| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
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Spending bills for 2026. | |
| Watch live coverage of the U.S. House when lawmakers return here on C-SPAN. | ||
| Earlier today, Attorney General Pam Bondi testified on the President's 2026 budget request for the Justice Department, which includes nearly $3 billion in proposed cuts and aims to consolidate several DOJ offices. | ||
| Watch the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing tonight, starting at 9 Eastern on C-SPAN. | ||
| It's also available on C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, or online at c-span.org. | ||
| House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries held a briefing with reporters where he reacted to the U.S. military strikes against Iran. | ||
| He also criticized the Republicans' tax and spending cuts legislation, which is awaiting approval in the Senate. | ||
| From Capitol Hill, this is about 25 minutes. | ||
| Heads up. | ||
| Good afternoon, everyone. | ||
| Trump administration continues to unleash chaos, cruelty, and corruption on the American people. | ||
| Donald Trump and Extreme MAGA Republicans have been a complete and total failure domestically and internationally. | ||
| Donald Trump promised that on day one of his presidency, he would end the war in Ukraine. | ||
| He promised on day one of his presidency, he would free the hostages to bring about peace in the Middle East. | ||
| And Donald Trump promised that on day one of his presidency, costs would go down in the United States of America. | ||
| None of it has happened. | ||
| Instead, costs in the United States of America aren't going down, they're going up. | ||
| Donald Trump and Extreme MAGA Republicans are crashing the economy in real time and driving us toward a possible recession. | ||
| Donald Trump and House Republicans have not done a single thing to lower the high cost of living in the United States of America. | ||
| Not a single thing. | ||
| Instead, Republicans are trying to jam this one big, ugly bill down the throats of the American people. | ||
| The GOP tax scam represents the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. | ||
| It's an all-out assault on the health care of the American people. | ||
| Children, families, people with disabilities, seniors, veterans will all be hurt by the GOP tax scam. | ||
| Premiums, co-pays, and deductibles will go up for tens of millions of Americans. | ||
| Hospitals will close. | ||
| Nursing homes will shut down. | ||
| Community-based health clinics will be unable to operate. | ||
| And because more than 16 or so million people in America will lose their health care, people in this country will die. | ||
| That's what Republican governance has brought to the United States of America. | ||
| The GOP tax scam will also cut nutritional assistance from the American people, Children and seniors and older Americans will literally have food ripped away from them. | ||
| And this all-out assault on health care, this all-out assault on nutritional assistance is being done by Republicans so they can provide their billionaire donors with massive tax breaks that they don't need and don't deserve. | ||
| The one big, ugly Republican bill will hurt everyday Americans in order to reward billionaires. | ||
| At the same time, Donald Trump and his actions, which do not appear to be consistent with the United States Constitution, takes unilateral offensive military action without seeking the approval of the United States Congress. | ||
| The use of military force, which is offensive in nature, must be approved by the House and the Senate. | ||
| That's according to the Constitution. | ||
| It's not optional, Donald. | ||
| It's not. | ||
| The framers of the Constitution actually gave Congress the power to declare war for a reason. | ||
| So the American people, through their elected representatives, would have the opportunity to debate the issue and make some decisions as it relates to what's in the best interest and the national security of the American people. | ||
| Donald Trump and the administration chose to ignore the Constitution. | ||
| And so they're going to have to come before Congress and explain their justification for an offensive military strike against Iran. | ||
| Yes, we can never allow Iran to become a nuclear power. | ||
| And of course Israel has the right to defend itself and will support Israel's security in an ironclad manner. | ||
| But the Trump administration intentionally decided to ignore the aggressive diplomacy that was available to it to try to address the Iranian nuclear threat and ignore the requirements of the Constitution. | ||
| And now they've got to explain why. | ||
| And we expect that justification, not just at the classified briefing behind closed doors tomorrow, but we expect them to explain to the American people the basis of the strike. | ||
| What were the results in terms of actually thwarting Iran's capacity to become a nuclear power? | ||
| And what are the Trump administration plans to avoid another potentially disastrous war in the Middle East where thousands of American lives are potentially at risk? | ||
| What is your plan to avoid another foreign war? | ||
| A promise you made, a promise that Donald Trump made to the American people last year. | ||
| And just like every other major promise that he made on a campaign trail, he's failed to keep it. | ||
| Questions? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Leader Jaffer, you've been with Jackard's. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| I know you just said it's not optional to use military force without consulting Congress, but what is your specific reaction to this afternoon's retaliatory strikes? | ||
| Also, were you briefed this morning about the potential for retaliation? | ||
| And lastly, have you been given any updated intelligence assessment about what damage may or may not have occurred from Saturday's strikes? | ||
| On Saturday at the highest levels, I communicated to the White House that it was my expectation that we would have a gang of eight classified briefing immediately to discuss the military strike on Iran, | ||
| the potential for retaliation, as well as to probe the basis and justification for the offensive military action and to understand the damage that was actually done and whether reports are accurate that Iran may have moved significant amounts of their enriched uranium in advance of the strike, | ||
| which would effectively allow them to remain in a position to become a nuclear power. | ||
| That gang of eight briefing has not taken place. | ||
| So the question is, why not? | ||
