carolina, a member of the house ways and means committee and we will be discussing this stalemate over raising the debt ceiling and other republican priorities. guest: it good morning to you. host: thank you for joining us. let's start by talking about the debt ceiling talks. can you give us the latest? where do things stand? guest: sadly enough, it does not sound like there is much progress made. each side is saying this is what we want to do. the white house is saying we want a clean debt ceiling and want to raise taxes. the republican site says we are willing to raise the debt ceiling but there has to be spending cuts. so far i'm not overly optimistic there will be an agreement today. host: have you started to panic?

we have heard a lot about deadlines and what needs to be done in order for legislation to be passed before this x date, which may be june 1 at the earliest. you said there might not be a deal today. are we getting to the time where a default is >> a we'll leave this conversation here. go to our website c-span.org. live to watch the progressive caucus chair jayapal and other caucus members on the debt limit. ms. jayapal: i'm produce to be joined by strong leaders across our progressive caucus, 102 members strong that have been holding the line in making sure we don't get a bad deal for the american people. today the united states is closer to default than we have ever been in our history for one reason and one reason only. that is extreme republican

recklessness that will crash our economy. let me be clear, republicans have no interest in cutting the deficit. they are willing to crash the economy because they will want to continue their extreme tax cuts for the wealthiest corporations and billionaires across the country. and guess what? they want you working people to finance those tax cuts for the wealthiest. the progressive caucus is here to sound the alarm about the harm and catastrophe that will befall working families if republicans are successful. please understand none of this is normal and it shouldn't be treated as such. congress has raised the debt ceiling 78 times since 1960. 49 under republican presidents. and 29 under democratic presidents. spending is negotiated during the budget. that is appropriate. that is the appropriations process. but raising the debt ceiling is

separate to implementing what congress has already passed. it is a constitution obligation and it is essential to protecting people's pensions, health care, and social security. driving us off the default cliff is bad enough in and of itself. let's call out why they are sowing this chaos and catastrophe. president biden and democrats have put forward very clear proposals to cut the deficit. but republicans' posturing has nothing do with that. why won't they discuss raising revenue? why won't they reverse their deficit exploding unfunded trump tax cuts which added nearly $2 trillion to the deficit with nearly half of the benefits benefiting the top 5%? why won't they cut the bloated defense budget? because it is not actually about debt or deficits. it is about keeping the cash flowing to the wealthiest

americans and biggest corporations. speaker mccarthy and extreme maga republicans do not want you to know, they do not want you to know it was donald trump who oversaw the third biggest deficit increase of any administration. he was beaten out only by george w. bush and abraham lincoln. bush, who led the u.s. into two foreign wars, financed almost entirely through debt, and lincoln, who fought the civil war. speaker mccarthy has rejected revenue raising proposals. today i want to be specific with you. i spoke to the white house last night and i can share today what they told me. the republicans rejected $3 trillion worth of policies that could have gone towards deficit reduction. republicans rejected ending tax subsidies to big oil, an industry that pocketed $200 billion in profit last year.

that would have brought in $31 billion for taxpayers. they rejected closing the secured interest and other tax loopholes that would have raised more than $60 billion. they rejected increasing the number of drugs that medicare could negotiate prices for which would have brought down drug prices for you, the working people in our country, and it would have saved $200 billion. republicans rejected a billionaire minimum tax and a corporate global minimum tax that would bring in almost $1 trillion. they rejected raising taxes on large corporations from the outrageous cuts that trump instituted, all together $3 trillion in savings. what are they proposing instead? they want you to foot these bills. for these tax cuts. they are not negotiating. unreasonable, extreme, cruel. don't take it from me. yesterday representative matt gaetz said republicans, quote, don't feel like we should

negotiate with our hostage. who exactly is that hostage? it's the american economy. it's seniors. parents, kids, veterans, people with disabilities, teachers, the poorest americans. from day one the congressional progressive caucus and our members have been the loudest voices defending working families from republicans' extreme behavior. the c.p.c. publicly called for raising the debt ceiling last fall and our members were the first to sign the discharge petition. we will continue to call out and reject this reckless hostage taking from extreme maga republicans. republicans want you to believe that there are only two choices. their extreme bill that would make you pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest. or default that pushes our economy into catastrophe. both are catastrophic. don't buy it. there are other options. five republicans who actually care about working people could

