CNBC Squawk Box host Joe Kernen raged Thursday that House Minority chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and the Democratic Party have been setting a “bad precedent” with their authorities shutdown technique to Jeffries’s face, telling the congressional chief he’d be “going crazy” if Republicans did the identical.
The government shutdown blame game boiled over throughout a CNBC interview with Jeffries, with Kernen fuming on the Democrats who he stated have been successfully holding the federal government hostage to reverse Republican laws.
“There was an election, and the Republicans were put in a position where they were able to pass the Big Beautiful Bill, or as you call it the ‘Big Ugly Bill.’ To then say, we don’t like any of that, so we’re going to shut down the government until you take back all the things that you duly passed through legislation – ” the host started.
He continued:
If Republicans had tried to do this to the Inflation Reduction Act or any of the acts that Biden and that administration have handed, in the event that they stated we’re going to close down the federal government as a result of we don’t like several of these belongings you did, ‘we’re not going to pay our army, we’re going to not enable the federal government to reopen till you do what we wish’ – after an election the place the American folks put Democrats in energy – you’d be going loopy! You’d be loopy about utilizing a shutdown of the federal government on a unbroken decision.
As Jeffries stood stonefaced, Kernen added: “To get what you want just because you don’t like what the Republicans did. It’s not how it works. It’s bad. It’s a bad precedent, and it’s just clear. And you’re talking about the House. You’ve already passed this. The Senate is who we’re talking about, and they have a bill which will reopen the government right now with five more Democrats.”
Jeffries fired again, blaming the GOP for refusing to barter.
“What is bad precedent is the Republican refusal to engage in bipartisan negotiations,” he stated, accusing the House majority of a “my way or the highway approach from the very beginning of this Congress.”
As the controversy grew testy, Jeffries framed the standoff as an ethical failure by Republicans, arguing that “Cruelty from the very beginning of this administration has been the point” and insisting that the “responsible thing to do is to sit down and negotiate a bipartisan path forward.”
Co-host Becky Quick defended the Republican place, warning that there was not a lot for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) “to politic in” as a result of his “clean CR” – rejected by Democrats – had little “pork” to “offer as a way of getting around this.”
She tried to steer the dialogue towards compromise, asking whether or not Democrats may negotiate “while the government is reopened.”
Jeffries replied that even efforts to provoke talks earlier than the shutdown have been met with resistance, arguing his Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Johnson “took place literally a day before the government shut down because Republicans have refused to engage in bipartisan negotiations.”
Watch above by way of CNBC.
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