Things got highly entertaining on Fox News Sunday with host Shannon Bream on February 22 when Bream decided to call out House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) over his party starting yet another government shutdown, though this one is at least only a partial one, as a major winter storm barrels into the East Coast.
As background, the Democratic members of the legislature decided to again try to obstruct President Donald Trump’s agenda by obstinately refusing to negotiate in good faith in the budget negotiations now that the funding provided by the Continuing Resolution is running out. Bream called Hakeem Jeffries out on that, sparking a major on-air tussle.
Broaching the subject, Bream asked the House Minority leader why he is putting American national security and travel security at risk, saying, “Where we get to now is ICE — you know it’s funded.” She continued, “Why shut down the government? We got new information this morning that TSA pre-check is going away, global entry is going away.”
She further added, building on that point and getting to the question, “You know there’s real worry now that TSA and FEMA will not get paid. There’s a winter storm coming to your northeastern location there. Why take away funding from FEMA, TSA, the Coast Guard and others when ICE is fully funded? Why not reopen the government?”
Jeffries started to stammer his way through an answer, insisting that because Republicans are in a slight majority, Democrats are not to blame despite clearly being the obstinate ones, saying, “Well let’s remember: Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the presidency, to the extent that if there is ever a shutdown, as was the case with the 40 days —”
Cutting him off and shutting down his ridiculous claims by calling out the fact he refused to admit, Bream said, “But you know they cannot move forward without Democrat votes. They can’t do it. You guys have got to vote with them.” Jeffries started to snap, “Okay, so let’s talk about that. Our basic value proposition is that taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the American people, not to brutalize or kill them, as was done with ICU VA nurse, Alex Pretti —”
Bream, interjecting again, noted, “Again, you’re not going to shut down ICE as part of this shutdown.” She added, “And those are tragic cases that are being investigated, and they must be. We need answers on that. But ICE is not going to shut down.” Jeffries lost it, snapping, “I am happy to respond if you give me the opportunity to respond!”
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She then stopped interjecting as Jeffries let fly with an absurd argument, saying, “So, we believe that this moment should be used to make dramatic changes to ICE that are bold, transformational and meaningful. That include lifting up the Fourth Amendment and ensuring that judicial warrants are actually required before ICE agents can break into the homes of the American people. We believe there should be independent investigation so that if ICE breaks the law, state and local authorities can investigate and prosecute them, as is the case with every other law enforcement agency in the country.”
He added, “We believe that sensitive locations like houses of worship, like hospitals, like schools and polling sites should be protected. These are basic commonsense demands that have been laid out and unfortunately rather than dramatically reform ICE the administration has decided to shut down FEMA and the Coast Guard.”
Watch them here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video