join democrats in signing the discharge petition so that we can raise the debt ceiling and diffuse the ticking time mom. that could happen tomorrow. they could agree to sub any, any revenue raising policy so that the wealthiest and big corporations, reducing the deficit by paying their fair share. if necessary the president can take unilateral action by acting according to the 14th amendment and pay these bills. let's be clear. if we default, if we crash the economy, there is only one person to blame. and that is the spoups -- speaker of the house, kevin mccarthy. i turn it over to representative ilhan omar. ms. omar: thank you, chairwoman. i am really excited to be able to work under your leadership

and so glad that you are at the table in these negotiations. grateful to our whip, greg casar. and all the progressive caucus members for being strong as we fight to make sure to save our economy. what republicans are doing right now is playing stupid games. they are not actually negotiating. they are holding every american hostage while they threaten to wipe out people's savings, take away millions of jobs, and plunge the world economy into depression. we as democrats need to stop them from taking americans to default. the default they are threatening would be a horror show. it would be an economic catastrophe that would threaten the day-to-day life of every

american. default means 40% drop in g.d.p. an unemployment would jump to more than 8%. basic services like air travel could be out of reach, meaning people couldn't go through with their summer plans. they couldn't attend a funeral. they couldn't go graduation. they couldn't attend their grandson's christening. and that's just the beginning. economists across the political spectrum have warned that default on our nation's bills would cost a devastating recession. project weakness to our adversaries. royal financial markets worldwide, and raise interest rates and more. but kevin mccarthy doesn't seem to care about that. so let's look at what it would mean for his own constituents.

even a short-term default would kill over 62,000 jobs in his district alone. it would jeopardize social security payments for 54,000 families in his district. it would put the health benefits of 437,000 people in kevin's district. that's more than 50% of his constituents who rely on medicare, medicaid, or veteran affairs health coverage. it would also threaten the retirement savings of nearly 75,000 people near retirement in his district, eliminating $20,000 from typical retirement portfolio. if you are not worried about your country's speaker, speaker

mccarthy, maybe you could care about your own constituents. the hypocrisy here is just astonishing. republicans have passed over $10 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy in the past two decades. just those tax cuts alone, as the chairwoman said, account for almost 60% of the deficit. that's not to mention the $8 trillion spent on endless wars over the past two decades. or the $858 billion pentagon budget that they voted for just last month. are they willing to cut the pentagon budget? nope. are they willing to roll back the trillions upon trillions of dollars in tax cuts to their billionaire friends? nope. instead they want to gut

investment in housing, in childcare, in social security, and even on air traffic controllers. we need to stop letting kevin mccarthy take us for fools. now i would like to hand it over to whip greg casar. mr. casar: thank you. good afternoon, everyone. i'm greg casar and i am proud to be whip of the largest progressive caucus in congressional district. as part of my job i asked our members where they stood on this dangerous and manufactured crisis. we usually give a few days to respond, but i can tell you all that was in minutes. we were hearing from the overwhelming majority of our members that they would not

stand idly by while kevin mccarthy and the most extreme republicans threaten to strip the savings of millions of people from our communities. threaten millions of jobs, finance tax cuts for their billionaire buddies, while depriving americans of food and health care. we simply will not stand for it. starting from day one progressives have been the most consistent voices defending working families from republican hostage taking. from day one progressives have consistently been speaking out about how dangerous it is that one of the two political parties in america, the republicans, are willing to threaten the global economy over trying to win tax cuts for billionaires. that's scary. this is serious. many people are talking about this as if it's just a typical daily disagreement between pundits and politicians. this is not a simple political

disagreement. this is not a simple political disagreement. this is a dire crisis for everyday people in america. every single person sitting here in this room. you could lose your savings, your sibling could lose their job. your kids could lose their house. people are going to lose their health care. for what? because the republicans have taken over. kevin mccarthy refuses to stand up to matt gaetz and marjorie taylor green, and he is threatening the tkpwhoebl economy -- global economy. they believe that they can burn the entire house down and blame it on the firefighters. and what the progressive caucus is here stating together to say is we will not let that stand. skphaerbg has given -- speaker mccarthy has given up his love of community and country and

