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Indiana University is proving how higher education can create solutions with industry. We're working side by side with industry partners to fuel economic growth that powers a future ready workforce. Explore. I use Impact at iu edu Impact.
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Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts, Radio news.
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All right, let's head now over to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. where Bloomberg's balance of power co host Joe Matthew has an exclusive, exclusive interview with the House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries. And they'll be talking about health care indeed. Thanks for joining us live from Capitol Hill on Bloomberg TV and Radio. I'm Joe Matthew with an exclusive conversation with the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Leader Jeffries, thanks for being back with us on Bloomberg. It's good to see you.
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Morning, Joe. Good to see you.
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Pretty important ruling in the Supreme Court when it comes to redistricting in the state of Texas that I'd like to start with here. It's open season, apparently, on redistricting. Does that mean every Democratic, Democratic led state in the country needs to redraw their maps?
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Well, first of all, it's unfortunate that the Supreme Court has rubber stamped a racially gerrymandered extreme map that Donald Trump ordered Texas Republicans to engineer as part of his effort to try to rig the midterm elections in 2026. But notwithstanding this adverse ruling, we're going to continue to move forward and ensure that there is a fair map across the country. California voters enacted prop and as a result, we'll have a fair map in California with some additional opportunities to be competitive. And I expect that you'll see other states across the country continue to respond.
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Will yours be one of them? Are you on the phone with Governor Hochul today saying it's time to redraw the New York map?
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Well, the New York map has some particularities relative to the Constitution that won't necessarily allow it to be revisited in this particular cycle. But some voters have filed a lawsuit in New York and we're monitoring, monitoring that litigation closely to see what the outcome may be.
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Okay. There's a question about whether you really need it. Leader Jeffries, after the special election in Tennessee on Tuesday, we saw a plus 22 Trump districts go down to a plus nine Trump district. And you've got a lot of armchair mathematicians out there suggesting that could mean as many as 30 or 35 seats for Democrats in the midterms. How do you see it?
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Well, Republicans know that if the elections were held today, they would lose. That's the reason why Donald Trump has decided to engage in this extreme effort, effort to gerrymander congressional maps all across the country. And it's very unfortunate. Our view is that we're not going to unilaterally disarm, and we have to ensure that there's a fair map nationally across the board so that it's the voters who get to decide who is in the majority. After the November 2026 election. Part of the challenge with Republicans is that they've broken all of their promises. They indicated that they were going to lower costs, in fact, lower costs on day one. Costs haven't gone down in America. Costs have gone up. Housing costs are through the roof, grocery prices through the roof, electricity bills through the roo. And now, because my Republican colleagues refused to extend the Affordable Care act tax credits, we know tens of millions of people are about to experience dramatically increased health care costs. Democrats are actually the party focused on driving down the high cost of living.
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So let's talk about a couple of those points of leverage that you just pointed out. Affordability and health care. Many would argue that it's kind of the same story here. President Trump has been saying that affordability is a Democrat hoax, a Democrat con job. Does that mean you do not have Republicans on board with you in reforming health care or extending Obamacare subsidies?
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It appears that way. It's unfortunate that the president's position, which is the Republican Party's position, is that the affordability crisis in the United States of America is a con job and it's a hoax. No, what was a con job and hoax was the fact that Republicans spent all of last year claiming that they were going to lower the high cost of living in the United States of America, that they were a party committed to addressing the inflationary pressure that the American people were under. That's all they talked about last year. But they lied to the voters. That's the con job.
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They lied.
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They absolutely lied to the voters. Because there's no evidence throughout this year that they've had any intention to actually address the affordability crisis that exists. In fact, they now say it's all a hoax. But everyday Americans, when they go to the grocery store, the supermarket, when they see their health care premiums dramatically increasing, when they see the electricity bills that they have, which are through the roof, in part because Republic, in their one big ugly bill, attacked the clean energy economy at a time in America where we have growing power needs in terms of what we see with the expansion of artificial intelligence. It's all extraordinary. So Republican leadership has made it clear they have no intention to extend the Affordable Care act tax credits. And that's very unfortunate.
