All language subtitles for nvn.0910.042

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Good morning everyone.

Welcome to the Down Lemon Show,

Hot Topics, 10 a.m.
Eastern time.

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So good morning, everybody.

Welcome to the show.

I'm gonna get right to it

because we have a very
special guest.

As you know, we are into a
week of the shutdown

and it is, I believe it's six
days, maybe seven days.

And Minority Leader Hakeem
Jeffries serves

in New York's 8th congressional
district

and helms the House Democratic
Caucus.

He is here with us
this morning.

Good morning, Leader Jeffries.

Morning, Don, great to
be with you.

Look, we are honored to have
you on this morning.

Thank you so much.

What do we, is this day seven?

It's day seven.

Day seven of Donald Trump
shutdown,

day 262 of the chaos that the
Trump administration

has been visiting on the American
people since January 20th.

Is there any movement
whatsoever to reopen

or any negotiations, anyone,

are they moving in your
direction?

Have the president and the
speaker of the House

even reached out about restarting
negotiations?

You know, there's been no outreach
from the president,

from the vice president,
from Mike Johnson,

from John Thune, from any Republicans
on the Hill directly.

They basically have gone
radio silent

ever since the Oval
Office meeting

that took place last Monday.

In fact, their behavior has been
unserious since that point,

including the president trying
to flood the zone

with deep fate.

Videos make threats, canceling
projects, threatening us,

but Democrats aren't
backing down

because we're standing up
for the healthcare

of the American people.

At the same time, we've
repeatedly said,

we'll sit down with anyone,
any time, any place

in order to reopen the
government,

to pass a spending bill that
actually makes life better

for the American people,

and of course, to address the
Republican healthcare crisis

that's devastating people
all across America.

So why won't they do it?

What's their excuse, Leader?

You know, it's interesting because
they talk a big game,

but then there's no willingness
to actually sit down

and have a discussion
in good faith

to try to find the common
ground necessary.

I think they know their position
is indefensible.

Basically, Don, I think
they wanted

to shut the government down,

and they thought that Democrats
would then back down.

But we've made clear,

this is a devastating
healthcare crisis

that they've inflicted on
the American people.

Largest cut to Medicaid in
American history,

hospitals, nursing homes, and community-based
health centers

all across the country
are closing down

because of what Republicans
have done

in their one big, ugly bill.

They've triggered a possible cut
to Medicare of $536 billion

if Congress doesn't act by
the end of the year.

And of course, given
their refusal

to extend the Affordable Care
Act tax credits,

tens of millions of Americans
are about to experience

dramatically increased premiums,
co-pays, and deductibles

for their healthcare that's
gonna bankrupt some people

or deprive them of the insurance
they need for themselves,

their children, and their
families.

Leader Jeffries, I wanna
play something.

This is from your Republican
counterpart yesterday,

Speaker Mike Johnson, saying
that House Republicans,

in fact, that Republicans are
the Republican Party

is a party that cares about
healthcare.

Let me play the clip and then
I'll get your response.

Here it is.

So they created a red herring.

A red herring is a distraction.

They decided that they would
pick a fight on healthcare.

Let me look right into the camera
and tell you very clearly,

Republicans are the ones concerned
about healthcare.

Republicans are the party working
around the clock every day

to fix healthcare.

We're not, this is not talking
points for us.

We've done it.

A big part of the one big,
beautiful bill,

the Working Families Tax Cut,
was to fix healthcare.

Healthcare is broken
in America.

It's too expensive.

The quality of care
needs to rise.

We need more access for
more people,

and we have lots of ideas
to do that.

But that issue is for debate in
the next few three months.

It always was.

We have members working
on that.

What do you say to that?

This is my thing.

I don't hear so much,
Leader Jeffries,

them talking about, this is
about transgender people,

or this is about giving, you know,
Cadillac, I don't hear.

I think you guys have pushed
them into having,

you forced them into having,

to have a discussion about
healthcare,

and that's an uncomfortable
spot for them.

I think that's absolutely
correct, Don.

Initially, they came
out of the gate

lying to the American people,
as they always do,

trying to actually make this

about something that
it's not about.

It's about the healthcare of
the American people,

and the fact that Republicans

have launched this devastating
attack

that has impacted people
in rural America,

working class America,
urban America,

black and brown communities
all across America,

small town America, and the
heartland of America.

And Mike Johnson, it's
interesting to me,

he says there's time to deal
with the healthcare crisis

that they've created,

when the Affordable Care
Act tax credits

and their unwillingness
to extend them,

the open enrollment period
starts in a few weeks,

and notices are going
out right now

to tens of millions of people,

including many of your
listeners,

indicating that your healthcare
costs

are getting ready to go
up dramatically,

in an environment where
the cost of living

is already too high.