replaced that with a love of corporate contributions. matt gaetz said the quiet part out loud and called the american people his hostages. the american economy his hostages. so what do we do about it? first we have to tell it like it and second, we need the american people to know what it is. the american people have to hear and understand that millions of their jobs are on the line. millions of people's health care is on the line. so how do we get out of this? if you listen to the lies of the republicans they say we have two choices. one, go into the first american default in american history and have millions of people lose their jobs. or two, slash medicare, slash social security, finance this on the backs of working people and leave the billionaires untouched. but we are not falling for that false choice. it is up to us now, elected leaders of conscience in this

body alongside the american people to say, no. we are not going to take either of those two options. instead, we can work with the republicans to reduce the deficit by repealing the trump tax scam. let's have the billionaires and megacorporations pay their fair share. or if we want to avoid economic catastrophe, we don't need many republicans. there is over 200 of them. we just need five of them. five of them to do what we have done nearly 100 times in the last couple of generations. just five. instead of folks asking how are progressives going to get us out of this mess, just ask the five republicans that are willing to stop holding the american economy hostage. and if the republicans insist on economic ruin, progressives have stood strong that we are not going to sit by and allow the republicans to push us into default. and that's why we'll support president biden and following his constitutional duties to make sure the american bills continue to be paid. we will not let speaker mccarthy

burn the house to the ground and try to get away with blaming the firefighters. we will also not get out of this if the republicans continue to get away with saying that this is about them spending here or there when it is about them holding the economy for hostage. i will be clear, working families will not be taken hostage. progressives will continue standing strong. we will do everything we can to hold them accountable for what they are doing. thank you very much. i'm proud to hand it over. >> thank you, rep casar. i have the great honor of leading -- having had led americans in uniform in deployments at sea and iraq. i'm a proud v.a. patient. now get to serve as the vice ranking member on the house committee on veterans' affairs. i want to talk about republican default threat and what they are doing. through the lens of how it's going to impact my fellow veterans. essentially that default threat

is exactly this. risking and threatening government defunding what they are attempting to jam through that will hurt my fellow americans, the american people across the board. all so they can continue tax cuts for the wealthiest people and most powerful corporation that is ever existed in human history. it is textbook fiscal irresponsibility. first off republicans voted to claw back $2 billion from the v.a. that is a cut. period. $2 bill. we have -- touchdown billion. we have a republican appropriations bill that underfunds the v.a., toxic exposure funds by nearly $15 billion in 2024. and provides exactly zero stkolars, in advance funded for 2025. mr. deluzio: that's the cost of war, toxic exposure fund established in the pact act to pay for the care of veterans like me exposed to burn pits in places like iraq and afghanistan. by slashing funding for the

toxic exposure fund, my republicans colleagues have betrayed the promise of the pact act. this move is going to pit toxic exposed veterans against other veterans to fight for funding within the v.a. if the republican appropriation bill moves forward, it's going to mean the toxic exposed veterans care will come up for cuts when the bill is renewed or appropriations are renewed annually. my fellow veterans and i know there are costs to war. the fund is called the cost of war toxic exposure fund. if republicans didn't want to foot the bill for caring for veterans, they shouldn't have sent americans off to 20 years of war. humans bear the cost of fighting war. there and the people we send to fight. plenty of chicken hawks had no problem voting to fight these war for years. send the americans off to do this country's bidding. now they can't care for them. if speaker mccarthy will have his way. things will get worse when the

republicans continue to defund other programs, basic things our government does. programs that veterans and so many americans care about. rail safety, food safety inspection, housing and food assistance, and so much more. republicans are saying cuts, cuts, cuts. you don't hear them talk about revenue because they want to keep taxes low for gazillion heirs and biggest corporations driving up deficits. they want to defund the i.r.s. so it's easier for tax cheats to get by. that's their mission. they'll make your life worse to protect tax cuts for billionaires. you want to talk about fiscal responsibility, holding our economy hostage while giving tax cuts to the wealthiest and massive corporations is anything but. it is a dereliction of their duty in congress. a default will kill thousands of jobs in my district alone and others will be the same. veterans will be among the first and likely worst hit. it will mean late checks for veterans' disability payments, social security, and so much more. it will hurt every single

