CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Hakeem Jeffries

Interview

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Let's bring in New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. He's the chair of the House Democratic Caucus and member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Congressman, great to see you. Appreciate it so much. The chair of your progressive caucus said some 50 members will vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill this week if the budget deal isn't also brought, that larger, much larger spending deal isn't also brought to the floor. What's your sense on that? Are you going to be joining your fellow progressives in balking if you don't get everything you want here?

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Well, we're scheduled to have a caucus meeting tomorrow at 5:30, which will continue the family discussion that we've been having as to the best pathway forward to get both the bipartisan infrastructure agreement over the finish line along with the Build Back Better Act.

We've always maintained from the very beginning that they're going to proceed on parallel tracks because it's necessary both to fix our crumbling bridges, roads, tunnels, our airports, our mass transportation systems, our water and sewage system to ensure that everyone across the country has access to high-speed internet.

And at the same time make sure that we're lowering the cost of health care and child care, creating and preserving affordable housing, creating millions of good-paying jobs, ensuring that we are doing what is necessary to truly build back better, which is what President Joe Biden promised we would do.

ACOSTA: And Congressman, even if these two bills pass the House this week, the Senate is a whole other story as you know.

[16:05:05]

Do you think that the president needs to start throwing some weight around to get Senators Manchin and Sinema onboard with this?

JEFFRIES: Well, President Biden had several conversations with members of the House and the Senate last week. I would expect that those conversations will continue. And at the end of the day, I think we have shared priorities in terms of what is necessary to crush this virus while investing in everyday Americans, in working class folks, in middle class folks, and those who aspire to be part of the middle class, in our young people, in our seniors in terms of elder care, as well as certainly with the poor, the sick, and the afflicted.

That is what the Build Back Better Act is all about. And it's my understanding that both Senator Manchin and Senator Sinema share many of those priorities. We just have to figure out at the end of the day what shape they will ultimately take.

ACOSTA: And not all Americans are following the specifics here on procedure, and even those of us who understand some of the procedures and specifics are having trouble keeping up. But they know that Democrats outside the beltway know Democrats control the House. They know Democrats control the Senate and the White House. Isn't it time for Democrats to just govern now? JEFFRIES: We have been governing. You know, we passed the American

Rescue Plan, which is an extraordinary intervention that was necessary to begin to turn things around with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it saved our economy, which is now moving in the right direction. Millions of jobs have already been created during the first several months of the Biden presidency. In fact, more than any other administration in history.

And so Joe Biden is leading America forward, but he inherited a complete and total mess, both because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a climate crisis, a racial justice crisis, a broken immigration system, a democracy crisis in the aftermath of the violent insurrection and a president -- or at least a former president who continues to lie about the actual results of that election. And so there are a whole host of challenges that we have to work through.

But I believe President Joe Biden is doing an extraordinary job leading us forward. This will be a big week, but Democrats are once again going to rise to the occasion.

ACOSTA: And let's talk about January 6th. You were alluding to that just a few moments ago. As you know, four Trump allies were subpoenaed by the select committee. You saw firsthand that Trump allies, associates, officials and so on, they don't like to cooperate with Congress. They tend to thumb their nose at requests for information and so on.

What can Congress do to make them testify? Are you just going to let them off the hook if they say they're not going to show up?

JEFFRIES: We're absolutely not going to let them off the hook. Speaker Pelosi has made clear from the very beginning that the Select Committee on the January 6th violent insurrection is going to uncover the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. Follow the facts, apply the law, be guided by the constitution, and let the chips fall where they may.

And with respect to these high-level former Trump administration officials, part of the reason their obstruction tactics worked in the past is because we were dealing with the Trump Justice Department.

And, Jim, as you know, ultimately enforcing these congressional subpoenas falls into the hands of the Department of Justice, both on the civil side and in terms of if there would be criminal consequences by inappropriately or unlawfully defying a subpoena. We now have a very different Justice Department committed to the rule of law.

And so I think that the Trump administration officials need to think twice before they engage in blanket defiance because they do not have a Justice Department that is in the pocket of the obstructionist-in- chief who formerly occupied the White House.

ACOSTA: And Congressman, I want to ask you about police reform. After months of bipartisan negotiations, police reform talks have collapsed. The Republican Senator Tim Scott, he's been blaming Democrats. Cory Booker on the Democratic side, he's been trying to take the high road, saying he doesn't want to cast any blame. What is your sense as to how this fell apart?

JEFFRIES: Well, I'm very disappointed that Senator Scott seems to have abandoned the notion of negotiating a comprehensive agreement to deal with the reality that while the overwhelming majority of police officers in America are hardworking individuals who are in the community to protect and serve, at the same time, we clearly have a police violence problem, a police brutality problem, and a police use of excessive force problem in America that needs to be addressed.

[16:10:06]

And it appears that Senator Scott may have yielded a lot of his engagement to some of the obstructionist police unions, who don't want to see anything happen because they prefer the status quo where members can often cross the line and not face any accountability. That's an unacceptable situation, so we're going to have to figure out another way to restart the clock.

Karen Bass has done a tremendous job leading things forward in the House. So has Senator Booker. We're not going to rest until we get real change in terms of the police community relationship in America.

ACOSTA: All right. Well, we know there's a lot of Americans out there who are counting on you to do just that, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. Thanks as always for joining us. We appreciate it.

JEFFRIES: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Thank you.

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