Hakeem Jeffries Rages Over Funding Bill Failure, Says GOP Would Rather Spend ‘Billions a Day’ Bombing Iran | Video
Hakeem Jeffries went after Republicans following talks of using another budget reconciliation bill to fund ICE, the Iran war and parts of Donald Trump’s SAVE Act.
On Friday, the House minority leader was asked about the possibility of another reconciliation bill amid the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, after the House rejected a funding bill that passed the Senate on Thursday. While the country struggles amid the partial shutdown, especially at airports, Jeffries lamented that Republicans were looking to add to a “slush fund” to support things like ICE and the Iran War.
“It’s incredible to me that Republicans are considering trying to jam Part 2 of the One Big Ugly Bill down the throats of the American people,” Jeffries said. “The notion that these extremists would try to jam a second so-called budget reconciliation bill – Part 2 of the One Big Ugly Bill – down down the throats of the American people, why would they do it? To continue ICE brutality and at the same time provide up to $200 billion to support Donald Trump’s reckless war of choice in the Middle East.”
He continued: “Republicans would rather unleash ICE brutality, and drop bombs by spending billions of dollars a day in the Middle East than actually make life more affordable for the American people.”
Tensions surrounding the current shutdown reached a new level when TSA lines at airports lengthened while agents not being paid looked to make money elsewhere. House Speaker Mike Johnson even sparred with a Fox News reporter Friday morning when asked why he seemed to be on a different page than Senate Majority Leader John Thune – who the reporter asserted was the engineer of the shutdown.
“I wouldn’t call John Thune the engineer of this,” Johnson said. “Chuck Schumer and the Democrats in the Senate have forced this upon the Senate. I have to protect the House.”
Johnson was briefly interrupted by some pushback from the reporter before the House Speaker cut it off and returned to his talking point.
“Let me answer the question, Chad,” Johnson said. “And I have to protect the American people. That’s our responsibility. Our colleagues on this side understand this is not a game. We are not playing their games.”
To help alleviate the pressures at airports around the country, Trump signed an executive order Friday to start paying – including back pay – TSA agents to get them back to work. This all in the hopes of cutting down some of the three to four hour security line waits.
“If Democrats in the Congress will not act to honor the service of our TSA officers, who are now performing their critical public safety responsibilities without knowing whether they will be able to buy food for their families or pay their rent, then my Administration will take action,” Trump said in a presidential memo. “As President of the United States, I have determined that these circumstances constitute an emergency situation compromising the Nation’s security.”
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