| What is the administration hiding from the elected representatives of the United States Congress if they're willing to stand behind their actions? | ||
| Now, our thoughts, prayers, and our full support will continue to be behind the members of the United States military who are in harm's way throughout the Middle East. | ||
| That's unwavering and unequivocal support for our service men and women in the military throughout the Middle East. | ||
| That is different than making sure that the Trump administration in a democracy follows the law, follows the Constitution, and does what's in the best interest of the national security of the American people. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Leader Jefferies. | |
| Thanks. | ||
| Back row. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Leader Jeffries, would you support the Rokana War Powers Resolution? | |
| I haven't taken a look at it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Leader Jeffrey. | |
| Speaker Johnson just said that now is not the, quote, appropriate time for that resolution. | ||
| What's your response? | ||
| And also, do you expect to receive another briefing from the White House? | ||
| What have they told you? | ||
| We haven't gotten an initial briefing from the White House. | ||
| All we received from the White House was a so-called courtesy call with no explanation as to the rationale for the decision that was taken that could have serious consequences for the American people. | ||
| I asked for a gang of eight briefing. | ||
| It has yet to occur. | ||
| And it's not clear to me what the administration is hiding from the Congress and from the American people. | ||
| If they have a case to make, come up to Capitol Hill and make it. | ||
| In terms of the War Powers Act resolutions, because House Republicans change the rules in this Congress, those resolutions would ordinarily be required to be presented for an up or down vote within 48 hours because they were privileged in nature. | ||
| For some reason, House Republicans don't want to have a full and comprehensive and swift debate on the War Powers Act issue before the American people. | ||
| So they've changed the rules such that the resolutions aren't even eligible for a debate on the House floor until several weeks from now. | ||
| That's outrageous. | ||
| And House Republican leaders are going to have to explain that to their own base, which also does not want to see another dangerous, potentially disastrous Middle Eastern war. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Leader Jeff, you have to be very clear in your position that Congress should have authorized, that military action should have been authorized through Congress. | |
| If the Commander-in-Chief had sought congressional approval here, would you have given it to him? | ||
| We've seen no evidence to date that an offensive strike of this nature was justified under the War Powers Act or the Constitution. | ||
| But the whole reason for the Trump administration to undertake that process is to come up to Capitol Hill and convince the American people and their elected representatives in the House and in the Senate. | ||
| That hasn't happened. | ||
| And what I can say is not a scintilla of evidence to date has been presented that I have seen to justify the notion that there was an imminent threat to the United States of America. | ||
| If the administration has evidence to the contrary, come up to present it. | ||
| We're not hard to find. | ||
| I'm not hiding. | ||
| And we've asked for a gang of eight briefing. | ||
| Tomorrow, there will be an opportunity for every single member of the House to hear the information from the administration, and hopefully they will present it in a manner that's comprehensive. | ||
| It will be probed. | ||
| It will be tested. | ||
| It will be aggressively pushed back against. | ||
| And then we'll see what the outcome is after that classified briefing. | ||
| That's a question that the administration is going to have to provide to us and to the American people. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Leader. | |
| Thanks. | ||
| Going back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, Leader Jeffries, you clearly think President Trump's actions here were unconstitutional. | |
| So what are you and other Democrats going to do to hold him accountable if not a vote on the war powers resolution? | ||
| I clearly think that there's no basis that I've seen to justify his actions that involved in running the United States Congress. | ||
| The Trump administration will have an ability to try to convince members of Congress on both sides of the aisle that it was a justified action and ultimately convince the American people. | ||
| And that will begin tomorrow, and we'll see what happens from there. | ||
| There's no evidence that I have seen to justify the military strike that took place in the absence of securing congressional approval. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Leader Jefferson, thank you for taking my question. | |
| There are some members in your conference that have suggested impeaching President Trump over these Iranian strikes. | ||
| Impeachment has come up, not just from AOC, but other members. | ||
| Is that a tool on the table for you if you were to take back the House? | ||
| I think what's on the tool, a tool that's on the table right now, is to continue to demand that the administration present itself before the United States Congress and make the case to the American people as to why this extraordinary step has been taken. | ||
| That's step one. | ||
| Step two is for the war powers resolution, whether that's the one that has already been introduced or others that may subsequently be introduced, for those resolutions to be debated on the House floor as should have occurred already. | ||
| And then we'll see where we're at thereafter. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So you're not hearing any calls for impeachment seriously right now? | |
| But this is a dangerous moment that we're in, and we've got to get through what's in front of us. | ||
| And what's in front of us right now is the Trump administration has a responsibility to come to Congress, justify its actions, for which we've seen no evidence to justify its offensive strike in Iran. | ||
| And we also don't even know how effective the strike has been. | ||
| There's zero evidence that I've seen that the nuclear program was completely and totally obliterated, as Donald Trump has claimed. | ||
| No evidence that has been presented to Congress to suggest that that has occurred. | ||
| Let's see what happens at the classified briefing tomorrow. | ||
| Thanks. | ||
| Second row? |