Donald Trump and the frauds
connected to him,

they promised to lower the high
cost of living on day one,

but we know costs aren't going
down, they're going up.

Electricity builds through
the roof,

rent through the roof, housing
costs out of control,

grocery prices too high,

and now they wanna jam
these massive

healthcare premium increases

down the throats of the
American people,

and it's just not acceptable.

And Democrats have made
that clear.

This is the president commenting
on the state

of the shutdown yesterday.

To me, it's pretty
incomprehensible,

I wanna know what you think,

here's the president in
the Oval Office.

So now Mr. President, if
a vote today failed

from the Senate, will that
trigger layoffs?

It could, at some point
it will,

and the Democrats are the ones
that started this,

and if you think about it,

it's about healthcare to
a large extent,

it's about we want great
healthcare for people,

we don't wanna give the money
away to other people

that come pouring into
our country,

and they've already poured it,

because nobody's coming
into our country,

now we have the border
totally stopped.

In fact, numbers we just
announced again,

we're at another zero,

so we have zero for four
months in a row,

zero people coming into our
country illegally,

and that's a pretty
good number.

I'm not sure, even I can
believe that Doug,

if you wanna know the
truth, zero.

We went from millions of
people to zero,

but it's pretty close
to that number,

and we, the way you stop them
is not to give away,

not to announce that you're
giving everybody

free healthcare, free
this and that,

but what that does is it affects
the American people,

because the American people
are unable

to get good healthcare.

Obamacare has been a wreck,
as you know,

and to do that, we have to
keep it propped up,

and do the best you can with
it, it's a mess.

But a lot of things are
going on in that,

we talk about Hamas,

then we talk about negotiations

that we have going
on right now.

We have a negotiation going
on right now

with the Democrats that could
lead to very good things.

What kind of things are
we talking about?

And I'm talking about
good things

with regard to healthcare.

Are you speaking with
democratic leaders?

What kind of decisions
do you want?

Well, I don't wanna say that,

I don't wanna say that,

but we are speaking with
the Democrats,

and some very good things
could happen

with respect to healthcare.

What is he talking about?

That's a good question,
I have no idea,

because I've gotten no outreach
from the White House

since the meeting, notwithstanding
the fact

that we repeatedly have said,

and I'm not hard to find here
in Washington all week,

last week, and we'll continue
to be in Washington

to reopen the government,

so we can stand by our
hardworking

federal public servants,

but we need to actually enter
into a spending agreement

that helps the American people,

as opposed to hurting the
American people.

What we've seen from the Trump
administration

and Republicans on the Hill,

is that they're practicing
what I would call

legislative insanity.

They have now tried to pass

the same partisan Republican
spending bill

that guts the healthcare of the
American people five times,

and it's been rejected
five times,

because Democrats in the House
and Democrats in the Senate,

led by Chuck Schumer, are
holding the line,

yet they continue to bring this
bill to the floor.

It's the classic definition
of insanity,

doing the same thing and expecting
a different result.

Now it's interesting that
they now acknowledge

that healthcare is a
serious issue.

You know, in that White
House meeting,

Speaker Johnson said, "It's
extraneous."

I said, "Healthcare is extraneous,
excuse me,

"it's not extraneous,
it's central

"to the well-being of the
American people,

"particularly as it relates
to trying to deal

"with the cost of living crisis
that Republicans

"have made worse in
this country."

I wanna put this up,
that I saw,

"Dear Speaker Johnson,"
it says,

"I write to challenge you to
a debate on the floor

"of the House of Representatives
any day this week

"in prime time broadcast live
to the American people."

And then you go on, you're challenging
him and it's signed,

Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic
leader.

No response to that, to your
challenge, to debate.

That's pretty good, I would
like to see that.

And maybe we can get you to
be the moderator, Don.

He has not responded formally.

He has, I think at his press
conference yesterday,

they indicated that that's
theatrics.

Really, theatrics?

They refuse to sit down to
negotiate privately,

they can't defend their
position privately.

And so my point was defend your
position publicly.

We will, we're ready to do it,

we're standing on the side of
the American people.

Our view is pretty simple,
cancel the cuts,

lower the cost, save
healthcare.

Their initial position was
they're just lying

to the American people and we've
dismissed that reality

because this is not about trying
to provide healthcare

to undocumented immigrants because
the law prohibits that.

And that's been pointed
out repeatedly.

And so I don't get, it's very
interesting to me,

Republicans canceled votes this
week in the House

after canceling votes
last week.

Democrats are on Capitol
Hill on duty,

Republicans are on vacation.

This is crazy.

We're in a shutdown and they
are on vacation

all across the country
and the world.

So the least that they could
do, Don, in my view,

is that the Speaker of the
House, Mike Johnson,

defend your position
on the floor.

And then the American people
can understand

what this shutdown is all about

and what the Republican refusal

to address the healthcare
crisis

that they've created
is all about.

