Things got very entertaining on Wednesday, October 8, when House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) got in a meltdown of a screaming match with Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), with Rep. Lawler managing to entertainingly trigger Jeffries by suggesting a short-term extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.
For reference, the confrontation, which came in the halls of the Capitol, was sparked by the continuing shutdown, which has gone on since Tuesday, September 30. Republicans insist they cannot sign onto what Democrats want, as it includes hundreds of billions of dollars of insane spending proposals, such as federal funding for illegal alien healthcare.
In any case, Rep. Lawler chose to strike as Rep. Jeffries left the House Democratic leadership press conference, and pressed the Democrat to sign onto a move that would end the shutdown by extending the ObamaCare subsidies by one year. He said, “Why don’t we sign on right now? Why don’t we sign on right now? You can easily extend the ACA right now.”
Jeffries then immediately made the confrontation personal. Sidestepping Lawler’s reasonable question, Jeffries snapped about whether Trump let Lawler press him on this, angrily asking, “Did your boss, Donald Trump, give you permission?” Lawler testily replied, “He’s not my boss.” That then turned into bickering, with Rep. Jeffries angrily insisting, “Yes, he is.”
Trying to get the conversation back on track, Lawler asked Jeffries why he would “vote to shut the government down.” Jeffries then tried again to make the conversation personal, insisting that Lawler was irrelevant and embarrassing, snapping, “You’re making a show of this to make yourself relevant” and “You’re embarrassing yourself right now.”
Firing back and staying on message with the shutdown angle, Lawler pressed Jeffries on why he wouldn’t just sign on to ending the shutdown embarrassment that he and Schumer have obviously created, saying, “It’s sad. It’s sad. You could easily sign on to this. The only embarrassment here is you.”
Jeffries never gave a straight answer. Instead, he got very heated and frustrated and started shouting about Rep. Lawler, snapping, “You’re chasing clout. You’re an embarrassment.” He then yelled, “You’re not going to talk to me and talk over me because you don’t want to hear what I have to say. Why don’t you just keep your mouth shut?”
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Watch them here:
Speaking to reporters about why he doesn’t want to sign onto the extension, Rep. Jeffries inanely insisted that ending the shutdown and adding to the timeline of the subsidy was a throway to “billionaire donors,” saying, “What world are these MAGA extremists living in right now to think that Democrats are going to go along with a one-year extension from a group of people, meaning the Republicans, who just permanently extended massive tax breaks for their billionaire donors?”
Further, Jeffries insisted that only a “permanent extension” would be acceptable to the left, angrily declaring, “It’s a laughable proposition. It makes no sense. The Democratic position has been clear: Permanent extension, and let’s go from there.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video