Rev. Mark Thompson speaks with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, diving into the most pressing political events of the moment. A transcript of the conversation is provided below.
Rev. Mark Thompson
Ladies and gentlemen, in this moment, who better to hear from and talk to so many things
going on in the country? We saw the joint session last night, and then we got some very
shocking news this morning. Let’s get right into it. We’re happy to have with us, our dear
brother from the great village of Brooklyn. He is the House Democratic Leader. He is practically our party leader, the highest ranking, so to speak, leader, and we welcome him now. Hakeem Jeffries, Congressman. Hakeem Jeffries, from the village of Brooklyn, my brother, Let’s begin. We were all shocked to hear the news about Sylvester Turner this morning
Hakeem Jeffries
deeply saddened and shocked by the news. I got a call very early in the morning informing of his passing. It was sudden. It was unexpected. He looked ill a little bit yesterday, but was able to receive some medical care and was determined to be on the floor of the House of Representatives, to represent his beloved district in Houston. The people who sent him to Congress and to be there to stare down the President in the face. And so he made it to the House floor, and immediately thereafter, even posted a video to his constituents, re
emphasizing his desire to save their health care. Importance of winning the Medicaid fight, we know that Sylvester Turner was a legendary public servant. He went from the acre Homes community one of the toughest communities in Houston and in the nation, all the the way to Harvard Law School, and then came back home, was a champion for social and racial justice, eventually rising to become the mayor of Houston. And then on the sudden passing of another warrior, Sheila Jackson Lee stepped in to continue the representation that is still fiercely needed at this moment.
Rev. Mark Thompson
And and, of course, as you mentioned, even with his political career, he was mayor for many years in the state legislature. Y’all know politics can be a dirty business, but Sylvester Turner never compromised his kindness. He was a good, decent man. You can’t always say that about a whole lot of folk in politics, but that was a good, kind brother, so I thought some prayers with him and his family and with you and and the House and the Democrats as well, so and that coming on the heels of last night, your general thoughts about the speech last night. I not a lot of folks have talked about this in the media. They focus on other things, but I found it quite intriguing that Trump spent some time talking about how you and the Democrats don’t show him any love. He’s been up there five times, and you all have never embraced him. It’s like there’s something else going on with that, and we know that how that ego is. But I found that very interesting. What else are you supposed to WHY WOULD YOU?
Hakeem Jeffries
Was very interesting, and that wasn’t in the script, right? So that was something that came into his consciousness as a result of the manner in which we engage, which was we weren’t
reacting in any favorable or positive way to the things that he was saying, because the things that he was saying foolishness, a lot of misinformation, and of course, he is championing causes that are going to hurt our community. But it was clear that he was feeling the absence of support for him, and most importantly, for his policies. And felt so bothered by it that he actually injected it into a speech. But at the end of the day, I think what was so deeply troubling to me. Me is that this is somebody who promised to make life better for the American people. His whole campaign was about the economy and lowering costs. He gave 100 minute speech and spent less than two on the economy because he has no plan. There are no ideas, and they have no intention of improving the lives of the American people. They’re trying to cut Medicaid, the largest Medicaid cut in American history, as part of their Republican reckless budget proposal that’s going to hurt children, hurt families, hurt people with disabilities, hurt seniors, hurt nursing home care, and shut down hospitals.
Rev. Mark Thompson
And that last point is important because some folk hear Medicaid and they think, well, that’s only for people who actually receive Medicaid, but what Medicaid does is, to a large extent, undergird the funding of hospitals for everyone, even those who don’t have Medicaid, including those with Medicare and those who have their own private insurance, right? That’s exactly
Hakeem Jeffries
Right. It’s a very important and powerful point mark. I appreciate you making that. Now, about a third of the American people rely on Medicaid for their health insurance. So that’s an enormous number of people in and of itself, but exactly as you indicated, because so many Medicaid patients are served by these hospitals and nursing homes, if you dramatically cut their Medicaid benefits, you are going to have an impact on the ability of the hospital or the nursing home to remain open. In fact, 66% by some estimates, of nursing home residents, our parents, our grandparents, our loved ones in their golden years, 66% rely on Medicaid for their nursing home care and their long term care, and so if you decimate Medicaid, nursing homes are going to close, hospitals are going to close, and everyone in that community is going to suffer.