american, my republican colleagues know this. it doesn't have to be this way. we don't have to push, they don't have to push, let me be clear, they don't have to push the united states into default. we can take this hostage taking off the table. save our budget fight for another day. i'm new here. i still have some hope. optimism about working together and finding common ground where we can. i have bills with republicans here in the house. my colleagues do, too. there are still places we should work together. this should be one of them. we can and must do what's right for the american people for the common good. and responsibly raise the debt ceiling and save our budget fight for another day. i welcome that day. we can let the american people decide if they want the republican plan. slashing all of government to protect tax cuts for the richest and most powerful among us. or our vision that fights for our shared prosperity and rewards work and not just wealth. let's have that debate. we have a way out of this manufactured crisis through our

discharge petition. i'm calling on my republican colleagues to put this country first and join us for the sake of the american people. come with us to end this crisis you created. thank you. i now like to introduce a member of our democratic leadership. ranking member of the rules committee, jim mcgovern. mr. mcgovern: thank you. i'm honored to stand with my colleagues here. this is an important discussion. aim going to be brief. the way the g.o.p. is acting is exactly why americans are losing faith in politics. speaker mccarthy says we can't ask billionaires to pay another cent for in t-bgss and we can't save a single dime in our bloated defense budget, but we need to nickel and dime america's moms and dads to get our fiscal house in order. they want to solve this problem by going after a food benefit program that pays somebody on average $6 a day so they don't starve. it's as absurd as it is cruel. understand this. right now in america the richest

country in the history of the world, over 35 million of our fellow citizens don't know where the next meal is coming from. to put it bluntly, they are hungry. let's get something straight. most people on snap who can work, do work. that is a fact. there are already work requirements for snap and tanf. that is a fact. and by the way, study after study says that these work requirements for snap and tanf do not help people into jobs. they simply make them hungry and poor. that's a fact. republicans routinely vote against raising the minimum wage so people could actually feed themselves. they voted to cut job training and childcare. things that actually help people get a job and keep a job. and now they want to go after this measly $6 a day food benefit? who would this impact most? it would impact veterans,

homeless people, people just graduating out of foster care, people with undialing knowed meant -- undiagnosed mental illness. really? that's who they want to target. how low do they want to go? how rotten do they want to be? their so-called debt ceiling bill that they brought up a few weeks ago, that bill, if you remember, would have cut meals on wheels. thrown a million senior citizens out of meals on wheels. cut w.i.c., take wa*eug nutrition from our most vulnerable children in this country. moodies says their debt ceiling bill will kill 780,000 jobs. they are killing jobs. by saying you have to get a job if you want these benefits. what the hell is wrong with these people? this is unconscionable. it is unjust. it is just mean. it is a rotten thing to do. let me say this. democrats are not going to vote for a bill that screws poor people while protecting rich people and paving the way for

another tax cut for billionaires. period, end of story. ms. jayapal: thank you so much. incredibly powerful words here. we'll take questions. the first question goes to cnn. reporter: the discharge petition to get onboard. the conversation has been with members across the aisle if there is not any among the republican conference, what are those conversations like? are you getting anything where there is support? ms. jayapal: i want to invite any of my colleagues to step up and answer these questions. as long as kevin mccarthy continues to act like he's not going to even put anything reasonable on the table and finance tax cuts for the wealthiest on the backs of poor

people, those republicans are not coming forward. but there is going to be a moment here. it's coming very, very soon, where they will have to make a choice between their constituents and their country, and an extreme maga republican hostage taking that their speaker is leading them into. reporter: do you think the white house should have done anything differently? meet earlier? ms. jayapal: the problem is not the white house. the problem is kevin mccarthy anti-extreme republicans. they are the ones that -- and the extreme republicans. they are the ones that are holding this economy who is act. putting these cuts on the american people. i think of course the white house is in a position where they are trying to find a way forward. but let's just be clear about where the blame is real -- really needs to be focused. it's on the fact we have a republican party today that is trying to use this moment and is

willing to crash the economy instead of actually doing their constitutional obligation. reporter: are you comfortable with some of the things the white house is putting on the tphoerblting table like for example more work requirements. ms. jayapal: i think we have made clear our position. we have these beautiful signs made. they were hidden. we have another one over here, too. i think that we have been very clear as representative mcgovern said that we are -- our caucus overwhelmingly in our whip count said that they would not agree to a bill that has work requirements that hurt poor people. would not agree to a bill that has bad permitting reforms. would not agree to a bill that cuts spending that the american people need. i think we have been very clear about that. reporter: were there to be a

