During an interview with CBS News on Wednesday, House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) responded to questions on whether the government shutdown was worth it by arguing that the shutdown was the fault of Republicans and “Fighting for the health care of the American people, fighting to drive down the high cost of living, fighting to lift up the quality of life of everyday Americans will always be worth it.”
“CBS Evening News” co-host and Chief Political Analyst John Dickerson asked, “I’m at Thanksgiving, coming up, right? People have political debates, and somebody says, what was that fight about? Now, I’ve got to answer it at the Thanksgiving table, what does someone say?”
Jeffries responded, “Democrats are fighting hard, and we will continue to do this, to address the Republican healthcare crisis and to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, to make sure that tens of millions of everyday Americans don’t experience dramatically increased healthcare costs that will prevent them from being able to go see a doctor when they need one.”
Dickerson followed up, “Was it worth it, though, to have the longest shutdown in history, make people who are on SNAP benefits worried about getting food, members of the service, military, on and on and on, air traffic controllers, was it worth it?”
Jeffries answered, “Donald Trump and Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the presidency. They have taken a my way or the highway approach from the very beginning of Donald Trump’s first day in office. And, unfortunately, they made the decision that they would rather shut the government down, hurt everyday Americans, as opposed to extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits, even though they know they expire at the end of this year and tens of millions of people are about to face a crisis of affordability with respect to their access to health care.”
Dickerson then asked, “Democrats made a choice. Democrats said, in the Senate in particular, we’re not going to vote with the Republicans, we’re going to have this fight, because the issue’s important. Was it worth having a fight going on as long as it did to shut down the government?”
Jeffries responded, “Fighting for the health care of the American people, fighting to drive down the high cost of living, fighting to lift up the quality of life of everyday Americans will always be worth it. It’s unfortunate that Republicans have decided that they were going to shut the government down, they decided to rip away SNAP benefits from 42 million Americans when the money existed to make sure that not a single person went hungry. They decided that they would rather find $40 billion to bail out Argentina, but can’t find a dime to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.”
Dickerson followed up, “So the short answer is yes, the shutdown was worth it?”
Jeffries answered, “The short answer is, shutdowns are never things to be embraced, and, unfortunately, Republicans decided to embrace a shutdown with their complete control of government, rather than sit down with Democrats and find a bipartisan path forward.”
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