So just real quickly before,
no progress.

You have not heard from them.

They're on vacation and we're
just waiting right now.

People, I don't know if you're
looking in the comments,

people are like, we stand
with Jeffries,

don't back down this time.

Democrats, toe the line,
hold the line.

Are you going to back down?

Well, I think what Donald Trump
and the Republicans

have encountered is Brooklyn,
Hakeem.

So the reality is we are of course
going to hold the line,

by the way, as House Democrats
did in March

and as Democrats did in the
House and the Senate

against the one big ugly bill,

which let's remember the
largest cut to Medicaid

in American history.

This is what Republicans did.

Then they ripped food out of
the mouths of children,

families and seniors in
order to reward

their billionaire donors with massive
permanent tax breaks.

The Democratic position
is, okay,

if you can pass tax breaks
for the wealthy,

the well-off and the
well-connected

to subsidize the lifestyles that
are rich and shameless,

your donors, Republican donors,

you're trying to tell us that
we can't extend

Affordable Care Act tax credits

to benefit working class
Americans,

everyday Americans, middle-class
Americans,

black and brown Americans all
across the country.

That's why they're running
scared.

They want to defend
that position

because it's indefensible.

Well, if you look at, I mean,

if you look at the polls, the
latest full CBS You Got poll

found that 39% of respondents
believe

that Trump and congressional
Republicans deserve

most of the blame for
the shutdown,

30% that blame Democrats.

I went out and I spoke to people
on the streets of New York

on Sunday night and to every
single person said

that it was the Republicans'
fault.

I want to move in, I want to
talk about what's happening

in Portland and Chicago and on
the streets of some cities

here in the United States.

Some of them have been really
quite frightening.

I just want to play this match
that my team found

and I want to get you to
respond to it.

Leader, here it is.

(dramatic music)

(whistle blowing)

Fuck you bitch, fuck you.

Fuck you bitch, fuck you
motherfucker.

He's not doing anything, you're
saying nothing.

Oh my God.

Go, go.

(crowd chattering)

So Leader, you see police officers
being tear gassed

by the so-called federal agents
that are out there.

You see citizens being roughed
up, there's no due process.

They won't even show warrants.

What is going on here?

Have we slid into fascism?

Yeah, you know, the Department
of Homeland Security

is out of control, the so-called
Secretary of Homeland

Security out of control and
unleashing these massed

ICE agents in such an extreme fashion
on the American people

and on law abiding immigrant
communities is totally

out of control, which is why
the American people

are rejecting it.

And so we're going to continue
to stand by the law abiding

people in Portland, in Chicago,
in Washington, D.C.

and in other parts of the country
in the face of what is

being unleashed on them by
our own government.

And the American people know
local law enforcement

should be supported, but they
don't want to see American

military troops occupying
American cities or towns

or counties.

I'm thankful that we've seen
the governor of Oregon

and the governor of Illinois
stand very strong

against the actions of the
Trump administration.

And we will continue to support
them every day, every week,

every month, until this type
of tyranny ends.

You know what occurred to me
is that would you ever

consider, for example, using
the government shutdown

negotiations to demand that ICE
agents stop going into

communities with masks on, terrifying
families and children?

Well, one of the things that I
think we definitely need

to do is hold the extremism of
the Trump administration

accountable.

This particular fight has been
about healthcare,

but it's also about all of the
things, because what we've

seen from the beginning of this
administration is the

unleashing of an extraordinary
attack on the economy,

attack on healthcare, attack on
nutritional assistance,

attack on the rule of law, attack
on law abiding immigrant

communities, attack on civil
rights and voting rights on

the American way of life and
on democracy itself.

And so I think we're in a more
is more environment and we

just have to continue to stand
up, do more, push back

aggressively in defense of the
American people and the

American way of life.

And that's what you can expect
from House Democrats and

Senate Democrats as we
move forward.

Yesterday I spoke with
Congresswoman-elect

Edelita Grijalva from Arizona.

She came to Washington this week
expecting to be officially

sworn in by the Speaker of the
House, Mike Johnson.

Why has he not done so?

He's declared this, I believe,
an official work week,

I think this week or next week.

Is it just because she plans to
vote for the release of

the Epstein files?

What is this all about?

Yeah, that's our view
at the moment.

There's no rational reason why
Representative Elect Grijalva

has not been sworn in.

There was what we call a pro forma
session on the floor of

the House of Representatives
yesterday.

Republicans this year have been
sworn in as members of

Congress in those pro
forma sessions,

but Republicans refused our
demand to do so yesterday.

We're gonna continue to
make that demand.

It appears that because Representative
Elect Grijalva

has promised that she's gonna
be the 218th signature on

what we call a discharge petition
that will force a vote

on releasing the Epstein files.

