department briefing in progress. | ||
| Someone's applying for a refugee status in this program. | ||
| And so that standard is uniform across the board. | ||
| So I want to clarify that aspect of it. | ||
| And again, the President has been very clear about the actions we are seeing in South Africa, the fact that this was a priority laid up by the President and the State Department is fulfilling that priority. | ||
| And you don't want to speak to any racial reasoning for allowing them to come in being white refugees versus not allowing any Latino or people of color coming into the U.S. with refugees this year. |