Rev. Mark Thompson
That’s hospitals closing. Now let’s talk about these mass deportations and all of his assaults. If we go down that road, we’re talking about some businesses closing…
Hakeem Jeffries
Exactly right? And one of the things that we are already starting to see and we understand it certainly is important for us to secure the border, and everybody can support that in a strong and a safe in a humane fashion. We have to secure the border. We have a broken immigration system. We want to fix it. We believe we need to fix it in a comprehensive and bipartisan way, and we are going to always protect our dreamers, protect our farm workers, protect law abiding immigrant families, and to the extent that there’s going to be enforcement activity that should be focused on deporting violent felons, not law abiding families. And what we see happening in many instances is the exact opposite. And so as a result of the fear that has been created, what we’re seeing is that farm workers aren’t showing up to work. We see food processing workers not showing up. We see construction workers not showing up to job sites and so industries are being hurt and impacted, and that impact is going to be felt by everyone. In fact, it’s going to be felt by the economy cratering, which we are already seeing in real time. Things aren’t getting better, they’re getting worse for the American people under this administration.
Rev. Mark Thompson
Then the jobs that we have, even in our own government. I was had the honor of being invited to speak MC the rally that the American Federation of Government Employees had at office personnel management yesterday, um, before the speech last night, Chris Van Hollen was there, and quaze and fumay and Glen Ivy and others were there. Don Byer even came by. The assault on our civil service, especially well, really, around the country, but we know in the DMV that is makes up a lot of the tax base. These are the people who work and contribute to the to the well being of the entire DC, Maryland, Virginia area. But we have people there from all over the country who are losing their jobs, who are being summarily fired by a person that we may as well call a co president, and not, if not, the real president. It who your legislature never had an opportunity to vet or have a confirmation hearing? I mean, that has to be we know it’s unprecedented, but it must be illegal.
Hakeem Jeffries
It’s outrageous. Is one of the reasons why Trump administration has been repeatedly taken to court. More than 100 different lawsuits have been filed by our partners, democratic Attorney General, civil rights groups, advocacy organizations and others, as it relates to at least 35 or 40 of these unconstitutional and unlawful executive actions, including the engagement of Elon Musk and the Trump administration is not winning in court. They’re losing over and over and over again, and we’re going to keep the pressure on them in the courts, just like we’re keeping the pressure on them in the legislature. Now, one of the things that’s interesting is that Donald Trump spoke about unelected bureaucrats. Elon Musk is sitting in the chamber. He’s the biggest unelected bureaucrat in the country right now, right, right. And he’s taking a sledgehammer, a blowtorch, a chainsaw, to the federal government and our ability to actually provide people with the services that they need. So for instance, they want to dramatically cut the number of employees who are part of the Social Security Administration. That is going to impact the ability for everyday Americans in their golden years to receive their benefits. Now it’s also important mark to know that none of this activity that Donald Trump and Elon Musk and Republicans are unleashing on the American people have been cemented into law. They have not passed a single bill that cements their project 2025, agenda because Democrats are unified in opposition and we’re holding Republicans accountable, which is why they’re trying to take these steps to executive action, which then prompts us to sue them and stop them.
Rev. Mark Thompson
For those that heard that, this is just the news of the day, basically fresh at the moment, the Supreme Court has struck down the Trumps, the Trump administration’s efforts to freeze foreign aid funds. So we’re just gonna have to fight these battles one day at a time. I know you don’t have a lot of time left your thoughts about your members who walked out last night one and then particularly about Al Green, and Are the rumors true? Should we be concerned, or they just blowing smoke? Should we be concerned about the rumors that the Republican leadership would want to censure Al Green
Hakeem Jeffries
so understanding that they may try to bring a central resolution to the floor later on today, we as House Democrats will move to table that resolution. It’s all an effort by House Republicans to try to hide the ball from the American people. They failed to deliver on their promise to lower costs. Costs aren’t going down in the United States of America, they’re going up. Inflation is going up. The stock market is collapsing. People are losing their retirement security. They’ve done nothing to make life better for the American people. They’re trying to cut Medicaid, trying to cut veterans benefits, trying to cut nutritional assistance for children and families. They know that all of this is unpopular, and they’re doing it because they want to provide massive tax breaks for their billionaire donors and wealthy corporations. But they’re running from that agenda. They want to hide it from the American people, and that’s why they’re doing things like targeting our Reena. I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to him yet today, but I do plan to connect with him in advance of the vote later on this afternoon.
