众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯(Hakeem Jeffries)周日表示，随着国会接近周二达成支出协议的最后期限，他“希望”能够避免政府关闭。
杰弗里斯的评论是在总统之后唐纳德·特朗普取消了上周与杰弗里斯和参议院民主党领袖查克·舒默的会议，以达成一项协议，然后在周六表示，他将在周一与民主党人和参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩和众议院议长·迈克·约翰逊会面。
杰弗里斯告诉《本周》联合主持人玛莎·拉达茨说:“我们在会议开始时的观点是，我们希望找到两党的共同点，找到一个避免政府关闭的支出协议，并在健康、安全和经济福祉方面切实满足美国人民的需求。”
民主党人和共和党人争论的焦点之一是患者保护与平价医疗法案的一些税收抵免即将到期，民主党人正在努力延长这些抵免。
“我们知道它们要到今年年底才会到期，所以为什么不批准这项协议，然后再多花7周时间进行谈判呢?”拉达茨问道。
杰弗里斯说:“嗯，因为通知将在几天内发出，这将对已经在艰难度日的美国人的日常生活体系造成冲击。”“在这个特殊的例子中，我们面临的挑战是，在过去的几个月里，众议院的共和党人有几次机会与民主党人一起投票延长患者保护与平价医疗法案的税收抵免。他们一再坚持拒绝这么做。”
众议院多数党领袖史蒂夫·斯卡利斯(Steve Scalise)在“本周”晚些时候回应杰弗里斯(Jeffries)时，主张通过一项短期拨款法案，以防止政府关闭，并在未来几个月继续谈判。
斯卡利斯说:“让这些谈判持续到11月，参议院正在讨论这项短期政府拨款法案。”“但这与参议院在3月份投票支持的资金水平相同，包括民主党人在内。”
斯卡利斯指出，他和杰弗里斯一样，希望能够避免关闭。
斯卡利斯说:“我不仅充满希望，我、约翰逊议长和我的所有共和党同事都投票阻止政府关门，我们还将该法案提交给了参议院。”
“仍有时间达成协议。我很高兴特朗普总统周一在白宫展示了领导力，并与所有共和党和民主党领导人会面，但最终，这些民主党人必须做出决定。”他补充道。
以下是杰弗里斯采访中的更多亮点:
关于即将与特朗普进行的谈判
杰弗里斯:他们没有解释为什么(上周的会议)被取消，只是说唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)发表了一份错误描述民主党立场的声明。我们的立场非常明确:取消削减，降低成本，节省医疗费用，这样我们才能解决对美国人民真正重要的问题。
我们参加会议的观点是，我们希望找到两党的共同点，找到一个避免政府关闭的支出协议，并在健康、安全和经济福祉方面切实满足美国人民的需求。
关于关闭的影响
Raddatz:我想播放你在去年12月说的话，当时当选总统特朗普出来反对国会正在努力通过的保持政府开放的法案。这就是你所说的关闭的结果。
杰弗里斯在2024年12月19日:家庭会受到伤害。农民会受到伤害。边境安全和边境巡逻人员没有报酬。美国运输安全管理局的代理人不会得到报酬。每个社区的小企业都会受到伤害。
Raddatz:这一次，大规模解雇的威胁基本上是告诉人们他们可能根本无法回来工作。那么，你仍然相信政府关门会广泛伤害美国人民吗?
杰弗里斯:我们始终认为，我们需要为政府提供资金，并确保美国人民所依赖的服务能够继续得到。还有我们的联邦公务员袖手旁观。自1月20日以来，我们已经看到特朗普政府在没有政府关闭的情况下已经发生了大规模解雇，因为这是他们决心要做的事情，每天都在伤害美国人。
以下是斯卡利斯采访的更多亮点:
政府威胁要解雇联邦工作人员
Raddatz:政府威胁要大规模解雇联邦雇员。那会是什么样子?这是你支持的吗?
缩放:嗯，我还没看到全部细节。但是如果你回到冠状病毒肺炎，玛莎，拜登总统戏剧性地扩大了联邦政府的规模，据说是为了对付冠状病毒肺炎。好了，冠状病毒肺炎已经结束了，然而许多联邦机构仍然比冠状病毒肺炎之前多了20%或30%。因此，很长一段时间以来，我们都需要对联邦政府进行精简。
特朗普总统与DOGE谈到了这一点，以及他正在做的其他事情，以试图减少政府中的浪费、欺诈和滥用。我认为，每个人都知道，仍有数十亿、数百亿美元的浪费、欺诈和滥用有待根除。我们已经做了一些工作，但是还有更多的工作要做。
关于詹姆斯·科米的起诉书
Raddatz:让我来读一读你的共和党党团成员、众议员唐·培根在回应指控时写的话:“法律损害了我们伟大的国家。一月份没有开始，但也没有结束。持续升级只会伤害我们所有人。”
你对此有何回应?
