Is there any way that this Congress, the 118th , is going to be able to raise the debt ceiling?
Nothing's agreed to until everything's agreed to. If they want the debt ceiling as part of
this negotiation, then they can put that on the table, but we're gonna have to negotiate
from first principles then this is. This is Trump term too, right? It's going to this chaos,
this one hand not knowing what the other hand is doing. Unfortunately we're starting early
with it going into the holidays. We negotiated a good deal, not a perfect deal, a good deal.
Democrats with Republicans. We had it signed, sealed, and almost delivered. But then on the
Republican side of the table they didn't know what the other one was doing and it all fell
apart on their side. So if this government shuts down, it's going to be Trump's opening
gambit as his second administration begins. Well, Congressman, your leader Hakeem Jeffries
posted on X just shortly ago around all of this drama that House Republicans, in his words,
have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt the working class Americans they claim
to support. He goes on to say, you. The bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences
that follow, sir. What do you take that to mean? What messaging are you getting from your
leadership as to whether Democrats will be willing to provide any votes to any plan other
than what was initially proposed? It's frustrating for Democrats because we negotiate
in good faith with Republicans for a bill that helps the American people. It helps those
suffering from the fallout of the hurricanes. It ensures that we are funding critical
programs and services over the holidays and ensures that holiday travel is not snarled by
air traffic control or shortages, and then it collapses on their side of the table. And so if
they want to come back with a different proposal, they can come back with a different
proposal. We're going to have to renegotiate it from first principles. That's how Congress
works, and we're tired of having to always be the grown-ups in the room from the debt default
from Ukraine aid and Israel aid, from funding the government under Speaker McCarthy's tenure.
It's just they always like to message about how they're going to shake things up, but they
never actually want to take the votes necessary to deliver for the American people.
Well, Congressman, I'm glad you raised former Speaker Kevin McCarthy because I think we all
recall it was a continuing resolution that ultimately led to his ouster. And now as we
consider the fate of Speaker Mike Johnson, who's of course going to have to be elected
Speaker again on January 3rd when the 119th Congress sits. Will Democrats be willing to do
for him what they were not willing to do for McCarthy to avoid all of this descending into
even further chaos? The American people elected a GOP trifecta. GOP in the White House,
GOP in the Senate, GOP in the House. The GOP has the initiative. They are going to govern
for the next 2 years. They will have the pen on legislation. And they can make this a
bipartisan enterprise as we did in the 117th Congress four years ago where we passed
infrastructure and gun safety and domestic manufacturing investments with Republican votes,
or they can try to go it alone and devolve into the chaos and finger pointing that marked
Speaker McCarthy's tenure. That is a decision for Speaker Johnson and Donald Trump to make. I
can't force them to make the responsible choice. Well, do you believe it's only Speaker
Johnson and Donald Trump that are relevant here, sir? Where does Elon Musk fall into this
equation? Is he really the one that lawmakers, your colleagues are answering to? I think
Donald Trump and Speaker Johnson are the operative players here. Given the size of
Donald Trump's ego, given the size of Elon Musk's ego, I'm not sure what the shelf life is
going to be of Elon Musk's tenure within the Trump orbit. In general, when someone tries to
eclipse Donald Trump. star power, he doesn't take very kindly to it. To the extent that Elon
Musk is trying to make government more efficient, trying to cut waste fraud and abuse.
He's trying to unleash entrepreneurs and engineers to build things. We're happy to work
with him, but I'm going to pivot off of the president and the Speaker when it comes to
Republican politics right now. Well, so when we consider the funding battles that will lie
ahead, even if a continuing resolution can get passed, it's obviously going to kick down the
road into next year when Donald Trump will be in office and Democrats will be in the minority
in both chambers. How difficult is your party willing to make the life of Republicans and
whoever is in Republican leadership? I just wonder realistically what the prospects are for
bipartisan funding compromises come January. Again, this initiative is with the GOP.
They've got the gavels. They have talked about doing a sequence of two bills, the first being
a big energy and border security package, the second being a taxes package. If they want to
work in a bipartisan way on energy and border security, absolutely we are here to do that. We
have a bipartisan border security bill that could be the basis of the immigration part. We
would add into that, I think, documentation and dignity for Dreamers. We know that there's
permitting reform that we need to do for energy and are happy to have conversations
about how we unleash more clean energy dominance here in the United States on the
taxes front, if they're trying to hook up the wealthy and the well connected, Democrats are
not going to subscribe to that. But if they want to talk about how we amortize R&D tax
credits for businesses or the affordable housing tax credit for building more homes in
this country, then yes, we'll work with them. When you've got the gavel, you've got the pen
and you've got the initiative, so the GOP is going to be responsible for governing. Do you
think the most responsible potential governor with the gavel though is Mike Johnson. If he
were to say decide I'm putting up this piece of legislation anyway, it's going to the floor,
and I will take whatever consequences follow, which could very well mean the Republicans try
to elect another speaker, would that actually be the worst outcome for your party as you try
to pursue these bipartisan avenues? So Speaker Johnson did that with Ukraine aid, as you may
recall, he put that bill on the floor to fund Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, even though he
knew he was going to get a motion to vacate and Democrats protected him, and that's just
another example of the fact that ultimately. Democrats are going to do the right thing for
people who do the right thing. I'm not going to play the chess match here of 4 moves out
where if Speaker Johnson next term does this, that and the other thing, what will we do? But
the point is we are the grown-ups in the room. We'll continue to be the grownups in the room
when it comes to governance, and we will do the right thing for those who do the right
thing. Well, let's continue on what you brought up, which is Ukraine aid. If we can't
even sort out funding our own government, what is your degree of confidence, sir, that there
will be any future funding for Ukraine and other allies that makes its way through the
119th Congress? Ukraine is getting $50 billion in the next several months, and that's because
of a G7 accord that President Biden negotiated where Europe and the United States have given
Ukraine loans that are underwritten by Russian frozen assets, about $300 billion mostly kept
in Belgian banks. So we are actually funding Ukraine's industrial base using Russian money,
and that is providing an economic lifeline for Ukraine and a signal to the Kremlin that
they're in it for the long haul. A lot of the reporting. On this war has made it seem as
though Russia is making these huge advances on the Eastern front. They're not. They're only
making advances in one of the four blasts, and even there they are trading a tremendous amount
of casualties for every square kilometer gains . Ukraine can absolutely win this war, but we've
got to authorize them to use US made weapons to attack inside of Russia, and we have to hold
fast for sovereignty and self-determination for Ukraine. We cannot sell them out. Just
quickly, Congressman, obviously the incoming president is pushing hard, saying he wants a
deal between Russia and Ukraine. Would you encourage Ukraine to not join them at the
negotiating table? It depends what the deal looks like. So Ukraine needs to have a secure
eastern border with security guarantees from its NATO allies. Ukraine needs to have freedom
of navigation in the Black Sea. Ukraine should be acceding to the European Union. If those
three things are true, then those can be good terms for settlement. Of course we always want
war to end, but Vladimir Putin only knows one language, and that is strength, so you do not
negotiate from a position of weakness. Ukraine . Should be changing the facts on the
battleground as much as possible in the months ahead so that they're in the strongest position
at the negotiating table.