default are you concerned that americans will blame you and fellow democrats? the second question is, is there anything you and fellow democrats would be willing to seek. would you be for re-- ms. jayapal: i would ask the republicans on the second question what they are willing to do to cut the deficit. i don't understand why the conversation is about what cuts -- tax cuts poor people and working people should finance for the richest people in the country. i would turn that question to the republicans. your first question? blame. did you hear kevin mccarthy's press conference this morning? he said multiple times that he's not to blame. that means he knows he's to blame. if you have to say it that many times you're to blame. reporter: on the 14th amendment are you worried that progressives might appear to be undermining the administration. it says here that both sides do

want to come to a bipartisan agreement. do you worry about what this looks like? ms. jayapal: i was checking to see if jamie raskin were here. our judiciary committee chairman is here. mr. nadler: i don't think it appears both sides want to make concessions. republicans have made very clear that they want to make no concessions at all. the quote we heard from matt gaetz, holding the -- we are not going to negotiate with our hostage. you didn't hear the speaker contradict that. we haven't seen speaker be willing to make any concessions whatsoever. there has been no concessions. the 14th amendment is something that can be used. it is actually a good way to go. the problem with the 14th amendment is that there would undoubtedly be litigation. i don't think anybody would have

standing, but the litigation would be over the question of standing. and the period of uncertainty until the supreme court rules would certainly royal the stock markets -- ro*eul the stock markets. a lot preferable to breaching the debt ceiling, but not as good as the republicans agreeing that they are not going to hold the economy hostage anymore. reporter: would progressives support any deal that speaker mccarthy is involved in brokering? ms. jayapal: if he wants to allow five republicans to sign the discharge petition we would be thrilled. reporter: what about brokering with the white house. ms. jayapal: it depends on what's in the deal. you heard we are not going to take a deal that hurts working people. and so i think that is at the core of this. i think the question again, just to be clear, i think the question is, is kevin mccarthy willing to actually consider

what it takes to reduce the deficit, which would be all of the things the president has put on the table, $3 trillion in saves, instead of continuing to hold people hostage and try to tank the economy? reporter: should president biden and democratic leaders pushed for revenue increases? it seems like -- [indiscernible] -- and second question, are house progressives prepared to support a motion to vacate the speakership if it were to come up during these negotiations or otherwise? ms. jayapal: we need to let the republicans deal with their own speaker but here are the -- here are some of the saves that were rejected by republicans. so, the white house has been pushing these, the president already released his budget, with many of these things. but these were specifically things that were put on the table during negotiations that were rejected. so we have been putting these on the table.

that's part of the reason we wanted to do this press conference, because i want people to understand that if you really want to talk about the deficit, then let's talk about the deficit. but let's not pretend that you want to talk about the deficit and then talk about taking food away from hungry people, which actually is not just bad for hungry people, it actually saves no money and is not effective. and so i think these are the things that have been put on the table, i wanted you all know that. reporter: there's polling that shows that more americans want budget cuts connected to lifting the debt limit. there's another poll that says nearly half of americans think that. so are democrats and the white house not effectively messaging democrats' positions? ms. jayapal: i think you see what we're doing today. we want to let the american people know -- i don't think it's too late. no, i think it's very much right there and i think you all play a big role in this. i'm really glad that we have a big room here because it is not

normal to have this happen. and there are not just two options on the table. and i think it's important that the american people understand what has been rejected over here, and what the affects will be of what they are doing. those two things are incredibly important and so i think we're committed to making sure we continue that. omaha and that poll is really interesting because -- ms. omar: and that poll is really interesting. because it makes sense, if you ask the american people, should there be cuts, they might say yes. then you have to ask them, what do they want cut? you might find that most americans might be interested in repealing the tax cuts. most americans do not support corporations and millionaires and billionaires getting away with not paying their fair share while, you know, average people are subsidizing that lifestyle

for them. whether it is subsidies to their yachts or private jets, many americans might have an opinion on where those cuts should come from. if you were to ask many americans, do you want medicaid cut, do you want social security cut, do you want to cut benefits to veterans? that is not the kind of cuts that most americans are thinking about when they say we should be cutting. ms. lee: first of all, i have to say to all of you, the journalists, that what you have seen is a willingness on the part of kevin mccarthy and the republicans to say that they are willing to shut down the entire economy in order to get what they want. ms. schakowsky: you heard what matt gaetz said. that they don't feel like

