Transcript: House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries on “Face the Nation,” March 10, 2024

The following is a transcript of an interview with House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York, that aired on March 10, 2024.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to the House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who joins us from Brooklyn, New York. Welcome back.

DEMOCRATIC LEADER REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES: Good Morning. Great to be with you.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Leader Jeffries, you know, our latest CBS polling shows Donald Trump with a four-point lead over Joe Biden. And Mr. Biden has not consolidated his base Democratic voters. Specifically among Black voters, Biden is ahead of Trump 76% to 23%. But that core democratic group that he won with about 90%, back in 2020, is showing just- it seems like a lack of enthusiasm. How does President Biden fix it?

REP. JEFFRIES: Well, the polling has been all over the place, but I’m confident that at the end of the day, in November, the overwhelming majority of African Americans, Caribbean Americans, black voters throughout the country, will support President Biden, understand that he has delivered over and over and over again, on issues of concern whether that’s the lowest rate of Black unemployment in decades, whether that’s historic investment in historically Black colleges and universities, making sure that he has been supportive, incredibly so of small business creation and entrepreneurship in the Black community, building upon the efforts that had been previously done by President Barack Obama. And Joe Biden has a vision for the future of an inclusive economy that grows the middle class and ensures things like homeownership within the African American community can continue to grow.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we heard a bit of that vision in the State of the Union address but we don’t often hear from the President on many of these things. Al Sharpton was just quoted in The Washington Post saying the campaign needs to do more to draw comparisons between “two old white guys.” He said they need to spend more money on ads, more money touting the record you just laid out. Is that it? What is it that is making people not have this enthusiasm?

REP. JEFFRIES: Well, I’ve traveled throughout the country and spend time, of course in the district that I represent here in Brooklyn. And there is a high degree of enthusiasm for President Joe Biden, and it is growing. President Joe Biden had an incredible State of the Union address. He was strong, he was serious, and he was substantive. And he drew a clear contrast between his vision of moving America forward in an enlightened way that’s inclusive of everyone. And the contrast with the extreme MAGA Republicans who want to turn back the clock. Turn back the clock on reproductive freedom, turn back the clock on voting rights, turn back the clock by ending Social Security and Medicare, as we know it–

(CROSSTALK)

MARGARET BRENNAN: — They would say they don’t —

REP. JEFFRIES: — President Joe Biden on the right side of those issues.

MARGARET BRENNAN: — plan to do that.

REP. JEFFRIES: On the right side of those issues for the American people.

(END CROSSTALK) 

MARGARET BRENNAN: On the issue of the border, our polling shows by more than five to one voters say Biden’s policies will increase the number of migrants attempting to cross versus Trump policies. That’s an impression. I know in the state of New York, you recently had a race in New York 3, the victory of Tom Suozzi, and he campaigned on tougher border positions. Specifically, he said he was comfortable describing this as an invasion. I wonder if you endorse that language and if you would encourage Democrats to adopt it?

REP. JEFFRIES: Tom Suozzi ran a great campaign, he communicated with voters, he talked about common sense solutions to meeting the challenges that are facing the American people. Now, we believe as Democrats that we have a broken immigration system, and that we need to address the clear challenges at the border. President Biden has repeatedly made that clear. Entered into negotiations with Republicans who decided to detonate their own border policy bill because they were ordered to do so by Donald Trump, who was more interested in playing political games than solving the challenges at the border. Tom Suozzi leaned in to the fact that he supported the bipartisan bill that was being negotiated in the Senate —

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

REP. JEFFRIES: — and that Republicans are the ones who walked away from it. That is what was decisive in that campaign.

MARGARET BRENNAN: It wasn’t just process. He used that word, “invasion”. He used much stronger language. Do Democrats need to campaign in a- with a stronger message specifically on immigration? And you know, the- the flow of migrants is only expected to pick up in the coming months. This isn’t going away as a campaign issue.

REP. JEFFRIES: Invasion is not a word that I would ever use. I’m not sure whether he used that word or not, or in what context. I do know what Tom Suozzi said is that he believes that we are a nation of immigrants, of course, through his own experience, his grandfather coming over from Italy. At the same period of time, we need to also deal with the challenges that we confront at the border, anchored in the notion that we also are a nation based on the rule of law. And we can and should do both. But we need to do it in a bipartisan and in a comprehensive way that also respects the fact that Dreamers contribute to our country in a significant way. We have farmworkers who contribute to our country in a significant way–

(CROSSTALK)

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah, that’s- that’s not in the- the Senate bill.

REP. JEFFRIES: –and we can do this in a meaningful way.

(END CROSSTALK)

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, Dreamers are not in the Senate bill. And as you know, the Speaker and- and the House have said it would be dead on arrival, even if it were to pass the Senate. So moving to another issue that seems also stuck in Congress right now, aid to Ukraine. It runs out, ammunition does, in the month of April, according to the Ukrainian government. You want to get the $95 billion package, I know, from the Senate through the House. There’s no date to do that. Speaker Johnson has not committed to do that. Do you need an alternative? And can you promise Joe Biden, who made this issue number one in the State of the Union, that you can deliver on it?

REP. JEFFRIES: Of course we don’t need an alternative when you have a comprehensive, bipartisan, national security bill that has come over from the Senate. And all we need is an up or down vote in the House of Representatives. And everyone in Washington knows that it will secure at least 300 votes, if not more, so we can meet the needs of America’s national security–

(CROSSTALK)

MARGARET BRENNAN: But there’s no date to do that.

(END CROSSTALK)

REP. JEFFRIES: –we can support our democratic allies in Ukraine and Israel, humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians who are in harm’s way, support our allies in the Indo Pacific. That’s a question for Mike Johnson, when he knows that the House has the votes to act on America’s national security interests. The reason why it’s not happening is because there’s a pro-Putin faction in the Republican Party, led by Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson, who are blocking this legislation. And that’s shameful.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Will you protect Speaker Johnson from a motion to vacate if he takes that vote? Will you prevent him from being ousted?

REP. JEFFRIES: We haven’t had that conversation as a caucus. But I have made the observation that I believe there are a reasonable number of members, if the Speaker were to do the right thing, that don’t believe that he should fall as a result of it.

MARGARET BRENNAN: That sounds like a yes. All right. Leader, thank you for your time this morning. And “Face the Nation” will be right back.