President s proposals and analyze them very carefully including a whole host of things, many of which may not be imminent. So we need to look at that. We are going to take you to the center for american ideas with remarks by Hakeem Jeffries. You are watching live coverage. Unblemished and unbothered. This has been this mans demeanor. Mission focused and dedicated to passing legislation instead of playing games. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries stepped into the role and performed admirably and kept the ship intact. History tells us that the engine of lasting progress time and again is ignited by young people as new generations that come of age that encounter status quo they dont find acceptable. We will hear Hakeem Jeffries for mobilizing a new generation and will be joined in conversation by my friend and emmy award leading journalist. Gentlemen, welcome to the cap stage. [cheers and applause] thanks for having us. Very excited to be here. Welcome. We are going to get right into it. He has a vote to take and my first question is very easy, how long does it take to pick a speaker . [laughter] mr. Jeffries when it comes to the other side of the aisle, quite long. But it is time to end the chaos, dysfunction and exciplism that we have seen from the beginning of this congress all the way through to this moment and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle in terms of their inability to get to someone who can win a majority of the house of representatives as is the charge of the party that has been given the majority by the American People or sustain someone at that number. Our view has been we are going to continue to extend the hand of partnership to try and find bipartisan Common Ground with the other side of the aisle whenever and wherever possible and defend values and democracy and push back against their extremism whenever necessary. [applause] reasonable idea. Twopart question. One, if the democrats win back the majority, would you vow you would become speaker more quickly than this . My mother certainly hopes so. [laughter] mr. Jeffries from the beginning of the year, we had unity of purpose, put people over politics and fight for the things that matter, to build an economy that grows the middle class, that invests in the livelihood of every day americans and of course defending democracy, a womans freedom to make her own Reproductive Health care decision and make sure we are defining what the stakes are in the upcoming election. If we successfully do that, youll see House Democratic caucus that remains unified in january of 2025 and if i have the honor of continuing to lead the caucus, i will continue to work hard to the best of my ability to advance the cause of justice for the American People. When you look at today, about to take this vote the rumbling that maybe they will have the numbers. What can you tell us about that . What can you tell us about your working relationship with their newest nominee. Mr. Jeffries mike johnson has a pleasant demeanor in terms of how he communicates, but his voting record is as extreme as the most extreme members of their conference with very few exceptions. What well see if they are able to get to the number they need to get to today, 217, mike johnson is someone like Kevin Mccarthy, Steve Scalise and jim jordan voted to overturn the 2020 president ial election. Mike johnson similar to all those individuals has a track record of trying to undermine Social Security and medicare and end important things that are connected to the fabric of our country and end them as we know it. That mike johnson probably more so than any other member of the House Republican conference wants to criminalize abortion care and impose a nationwide ban. Later on today well make clear that we will continue forcefully push back against that extremism and lay out what the stakes are for the American People in terms of finding bipartisan Common Ground, avoiding unnecessary government shutdowns, funding the government in a way that meets the needs of the American People, health, safety, their economic wellbeing, stand by our allies like israel, ukraine and other parts of the free world, provide humanitarian assistance to palestinians who may be in harms way, those are things that are necessary both for our country and for the free world. And these are the things we hope under a Speaker Mike Johnson will be focused on as opposed to the republicans continuing to jam their rightwing ideology down the throats of the American People. We will fight today, tomorrow and fight that forever. [applause] sort of sounds like you are saying congressman johnson is just a less stylist particularically annoying jim jordan. Mr. Jeffries one could say that. [laughter] mr. Jeffries johnson does have a working relationship with many of the House Judiciary Committee. Interestingly enough including progressive members who serve on the House Judiciary Committee, interpersonally and the fact that he at least communicates with members on our side of the aisle in his role as high Ranking Member on the House Judiciary Committee and will translate in moving forward. One more question and then talk about other things, you mentioned you have a history on the judiciary. Is there anything in policy that you think you could work with him on when he becomes speaker while you are working under this governing agreement. President biden spoke out about calling for a program and funding to deal with these two wars that the u. S. Has interest in ukraine and israel. Is this something when you get a speaker, speaker needs to deal with and will you have a vote . Mr. Jeffries in possible areas of Common Ground, he did support the House Democratic negotiated u. S. Mexico, canada trade agreement supported by the aflcio and chamber of commerce and building upon some of the changes that needed to be made to lift up the american worker. He wound up supporting that agreement. Now, it is being negotiated by the trump administration, but he was supportive. He did support our efforts at criminal Justice Reform when we passed the First Step Act and ultimately signed into law and one of the most farreaching criminal Justice Reform bill that passed congress. It was a bipartisan effort and there were republicans in the house that ultimately voted against that legislation even though it was signed into law signed by president trump. There are areas of areas of agreement. He voted against funding for you ukraine. The senate will act in a bipartisan way as it relates to the National Security requests that have been put forward by President Biden. The house will be prepared to take an up or down vote, you shouldnt separate out assistance to ukraine, because this is not a difficult choice. You can either stand on the side of the free world or bend the knee to vladimir putin. And we dont believe the proputin caucus which exists in the House Republican conference should dictate foreign policy. We want to support the ukranian effort with respect to their Territorial Authority but standing on the side of democracy rather than autocracy, standing on the side of truth as opposed to propaganda. We should stick with the ukranian people until victory is won. [applause] we covered some of the more serious stuff and nine minutes left. I