negotiating with their hostage. i brought this picture because this is a hostage from my district. her name is janet and she called my office in tears. she was so afraid. she is 64 years old. her income is $1200 a month. she has chronic mental illness. she cannot work, she would like to work, but she cannot. and she is so afraid that if they do what they're going to do, that she cannot pay the rent, she cannot pay for any food, she can't pay for the medication that she needs. these tough guys who don't want to negotiate, this is the hostage that they want to take. and there are millions of janets all over the world who are sitting at home, if they understand what's going on, and

watching to see what are the republicans going to try to do to them? you know, this is unnecessary. this is unnecessary. this is man-made. this is mccarthy-made. thank you. reporter: the speaker has called work requirements, stricter work requirements, for certain requirements a red line. would any of you on this stage support a deal that has work requirements? ms. jayapal: as we said, overwhelm magazine jotter of progressive kau -- majority of progressive caucus members said that is unacceptable. reporter: has the president given you any assurances that was taken off the table in negotiations? ms. jayapal: we have continued to make our position clear to the white house and i think you've seen that they've heard us and made a number of statements. we just have to be clear about standing up for janet. that was so powerful from jan. every one of us has these calls that getting every day and these

republicans act like somehow they control the discussion here. they have one house. they have one house of the three. and let me tell you, they have power in the appropriations process. they just can never get their own extreme ideas through. that's why these things haven't become law. because they've tried and they haven't gotten them through. that's why they pulled back their appropriations bills. because they can't square with the phrerpb people that they're not going to see any cuts when they're saying we're going to increase defense spending and we're going to kind of hold v.a. harmless, except you heard that that's not even true. they can't square the lines. mr. mcgovern: let me repeat, there are already work requirements in place for some of these programs and the majority of people on snap, for example, the majority of people who are able-bodied who can work actually do work. they actually do work. and the average benefit, as i

mentioned before, is about $6 a day. that's it. $2 per meal. you can't even buy a cup of coffee with that. when they brought their whatever the default on america bill to the rules committee, and they were trying to talk about stricter -- more restrictions on snap and tanf, i asked the chairman of the ways and means committee and the chairman of the budget committee, who are these people who would be adversely impacted? do you know who these able-bodied adults without dependents are who are not working? they had no clue. not only they had no clue, their staff had no clue. they haven't done a hearing, they haven't done any analysis. they don't really give a damn. this is about playing to the cheap seats in the maga base. i mean, so -- let's understand whereas going on here. and the people -- what's going on here. and the people who will be adversely impacted are veterans. are people who are homeless. are people just graduating out of foster care. people with undiagnosed mental illnesses. is that really where we want to go? the bottom line, we just don't share their values.

and i have to tell you, if we're not about defending the most vulnerable in this country and helping to uplift them, i don't know what the hell we're here for. it really is maddonning to hear them target the most vulnerable people in this country. over and over. demonize them. these are people who actually need our help and to the extent that they're getting help, these -- they are able to survive. so let's be clear. so, no, no more -- these aren't work requirements. this is about throwing people off the benefit and none of us are for that. we're not here to screw poor people. ms. schakowsky: let me clarify one thing. progressive caucus continues to stand for a clean debt ceiling bill. ms. lee: it should not be connected to wreaking havoc on people's lives through these horrible budget cuts. and so to wreak havoc on people's lives in exchange for paying our bills is cruel and it's unusual punishment. because we have never done this

before to people. we have lifted this debt ceiling without making people starve to death. and i think we have to be clear about the joining of these two issues together. i'm on the appropriations committee and the budget committee and as our chair said, couldn't even get them to hold hearings, markups, because of the huge cuts that are taking place in their appropriations bills. so i hope it's clear that we want a clean debt ceiling bill. and not a bill that's going to hold the american people who are the most vulnerable hostage to their negotiations. ms. ocasio-cortez: thank you so much to all of our colleagues here. i want to reiterate one point. the reason why anyone is asking anyone on this stage about what we would vote for is because kevin mccarthy needs our votes. because kevin mccarthy doesn't have the votes. because kevin mccarthy is going