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You know what the White House would say, hold on, Leader Jefferies, this president's been working overtime to cut deals to lower the cost of prescription drugs. Does he deserve credit for that effort?
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We haven't seen any evidence and that prescription drug prices have gone down in any meaningful way. What we have seen are that the Trump tariffs are out of control. They've increased costs by thousands of dollars per year on everyday Americans, and they've created an uncertain environment for businesses and corporations throughout the country. And we know that uncertainty is one of the biggest problems that American corporations and companies may face. It's difficult to actually make investments when you have this chaotic environment that has been visited upon the economy.
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So let's talk what you can get done before the expiration of these subsidies at the end of the month. A bill was introduced yesterday, a framework that was bipartisan. A Democrat and a Republican gottheimer and Kiggins. It would extend these subsidies for a year and put new collars on eligibility. Is this a path to renewal in your eyes?
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Well, we'll have to take a look at the particulars in the four corners of that bill. Yep. 214 Democrats have signed a discharge petition that will extend the Affordable Care act tax credits for three years and give the American people the certainty that they need in order to move forward during these otherwise uncertain times. All we need are four Republicans. There are 219 of them. All we need are four House Republicans to join us and we can extend the Affordable Care act tax credits. We also want to take a look at what happens in the Senate. I'm thankful for Lita Schumer and Senate Democrats who will put a bill forward next week, enforce an up or down vote on an extension of the Affordable Care act tax credits. You know, we're in this fight until we win this fight on behalf of the American people. Because in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, it cannot be the case that working class Americans and middle class Americans are unable to afford to go see a doctor when they need one.
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Are you in touch with the speaker of the House on this? Is Mike Johnson talking to you about a potential vote after John Thune promised a vote on health care in the Senate for next Thursday.
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You know, the big challenge with House Republicans has been that they've adopted a my way or the highway approach. They have zero interest in actually sitting down and finding a bipartisan path forward. We've said from the very beginning of this year and throughout the Trump Republican shutdown that we will sit down with anyone, anytime, any place here in the Capitol or go back to the White House, sit with the President to try to figure out how we can fix our broken health care system and address the Republican created health care crisis that's devastating people all across America. They've refused repeated to sit down and even try to find common ground apparently because they really are uninterested in dealing with an extension in Affordable Care act tax credits. Joe, as you know, this is the same group of people who have actually tried to repeal the Affordable Care act more than 70 times over the last 15 years.
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So could we be in a world in which there's a health care bill that passes the Senate and dies in the House?
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Well, if there's a bill that passes the Senate, there will be tremendous pressure on Mike Johnson's Steve Scalise and House Republicans to bring that bill to the floor for an up and down vote. And the votes will exist in the House of Representatives. I call upon some of my Republican colleagues, more traditional conservative colleagues or the so called swing seat Republicans to actually press their leadership to give the people of this country an up or down vote on something meaningful that will extend the Affordable Care act tax credits.
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Just lastly, President Trump today will be receiving, we understand, the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize. Does Donald Trump deserve credit, as he says, for ending eight wars?
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Yeah, it's unclear what eight wars he's talking about. What the American people clearly want to see from this president is action related to the challenges that we face in this country. Lowering the high cost of living, fixing our broken health care system, making life better for everyday Americans. That's the Democratic commitment that we actually should deliver on. The promises that Republicans made to lower the high cost of living but refused to address in a country that's the wealthiest in the history of the world. But there are far too many people who are struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, can't thrive, can barely survive. And that should not be the case in this great country. We should allow for a situation where every single person who works hard and plays by the rules can afford to live a comfortable life. Live the good life, good paying job, good housing, good health care, good education for your children, and ultimately at the end of the day, a good retirement. That's the American dream. We need to bring it to life for every single American.
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Democratic leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries. Leader, thank you for being with us today once again on Bloomberg.
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Thank you.
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