缩放:年复一年，我们目睹了联邦机构令人难以置信的权力滥用。坦率地说，詹姆斯·科米是破坏公众对美国联邦调查局等机构信任的罪魁祸首之一。他滥用了他的权力，玛莎。现在，最终，他被指控向国会撒谎。这与他对总统做了什么无关。这是关于对国会撒谎和妨碍司法公正，这就是他被起诉的原因。他最终会面对陪审团。所以他可以提出自己的理由，但是会有严重的指控。
Jeffries says he's 'hopeful' a government shutdown can be avoided
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Sunday he is "hopeful" a government shutdown can be avoided as Congress lurches toward its Tuesday deadline to reach a spending agreement.
Jeffries' comments come after PresidentDonald Trumpcanceled a meeting last week with Jeffries and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer to hammer out a deal before saying Saturday he'd meet with the Democrats and Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday.
"Our view going into the meeting is that we want to find bipartisan common ground, to find a spending agreement that avoids a government shutdown and actually meets the needs of the American people in terms of their health, their safety, and their economic well-being," Jeffries told "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
One of the main points of contention between Democrats and Republicans has been the impending expiration of some of the Affordable Care Act's tax credits, which Democrats are fighting to extend.
"We know they don't expire till the end of the year, so why not approve this and just get seven more weeks to negotiate?" Raddatz asked.
"Well, because notices are going to go out in a matter of days and it's going to be a shock to the system of everyday Americans who are already struggling to get by," Jeffries said. "And the challenge that we have in this particular instance is that several times over the last few months, Republicans in the House have had the opportunity to vote with Democrats to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. And they've repeatedly and consistently declined to do it."
Responding to Jeffries later on "This Week," House Majority Leader Steve Scalise advocated for passing a short-term funding bill to prevent a shutdown and continuing negotiations into the coming months.
"Let's let those talks continue till November with this short-term government funding bill that's in the Senate," Scalise said. "But it's the same levels of funding that the Senate voted for, Democrats included, back in March."
Scalise noted that he, like Jeffries, is hopeful that a shutdown can be avoided.
"I'm not only hopeful, I, Speaker Johnson, all my Republican colleagues voted to prevent a government shutdown, and we passed that bill to the Senate," Scalise said.
"There's still time for an agreement to be reached. I'm glad that President Trump is showing leadership and meeting with all leaders, Republican and Democrat, Monday in the White House, but ultimately, those Democrats have to make a decision." he added.
Here are more highlights from Jeffries' interview:
On upcoming negotiations with Trump
Jeffries:They did not explain why [last week's meeting] was canceled, other than the statement that Donald Trump issued that mischaracterized the Democratic position. Our position has been very clear: Cancel the cuts, lower the costs, save health care so we can address the issues that really matter to the American people.
Our view going into the meeting is that we want to find bipartisan common ground, to find a spending agreement that avoids a government shutdown and actually meets the needs of the American people in terms of their health, their safety, and their economic well-being.
On the impact of a shutdown
Raddatz:I want to play what -- play what you were saying back in December after then-President-elect Trump came out against the bill Congress was working to pass to keep the government open. This is what you said would be the result of a shutdown.
Jeffries on Dec. 19, 2024: Families will be hurt. Farmers will be hurt. Border security and border patrol agents will not be paid. TSA agents will not be paid. Small businesses will be hurt in every single community.
Raddatz:And this time, the threat of mass firings basically and telling people they may not be able to come back to work at all.So, do you still believe a shutdown would broadly hurt the American people?
Jeffries:We are always of the view that we need to fund the government and make sure that the services that the American people rely upon can continue to be received. And also that we stand by our federal civil service. We've seen since January 20th mass firings already taking place by the Trump administration in the absence of government shutdown, because this is what they determined to do, hurt every day Americans.
Here are more highlights from Scalise's interview:
On the administration's threat to fire federal workers
Raddatz:And the administration has threatened these mass firings of federal employees. What would that look like? And is that something you -- you support?
Scalise:Well, I haven't seen the full details. But if you go back to Covid, Martha, President Biden dramatically expanded, mushroomed the size of the federal government, supposedly to deal with Covid. Well, Covid is over, and yet many of those federal agencies are still 20 or 30% larger than they were before Covid. And so there's been a need for a rightsizing of the federal government for a long time.
President Trump's talked about that with DOGE and other things he's doing to try to save waste, fraud and abuse in government. And I think everybody knows there are billions, and tens of billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse that still needs to be rooted out. We got to some of that, but there's more that needs to be done.
On the James Comey indictment
Raddatz:Let me read you what your fellow Republican caucus member, Representative Don Bacon, wrote in response to the indictment: "Lawfare undermines our great country. It didn't start in January, but it didn't end either. The continued escalation will only hurt us all."
Your response to that?
Scalise:Well, we saw an unbelievable abuse of power from federal agencies for years and years. And, frankly, James Comey is one of the main culprits in undermining the public's trust in agencies like the FBI. He abused his power, Martha. And now, ultimately, he has been indicted for lying to Congress. This isn't about what he did to the president. It's about lying to Congress and obstructing justice, and that's what he was indicted for. He's going to ultimately go before a jury of his peers. So he gets to make his case, but there's serious charges.
