众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯(Hakeem Jeffries)周日表示，他的共和党同事正“处于内战之中”，在新推出的一项计划中，最佳前进方式是什么对乔·拜登总统的弹劾调查一场持续的支出大战又一次迫在眉睫的联邦政府关门.
“内战有以下属性:混乱、功能失调和极端主义。众议院共和党内战正在伤害辛勤工作的美国纳税人，并限制了我们代表他们解决问题的能力，”杰弗里斯在接受美国广播公司“本周”联合主播乔纳森·卡尔独家采访时说。
“真是不幸。但作为众议院民主党人，我们将继续努力寻找与另一方的共同点，”杰弗里斯说，并补充说:“希望众议院共和党人会出现，这样我们就可以努力确保我们为政府提供资金。”
杰弗里斯还表示，白宫“将继续配合”弹劾调查，“因为没有什么可隐瞒的。”
共和党众议员南希·梅斯(Nancy Mace)在杰弗里斯之后出现在“本周”节目中，并承认共和党与众议院议长凯文·麦卡锡有问题，但回击说:“我觉得这有点虚伪，这是他在采访中使用的分裂性语言，谈论人们对政治的看法。”
在谈到早些时候就提高国家债务上限达成的协议时，梅斯补充说，“如果民主党人，坦率地说，共和党人想把人们置于政治之上，他们就不会在今年早些时候联手增加18.8万亿美元的债务。”
杰弗里斯在他自己的采访中，将责任归咎于众议院的保守派多数，认为民主党人希望“结束目前已经占领众议院共和党人的党派政治小动作”
正如梅斯所说，一个主要的症结在于是否削减政府开支，以及在哪里削减。
众议院只通过了12项拨款法案中的一项。到目前为止，众议院民主党人投票反对共和党的拨款法案，因为会议认为这些法案的水平低于麦卡锡和拜登在6月份的债务限额协议中同意的支出上限。
当被问及联邦政府可能关闭时，杰弗里斯周日呼吁共和党人“停止相互争斗”，并表示他预计会进行更多的对话，但没有说他是否与麦卡锡讨论了前进的道路。
由于一些共和党成员威胁要提出动议，要求撤换麦卡锡，杰弗里斯也不会说众议院民主党人是否会帮助保释议长。
“无论如何，我们都没有考虑过，”他说。
“但我们现在应该关注的是避免不必要的政府关闭，这将损害我们经济继续复苏的能力，”他补充说。
2023年9月13日，众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯(Hakeem Jeffries)在华盛顿特区美国国会大厦举行的新闻发布会上发表讲话，这是一项禁止不安全枪支储存的法案
艾莉森·贝利/NurPhoto via Shutterstock
弹劾，亨特·拜登
在“本周”节目中，杰弗里斯谈到了对拜登的新弹劾调查，麦卡锡声称总统周围存在“腐败文化”——白宫称这是毫无根据的。
“记录上没有任何事实表明拜登总统参与了可弹劾的罪行。没有记录在案的事实表明拜登总统以任何方式、形式或方式违反了法律，”杰弗里斯说。
他称调查是另一个“众议院共和党内战的产物”麦卡锡最初表示，将举行投票来启动它，但不清楚他是否有足够的票数来这样做，他最终还是启动了一项计划。
“众议院共和党人发现了对拜登总统行为的严肃而可信的指控，”他上周表示。
国会共和党人长期以来一直在调查他们所称的总统和他的儿子亨特·拜登之间的非法关系，特别是围绕亨特·拜登有争议的海外商业交易。
没有证据表明总统直接参与了亨特·拜登的商业决策或者因为这些决策而做出决定。
周四，亨特·拜登在特拉华州被起诉因涉嫌在2018年买枪时谎报吸毒。他的律师上周在“早安美国”节目中表示，该案件“可能违宪”，并坚称将被驳回。
这位少数党领袖在“本周”节目中说，亨特·拜登的起诉证明总统和一直在调查亨特·拜登的政府司法部之间没有互动。
“亨特·拜登有权享有无罪推定。这件事现在正在法庭上，让我们看看它是如何进行的，”杰弗里斯说。“我认为更重要的是，乔·拜登总统继续带领我们关注重要的事情。”
分别地，在联合汽车工人罢工的余波杰弗里斯说，他将于周日下午前往底特律，并“期待与他们团结一致”，因为他们“正在为根本的美国梦而斗争。”
他说，他希望罢工能“尽快”结束。
杰弗里斯完全回避的一个问题是南希·佩洛西和副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯。
前众议院议长佩洛西上周在接受采访时没有直接回答一个问题，即支持率不佳的哈里斯是否是拜登的最佳竞选伙伴。卡尔追问杰弗里斯原因。
杰弗里斯说，佩洛西“非常有能力自己回答这个问题。”
但他支持哈里斯本人，说:“她将是一个伟大的竞选伙伴。在拜登总统能够完成的事情上，她是一个巨大的合作伙伴。”
House Republicans are in 'civil war' amid Biden impeachment probe, looming shutdown: Jeffries
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries argued on Sunday that his Republicans colleagues are "in the middle of a civil war" over the best way forward amid a newly launchedimpeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, an ongoing spending fight andanother looming shutdown of the federal government.
