Hakeem Jeffries

No.

We were able to extend it through the end of this year in full anticipation that any reasonable member of Congress will understand that you cannot kick tens of millions of Americans off of healthcare that's become affordable for them as a result of the tax credits.

Unfortunately, Republicans chose earlier this year to pass their one big ugly bill

Largest cut to Medicaid in American history.

Ripped food away from the mouths of hungry children and seniors and veterans.

And they did all of this to pay for massive tax breaks that they made permanent for their billionaire donors.

While at the same time refusing to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which is why we find ourselves in this situation right now.

We want to reopen the government, and we want to reopen it immediately.

But we also need to enact a spending agreement that actually improves the quality of life of the American people, as opposed to hurting everyday Americans, which Republicans have been doing all throughout this year.

And they've refused to negotiate.

Every step of the way throughout this year, they've taken a my way or the highway approach.

They've gone it alone.

And now we find ourselves dealing with this mess of this Republican health care crisis and time has run out.

Well, it's actually not about leverage for us.

It's about the American people.

That's the fight that we're waging, particularly in an environment where the cost of living is way too high.

People are already paying too much for groceries, for housing, for their electricity bills.

And now, of course, they're confronting the very real possibility of being bankrupted

by the rising costs of their health insurance.

So we're just asking Republicans to sit down and negotiate.