to the white house without a majority of his caucus. he does not have what is necessary to negotiate and for any, any question about what anybody would settle for, he has responsibility to concede. so if he wants any democratic support, he has to come to the table and we have seen him over and over again say that he will not negotiate, that they are engaged in hostage taking, not negotiation. extortion, not conversation. and that is not something we can establish, it is not something we can reinforce in this country. the proposal that we see on this table right now that kevin mccarthy and the republican caucus have put down has been an absolute rejection of the same reckless tax cuts that were passed in 2017 that we said at the time would explode the debt ratio, that would explode the deficit. and now several years later we

are in this scenario and instead of them recognizing the error of their ways, they want to protect tax cuts on yachts and private jets and make single moms pay for it. and that's where we say no. that's where we say the american people did not elect house progressives so that we can lay back while people's food benefits are cut. we're here to fight for working families. and so this is the last caucus to ask, what are we going to give up in terms of people's food in terms of people's health care, in terms of veterans? and the time is now to ask the republican caucus, why they are valuing billionaires over veterans and single mothers. this is shameful. we can put an end to it. and it only takes five of the 18 republicans that are in seats. thank you. reporter: if republicans are dug

in on their position, are you guys supportive at all of these daily talks between the white house aides and mccarthy allies? ms. jayapal: i think the president is -- has been trying to talk to them. but i think time is running out. time is running out. people, you heard about janet, people are afraid. people do not have the resources that many of these millionaires that sit in congress on the republican side of the aisle have. they are living paycheck to paycheck. and this is playing with their lives. reporter: are you concerned about president biden -- [indiscernible] -- making concessions -- [indiscernible] -- ms. jayapal: we have been clear that any deal that the white house strikes, and i've had this numerous times, said this privately in conversations and we said it publicly, any deal that the white house strikes has to be something that we, house democrats, also are a part of. and at the table for. so i'm pleased that i've been at the table. we've been continuing to make our voices heard.

the entire democratic caucus has. the leader jeffries has been strong on these points as well. and we appreciate his leadership. reporter: are you willing to tank it if it's not? ms. jayapal: they are willing to tank it. reporter: [indiscernible] ms. jayapal: no, no, no. sorry. that is exactly the problem. is when the media reports this as not their fault. and i'm just going to say, i know so many of you, i have so much respect for what you do. but let's tell the truth here. we are not tanking anything. the debt ceiling has been raised because we have an appropriations process and during the appropriations process, the budget process, we negotiate. the republicans can try to get whatever they can there, but then we agree -- no, this is important. the american people should hear this. then we agree on spending. republicans agree, democrats agree, we decide, we appropriate money based on what congress has passed. legislation that we pass in this

body, that is democracy. and then when it's time, the debt ceiling is raised to accommodate what we have already passed. republicans and democrats. in a democratic process. reporter: let me clarify. if the president, the white house and republicans come to an agreement tomorrow, let's say, and there are one or two items on there that you're not happy with, are you willing to vote against that? j&j we don't draw -- ms. jayapal: we don't draw red lines about what a final bill is what we have said is there are three proposals that republicans have put on the table that are unacceptable. reporter: progressives -- [indiscernible] -- election content -- [indiscernible] -- ms. jayapal: we have so appreciated the president's leadership over the last two years. he's been an incredible champion and he's been successful and we've been successful because he

united the democratic caucus. and he stood up for democratic values. he won the white house because of a diverse, vibrant coalition across the country and particularly in key states like georgia and arizona and places like that. and so what we've said to the white house is, understand that we need to make sure that our vibrant coalition, vibrant, diverse coalition, represented by so many of the members here in the progressive caucus, continue to be enthusiastic. and if people feel like they can't eat, let me just say, we are the only developed country in the world who doesn't just give food to the hungry. that puts barriers in the way of people getting fed. so i think we have made it clear that there would be a real backlash. i think many of us have said that. reporter: leader jeffries has suggested that freezing spending at 2022 levels would be

reasonable. is that something that you would be willing to accept? ms. jayapal: we don't know what deal is in the making here. what i would say is we've been clear about what we will not be able to support. a bill that screws poor people. probably have time for one or two. reporter: president biden said on the policies that no one would be blameless. do you think tk*efrb democrats deserve any blame at all? ms. jayapal: i really don't. i don't know. we can go around. but i really don't. it is not us that are trying to tank the economy, crash the economy. it is not us that are trying to strip benefits away. i think my friend, representative omar, made a really important point. you know, if you ask the american people, would you rather raise taxes on the wealthiest so they pay their fair share or see a cut to your social security benefits or your veterans in your district, i can promise you what they're going to say. the vast majority are going say, cut -- make sure that those wealthy are paying their fair