"Civil war has the following attributes: chaos, dysfunction and extremism. The House Republican civil war is hurting hardworking American taxpayers and limiting our ability to be able to solve problems on their behalf," Jeffries told ABC "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl, in an exclusive interview.
"It's unfortunate. But as House Democrats, we're going to continue to try to find common ground with the other side of the aisle," Jeffries said, adding: "Hopefully the House Republicans will come along so that we can work to make sure we are funding the government."
Jeffries also said the White House "will continue to cooperate" with the impeachment inquiry "because there is nothing to hide."
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., appeared on "This Week" after Jeffries and acknowledged the GOP has its issues with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy but shot back: "I find it a little bit hypocritical that that is the divisive language that he used in his interview and talking about people over politics."
Referring to an earlier agreement on raising the nation's debt ceiling, Mace added, "If Democrats and, quite frankly, Republicans wanted to put people over politics, they would not have joined hands earlier this year to add $18.8 trillion to the debt."
Jeffries, in his own interview, laid the blame with the House's conservative majority, contending that Democrats want to "end the partisan, political gamesmanship that right now has captured House Republicans."
As Mace suggested, a major sticking point is on whether -- and where -- to cut government spending.
The House has only cleared one of 12 appropriations bills. So far, House Democrats have voted against the GOP funding bills since the conference marked the bills at levels lower than the spending caps agreed to by McCarthy and Biden in the debt-limit deal in June.
Asked about a possible federal government shutdown, Jeffries on Sunday called on Republicans to "stop fighting each other" and said he expects more conversations to occur but didn't say if he's discussed a path forward with McCarthy.
As some Republican members threaten to bring a motion to vacate to oust McCarthy, Jeffries also wouldn't say if House Democrats would help bail out the speaker.
"We haven't given it any thought one way or the other," he said.
"But what we should be focused on right now is avoiding an unnecessary government shutdown that will hurt the ability of our economy to continue to recover," he added.
On "This Week," Jeffries addressed the new impeachment inquiry into Biden, with McCarthy claiming a "culture of corruption" around the president -- which the White House calls baseless.
"There are no facts on the record to suggest that President Biden engaged in impeachable offenses. There are no facts on the record to suggest that President Biden broke the law in any way, shape or form," Jeffries said.
He called the probe another "product of the House Republican civil war." McCarthy had originally said there would be a vote to launch it, but it was unclear if he had sufficient votes to do so and he ultimately launched one anyway.
"House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden's conduct," he said last week.
Congressional Republicans have long been investigating what they claim are illicit ties between the president and his son Hunter Biden, particularly around Hunter Biden's controversial overseas business dealings.
No evidence has emerged to show the president was directly involved in Hunter Biden's business decisions or made decisions because of them.
On Thursday,Hunter Biden was charged in Delawarefor allegedly lying about his drug use when he bought a gun in 2018. His attorney said on "Good Morning America" last week that the case is "likely unconstitutional" and insisted it will be dismissed.
The minority leader said on "This Week" that Hunter Biden's indictment proves there is no interaction between the president and the administration's Department of Justice, which has been investigating Hunter Biden.
"Hunter Biden is entitled to the presumption of innocence. The matter is before a court of law right now, and let's see how it proceeds," Jeffries said. "I think what's more important is that President Joe Biden continues to lead us forward to focus on the things that matter."
Separately, inthe wake of a United Auto Workers strike, Jeffries said he will be traveling to Detroit on Sunday afternoon and is "looking forward to standing in solidarity with" them as they "are fighting for the fundamental American dream."
He said he hopes the strike will end "sooner rather than later."
One issue that Jeffries deflected on entirely was Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Former House Speaker Pelosi did not directly answer a question in an interview last week about whether Harris, who has poor approval ratings, is Biden's best choice as running mate. Karl pressed Jeffries on why.
Jeffries said Pelosi is "very capable of answering that question on her own."
But he endorsed Harris himself, saying, "She'll be a great running mate. She's been a tremendous partner in the things that President Biden has been able to accomplish."