And we know from the beginning
that House Republicans,

along with Donald Trump and
the administration,

despite promising to release
the Epstein files,

have done everything
to cover it up.

And so in addition to not being
able to justify and defend

their position related to the
Republican Trump shutdown

of the government, being unable
to defend their position

on ripping healthcare away from
the American people,

being unable to defend their position
on providing massive

tax breaks to their billionaire
donors,

they of course are unable to
defend their position with

respect to hiding the
Epstein files,

which is why they have
denied seating

Representative Elect Grijalva,

but we're gonna stay on the
case until she is sworn in

as a member of Congress.

And then those Epstein files
and that legislation

is gonna get an up or down
vote on the House,

and it's gonna pass.

What do you say that was someone
who was just on who said,

please help us, sir, I'm afraid
to leave my house.

It was just a comment up
on the screen.

What do you say to that person?

Because they're looking
for you guys,

the Democrats to do something
about this.

Yeah, no, listen, without
question,

and there's a lot of pain
throughout communities

across the country, because of
what has been unleashed,

the extremism that has been
unleashed from day one,

this parade of horribles
that continues

from the Trump administration.

And it's an all hands
on deck effort.

And we've got to continue to
battle them and push back

aggressively in the Congress.

We have to do the same thing
in the courts,

and we have to do the
same thing

in terms of the people
public sentiment.

It was said, Don, at the beginning
of the country,

that when the people fear the government,
there is tyranny.

But when the government fears the
people, there is liberty.

And if liberty is gonna
prevail,

we need the people to make
their voices heard,

as folks have been doing all
across the country,

and we're gonna stand shoulder
to shoulder

with the American people.

My final question to you
is that this is,

I would be remiss if I
didn't ask you,

if you have any reflections on,

you might have on the second
anniversary of October 7th.

Yeah, it was a painful day.

Of course, that will never
be forgotten.

More than 1200 Israeli and American
citizens were killed,

hundreds kidnapped.

I'll be meeting with several hostage
families later on today.

And in fact, some hostages
who are now free,

and we're thankful for that.

We also need to continue to
push aggressively

to get a ceasefire back
in place.

Donald Trump inherited
a ceasefire,

and then that was broken in
a matter of weeks.

We need to make sure that every
single remaining hostage,

as well as the remains of those
who have been killed

that are still in Gaza,
are returned.

And we have to surge humanitarian
assistance into Gaza

so we can provide decisive and
comprehensive relief

to Palestinian civilians who
are in harm's way.

We gotta end the devastation.

We need a path toward a just
and lasting peace,

and we will continue to support
those efforts.

Leader Jeffries, I thank
you for your time,

and thank you for respecting

and supporting independent
media.

It's really important to us and
to the folks out there

who are watching us.

They're over corporate media.

You can do all the cable
interviews you want,

but folks love you here.

It's great to be with you,

and shout out to all
the Lemonheads.

(laughing)

Thank you, Leader Jeffries,
we appreciate it.

Goodbye.

Yes, thank you so much.

So look, there you go.

I think that the Democrats
have done,

I have to be honest in this,

I think they've done a
really good job

of holding the Republicans,

at least pushing them to talk
about healthcare,

because before, it was about
everything but,

it was about everything but
the healthcare.

Well, in any legitimate terms,

healthcare in the sense of,

well, Democrats wanna give
Cadillac insurance

to undocumented immigrants,

or as they call them, illegal
immigrants.

None of that was true.

Or that this is about transgender,
somehow athletes.

None of that's true or just
transgender as well.

None of that's true as well.

So there you go.

You heard from him on this anniversary
of October 7th.

I'm gonna tell you what's
happening

in the country, especially this
outrageous things

that are happening on the
streets of America.

On the streets of America,
okay?

First, Andy, do you have
the sponsors

or do I have to do it?

I got them.

Ah, Andy coming through
in a clutch.

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So let's get back to
the program.

I wanna know how you guys, what
you guys are feeling.

Also, I wanna know what
you think about

what Hakim Jeffery said.

He's saying that they
are not caving,

that they are, this time
that Democrats

are going to hold the line.

And those were his words.

We are going to hold the
line right now.

And they believe that they
have Republicans

backed into a corner.

Now, look, this is an issue,
especially as it relates

to Americans and healthcare.

This is an issue because people
have to be able

to afford to pay their bills, they
have to have a paycheck.

And so some folks are not
getting that right now.

Let's just be honest with the
government shutting down.

And then, coming up soon,

you're gonna have open
enrollment.

What happens if those
tax breaks

for the Affordable Care Act?

What happens, those
tax credits,

if they, or those healthcare
credits, excuse me,

if it goes up, your premiums
would go up by 75%.

But also on the streets of
America right now, chaos.

You saw some of the video
that I played

for the leader Jeffries.

Here's more.