LEADER JEFFRIES ON NBC: “THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAS THE MONEY AND IS REQUIRED TO MAKE SURE THAT NOT A SINGLE PERSON IN THIS COUNTRY LOSES THEIR NUTRITIONAL ASSISTANCE”

Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on NBC's Saturday TODAY, where he emphasized that as millions of Americans cruelly lose their SNAP benefits, Republicans remain unwilling to follow the law, to find a bipartisan solution to end the government shutdown and to work with Democrats to fix the healthcare crisis that they created.

PETER ALEXANDER: We want to bring in the House Democratic Leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Leader Jeffries, we appreciate your waking up with us. Good morning to you.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Good morning.

PETER ALEXANDER: As we just heard from both Julie and Ryan, this-if it wasn't already, this crisis just got very real for a lot more Americans. Food lines at football stadiums. 42 million Americans beginning today are gonna go without those SNAP benefits. This isn't just blue states, red states. Everybody is affected by this. Democrats have framed this debate as being about healthcare premiums which are expected to skyrocket at the end of the year right now. But have we reached the point where other crises like those benefits now no longer available to Americans have become more immediate that it needs to be addressed right now?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, all of it needs to be addressed. And we continue to believe that the government needs to reopen, we need to find a bipartisan path forward to enacting a spending agreement immediately that meets the needs of everyday Americans in terms of improving their quality of life and lowering the high cost of living, while at the same time addressing the Republican healthcare crisis that now threatens for premiums, co-pays and deductibles to increase dramatically for tens of millions of people immediately.

LAURA JARRETT: So Leader Jeffries, the President says, 'let's just get the government reopen. Let's just get the government reopen and then we can figure out a solution on healthcare and I'm willing to negotiate with Democrats.' Why not accept his premise on that?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, the President is clearly unwilling to negotiate. In fact, he's playing golf this weekend at his beach resort. And that's consistent with what we've seen over the 32 days that he and Republicans have shut the government down. In fact, Donald Trump, of course, has spent more time talking to Hamas and more time talking to the Chinese Communist Party during this government shutdown than he has with Democrats on Capitol Hill who represent half the country. And we continue to say we want to sit down in good faith with the other side of the aisle to resolve this issue, to reopen the government, to make sure that people don't go hungry in America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world.

PETER ALEXANDER: So to be clear, Leader Jeffries, how does this end? Is there some outside event that you see as an endpoint here? Is it some more major problem with flights? Is it perhaps the elections coming up this week in states like Virginia and New Jersey? Is it photos of families going without food? Where is the enough-is-enough point?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well we think that we had already reached the enough-is-enough point. The fact that we have hardworking federal employees who are being furloughed without paychecks or forced to work without pay. That's enough. The fact that Republicans refuse to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, don't want to spend a dime to keep healthcare affordable for working-class Americans and middle-class Americans, but over the last few weeks could find $40 billion to bail out Argentina and their right-wing wannabe dictator friend is extraordinary in this country. It's also extraordinary that two federal courts have said that the Trump administration has the money and is required to make sure that not a single person in this country loses their nutritional assistance benefits so they can continue to put food on the table, including 16 million children, yet the Trump administration refuses to spend taxpayer dollars in a manner consistent with what Congress had previously instructed them to do.

PETER ALEXANDER: Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic Leader of the House of Representatives. We appreciate your making time to speak to us this morning.

Full interview can be watched here.

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