want to get into some other stuff. Starting with what cap is talking about, what do you say to people not in this room no people watching later and say i get it, taste all really important, but im exhausted and people like you tell us every cycle this is the most important election and the world is scary. And lets say maybe they are progressive like some of the people who might be watching and they agree with you but they feel with you because we hear it from young people. They did it, they were out protesting in 2020 and also voted, why should they have to stay this engaged when it is hard and things dont seem to be Getting Better . Let me thank cap, patrick, andrew, donald john, all of you for your support of this incredibly organization, visionary organization, one we rely upon in the house in terms of shaping how we communicate and shaping our policies and we look forward to continue to be able to do that. Give yourself a round of applause. [applause] mr. Jeffries that was an applause line, but we do truly value what all of you what cap represents under patricks tremendous leadership to the American People, it has been exhausting, dealing with the rise of trump and trumpism and extremism. Multiple impeachment trials, election deniers, violent insurrection and things of that nature. And now we have wars breaking out all across the globe. Largest loss of jewish life since the holocaust, the largest war that has broken out in europe since world war ii. This is heavy stuff. And civilians in the middle east, in Eastern Europe and across the world in harms way. This is heavy stuff. Also important to recognize that america continues to have a role to play. Abraham lincoln once observed 1862 in a speech to congress, america the last best hope. We need to stay in this fight and the moment we confront the fra guilt of our democracy is so significant for us to lean into. I was surprised impeachment manager in the first trial, there was a second trial, hope there is no need for a third trial that we stop the election of someone who is a threat to our democracy, the first impeachment trial when i was studying the words of the framers and the word mostly used, wasnt freedom, democracy or liberty, it was demagog. It was demagog. They were most afraid of occurring. I Alexander Hamilton i believe used it 14 times and said his biggest concern for the future of this new country was that one day a demagog might manage to get himself elected as president and over a fouryear period of time endeavor to become a tyrant. Took 240 years or so but happened. Demagog was elected and over a fourier period of time, tried to halt the peaceful transfer of power. That threat is still with us. There is a different path forward. The stakes are so high. Every single thing we care about in november 2024 will be on the ballot. Artificial intelligence. Busy with all these other things and yet this is just moving forward in an incredible pace with positives and risks and start with some fun i asked the a. I. Chat box to write about Hakeem Jeffries. He hasnt heard them. I have two. And this 100 by the a. I. , ok. Hakeem jeffries leads, republicans struggle to choose, house leader remains unclear. Heres the second one. Hakeem jeffries leads, loves zigy rhymes, congress guide, g. O. P. Choice still unclear. That is just the poetry. By a show of hands how many people have tried one of the a. I. Products . People are already using these products and pretty fascinating and what it says to you about you. Jeffries political journey only career in Public Service which provided him with the foundation to rise in politics and national stage, a product of brooklyn born in 1970. Grew up in the heart of the citys cultural tapes try and earning degrees. Georgetown. Embarked in a legal career and served as a clerk in the 7th district of new york. Early experience and deep respect for the rule of law and safeguarding civil rights and liberties. Mr. Jeffries logical. Im not going to read the whole thing. In that very basic example, the poetry of Hakeem Jeffries and background on you, this is powerful should congress regulate it or are you too busy . Mr. Jeffries one of the areas we are go to go need to step in a bipartisan way to create guardrails that exist to prevent bad actors from being able to exploit incredible new Innovative Technology and not do bad things to the American People and the world while at the same time allowing the technology to be able to flourish and thrive in a manner that allows for american excellence to continue in this space and get the benefits of Artificial Intelligence in the medical innovation area and some other areas. This is a place we need to legislate in a bipartisan way. One thing i will say, too, but on a note of optimism, we overperformed in a substantial way in the 2022 election. In 2010, we lost 63 seats when democrats had the house, senate and presidency. Same situation in 1994 we lost 54 seats. That usually happens. That didnt happen this time around. We are only five seats short. We gained a seat in the senate. And won all the governorships including michigan and wisconsin and pennsylvania and governorships in arizona and kansas. Every single election denier running in a swing state for attorney general or secretary of state lost. We actually gained seats in legislative bodies all across the country including in pennsylvania and flipped the two chambers in michigan. It was a decisive wing win for a forwardlooking way of approaching politics and incredible accomplishments to date of President Biden in terms of what has been done with the legislation for the first time in 30 years, breaking the backs of the n. R. A. , inflation reduction act, largest investment in combatting the Climate Crisis in the history of the world. We made tremendous progress together and now our job is to build upon that progress, not allow the other side to turn back the clock and as long as we continue to speak up, show up and stand up, we are going to win the races in the elections we need to win in november 2024 and continue the long march toward a more perfect union. Thank you all that you do. [cheers and applause] they call that a closing argument. We want to thank everyone for having us and thank patrick and join me in thanking leader jeffries for joining us today. [ches and applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2023] captioning performed by the natial captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption contt and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org. Republicans have pied mike johnson as house speaker. And d minimal opposition during internal roll call vote. Fourth replican nominee since representative Kevin Mccarth was ousted from the position more than three weeks ago. He serves as the vice chair of the republican conference. A speaker floor vote after the house gavels in at noon. Watch live coverage here on cspan. Healthy democracy just doesnt look like this, it looks like this, where americans can see democracy at work and citizens are informed, our republic thrirves. Get informed on cspan, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word from the Nations Capital to wherever you are. Because the opinion that matters the most is your own. This is what democracy looks like. Cspan powered by