LEADER JEFFRIES: "ANYTHING PRODUCTIVE THAT HAPPENED IN THIS CONGRESS OCCURRED BECAUSE HOUSE DEMOCRATS LED THE WAY"

Press Conference

"Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to my final press conference of the year, I think. Certainly appreciate the work that you do on behalf of the American people, consistent with the First Amendment and the important work the media and the Fourth Estate does to communicate information to the American people, what's happening on Capitol Hill and keeping them informed in the best way possible.

Throughout this year, House Democrats have repeatedly made clear that we are ready, willing and able to find common ground in a bipartisan way with our Republican colleagues on any issue in order to make life better for the American people. And that's exactly what we have done. Anything productive that has happened in this Congress -- which is not much because of the extreme MAGA Republicans -- has occurred because House Democrats have led the way.

In May, we avoided a catastrophic default on our nation's debt that would have crashed the economy and triggered a job-killing recession because House Democrats provided a majority of the votes necessary to pass the bipartisan fiscal responsibility. And in September, it was House Democrats who prevented a dangerous government shutdown that would have hurt the American people and ensured that there would be $16 billion in funding for disaster assistance when House Democrats provided a majority of the votes to get the continuing resolution over the finish line in mid-November. It was House Democrats -- once again -- to the rescue who provided a majority of the votes necessary in order to ensure that the farm bill didn't lapse and that we avoided a government shutdown that would have hurt hardworking American taxpayers when House Democrats provided a majority of the votes necessary to pass a continuing resolution. And once again on the final day of this do-nothing Republican Congress, thankfully, House Democrats provided a majority of the votes necessary to get the National Defense Authorization Act over the finish line.

Why would so many House Republicans, who are nominally in the majority, vote against the National Defense Authorization Act? The answer is pretty startling. The National Defense Authorization Act is important to make sure that we are protecting the national security and the safety of the American people. Ensuring our military readiness in a very dangerous world and providing a 5% well-deserved and well-earned pay raise for our military service men and women.

Why would so many House Republicans oppose the National Defense Authorization Act when they are in the majority, nominally, for the moment? It is because we were able to successfully remove efforts by extreme MAGA Republicans to further criminalize abortion care and stop military service women from receiving the support necessary to seek reproductive health care in other states when they are stationed in places like Texas. On this week of all weeks? When we've seen the cruelty of right-wing extremists unfold in terms of reproductive freedom in Texas, before the entire world, clearly necessitating the need to ensure that military women who have no choice other than to serve when assigned to places like Texas, have the opportunity, when necessary, to make their own reproductive health care decisions and travel to other states on this week of all weeks. Yet, so many House Republicans oppose the National Defense Authorization Act and a pay raise for our military because they were unsuccessful in marching America toward a nationwide abortion ban. And they want it to start with military service women and military families. It's shameful. But that's the reality that we confront. And we're going to continue to point out the contrast between House Democrats, Team Reasonable, Team Normal, Team Get Stuff Done, and Team Extreme."

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