MSNBC "All In with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Hakeem Jeffries

Interview

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Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New York is the chair of the House Democratic Caucus. And he joins me now. First, let me start on the -- on the senate parliamentarian ruling yesterday, which makes a pathway to citizenship -- it can`t go into the reconciliation bill. Lots of folks, Chuck Schumer expressed frustration, anger disappointment. Does this mean it`s done, it`s not happening?

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Well, we have a broken immigration system. It needs to be fixed. The preference will be able to do in the bipartisan way but the Republicans have turned into a xenophobic party that continues to bend the knee to Donald Trump and his hate-filled rhetoric. So, that`s an avenue that`s not available to us at this particular moment, which means that we`re hopeful that the Senate Democrats will revise the proposal and present another potential option to the Senate parliamentarian which they have the capacity to do over the next week or two.

The Senate parliamentarian essentially concluded that the public policy changes that were in our initial proposal outweighed the budgetary proposals that they acknowledge did exist. And so, it`s possible while still maintaining the core of a pathway toward legalization for DREAMers, as well as foreign workers and temporary protected status recipients, that a revised proposal might pass the Senate Parliamentarian`s test in terms of budgetary impact.

[20:55:33]

HAYES: And just to respond to what you said. I don`t disagree with you about how the Republican Party has gone on immigration, but I`ve been covering this issue for 15 years. There still is no comprehensive bill. And you`ve got, you know, a Democratic administration overseeing the Border Patrol on horseback with whatever implement they were using in their hands in the face of cowering and terrified folks fleeing crisis in the Rio Grande waters.

I mean, that was not Donald Trump`s Customs and Border Patrol. That was Joe Biden`s. What do you think of those images? And what do you think about this administration continuing a policy in which those folks are not eligible for asylum?

JEFFRIES: Well, the Border Patrol agents are totally out of control. And I think it`s the White House themselves acknowledge those images are horrific. And those Border Patrol agents need to stand down in terms of the manner in which they are conducted themselves. And hopefully, that message is being communicated by the Secretary of Homeland Security.

I think the Biden administration is going to be committed to a more humanitarian policy with respect to immigration reform generally and specifically, as it relates to asylum seekers. We also have to continue to provide direct assistance to the people of Haiti on the ground, so we can turn the situation around there. And that`s something I know the House Democratic caucus remains strongly committed to a great leadership from the Congressional Black Caucus led by Congresswoman Joyce Beatty

HAYES: Final question on this. I don`t want to belabor it. But just to be clear, do you support the extension of the use of that public health invocation to essentially make asylum not possible for these folks or any others the Biden administration is extended?

JEFFRIES: Well, I disagree with the extension of any policy related to the excuse that was put forward by President Trump, inspired by Stephen Miller designed to just keep people out of America. And so, I`m hopeful that that policy is going to be reevaluated.

HAYES: In terms of that, there is a lot going on right now. So, there`s a debt -- there`s a government shutdown. Well, let`s divide them. There`s a reconciliation stuff having you there. But then now there`s a bill from the government and to pass the debt ceiling. I have to say, I`m a little confused on where we ended up on that. When is that going to be passing? And do you need -- you don`t need Republican votes on it, I guess. You`re just going to pass it and see what happens in the Senate.

JEFFRIES: We don`t need Republican votes in the House. And we expect that they`re going to be irresponsible in the House, even though the Republicans in this chamber and the Republicans across the Capitol three times during the Trump administration voted to extend the debt ceiling in dramatically high numbers, but all of a sudden, they`re back to being so-called fiscally responsible. It`s ridiculous. The debt ceiling relates to bills that the country has already incurred.

Now, we`re going to pass the legislation with respect to making sure that government continues to be funded. And we avoid a dramatic default, which will tank our economy. And then we`re going to put it on the United States Senate. We know that Democrats are going to do the right thing. And hopefully, a handful of Republicans will vote to protect the full faith and credit of the United States of America.

HAYES: But just to be clear, this is that -- this is what`s being set up right now. You`re going to pass it in the house where there`s, you know, there`s no filibuster, majority control. Obviously, leadership wants to keep the government funded, avoid a shutdown, and raise the debt ceiling. It`ll go over to the Senate where that has to, as of the current rules, passed by a filibuster-proof majority 60 votes. You got to find 10 Republican votes. And Mitch McConnell is saying, absolutely not. We`re all going to vote against it.

JEFFRIES: That`s what Mr. McConnell is saying. But I think that his friends on Wall Street and the wealthy and the well-off across the country do not want to see a default in the Stock Market and the economy crashing. And so, I`m not convinced that Mitch McConnell is doing anything but bluffing. And we`ll see what they do when the bill gets to the floor of the United States Senate and they`ll have an opportunity to do the right thing or to crash the economy.

HAYES: But I mean, that`s -- you know, here`s a little slogan about like, don`t take a hostage you don`t want to shoot, I mean, this does seem like playing with fire here. Am I missing something?

JEFFRIES: Well, listen, this is a high-stakes situation, which is why we shouldn`t be infusing politics into the debt ceiling. So, in the House led by Speaker Pelosi, we`re going to do our job. Unfortunately, we can do it without Republican support. But we are calling upon businesses throughout America corporations, people on Wall Street to prevail upon their friends in the Senate Republican caucus to do that.

HAYES: All right. We will keep monitoring that. Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, as always, thanks for making time tonight.

JEFFRIES: Thank you, Chris.

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