share. >> most of us voted to raise the debt ceiling three times under the trump administration. so put the blame on whoever is refusing to raise the debt ceiling. >> correct. i think it's a question i've been asked about multiple times. and this is a question, like asking a hostage, why didn't you pick the lock faster? why didn't you get your arms untied quicker? should you have thought about going out in the back door in the middle of the night? mr. casar: if a hostage gets hurt, you should be asking the hostage takers, why did you do that? ms. jayapal: i think the other really important point is there are many in the republican party that want to crash the economy. that want to send this country into chaos and catastrophe. and think that maybe it will help their election prospects in 2024 if the country is in chaos. and that is just absolutely cruel, untenable, cannot be rewarded. last question. reporter: is there any --

[indiscernible] -- among democrats for not raising the debt ceiling? j&j i will say this. if you -- ms. jayapal: i will say this. if you look at our executive action list from last year, lame duck session, we pushed very hard and raised it multiple times, that we needed to deal with the debt ceiling immediately while we had control of all three bodies. and ranking member of the budget committee, brendan boyle, has a great bill on this tyke care of the debt ceiling -- this, to take care of the debt ceiling, allow the treasury secretary to raise the debt ceiling. many of us are proud to be on that bill. i think this is really important because i think there used to be this idea that the debt ceiling was sort of sacred. it was just paying your bills. this had already been negotiated. it was already agreed to. what we've seen is republicans increasingly taking on those very sacred principles of keeping the economy going, of not defaulting, of not throwing people into uncertainty and chaos and catastrophe and clearly these extreme maga

republicans are not those folks anymore. ms. omar: i was just thinking about this when jarod said some of us voted to raise the debt ceiling three times under trump. i would love for you all to ask mccarthy what he thought about pelosi not saying she wanted to repeal the trump tax cuts in order to raise the debt ceiling. all right? i think these are the kind of conversations and questions that should be asked of the republicans, when we talk about hostage taking, we should be asking them, why are they taking the american economy hostage? what are they afraid about when it comes to having these conversations, doing the appropriation period? why do they think this is the time to have these conversations about cuts, when we're desperately trying to avoid a default and not just doing a

clean bill and having these conversations about cuts when it is the appropriate time. because as representative barbara lee said, they don't have the votes for that. we know that the only reason they were able to pass the bill here is kevin mccarthy was very clear to his caucus or conference by saying, don't worry about the substance. we just want to say we did something. and we want to hold it over their heads. many republicans, if this was a real bill, would not have voted for it. many of them know the kind of damage that their constituents will face in their pocketbooks every single day and it's not just the 17 that alex was talking about. so many republicans would not be able to go back to their districts if this bill that they passed out of the house became law. so, you need to ask them why do

they sell this as the nonsubstantive bill that republicans have to worry about? and why is it that the negotiators that mccarthy is sending, like mchenry, are saying, we're not negotiating on anything? the only thing we're willing to give democrats is the fact that we are avoiding a default. that is not negotiation. negotiations are give and take. they are not negotiating. they are looking to waste time, play games and make sure we default because they think that somehow that is going to be a political advantage that they will have in the coming elections. the reality is, americans are not going to forget and for give them -- forgive them if there is a default. there is not going to be a two-sides blame if our g.d.p.

drops by 4%. there's not going to be a two-sides blame when unemployment hits 8%. and you have to make sure that you're asking them the questions that you're asking us, because they are the ones that are in charge of producing a bill that saves the american economy. ms. jayapal: and with that, i want to say how proud i am of this incredible caucus. we -- sometimes people try make comparisons between the extreme left and the extreme right. i will just tell you, the freedom caucus is a caucus of no. progressive caucus has always been a caucus of yes. we've always fought for the most vulnerable people across this country, for small businesses, for veterans. we want progress for everyone that, as the president said, gives people a little breathing room and that allows our economy to grow and prosper from the middle-out and from the bottom-up, not from the

top-down. thank you all so much for being here. >> thanks, everyone. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2023] >> order your copy of the 118th congressional directory now available at c-spanshop.org. it's your access to the federal government, with bio and contact information for every house and senate member. and important information on congressional committees. the president's cabinet, federal agencies and state governors. scan the code at the right to order your copy today. or go to c-spanshop.org.