conference and present a united front to republicans who are going to go vote in november. >> are either of you considering running for speaker? >> everybody, we're going to end the press conference. what i'm calling on is like my colleague here said, mike johnson can do some really-- he can pray about it, think about it all weekend, do the right thing and resign, giving our conference time to elect a new leader, a new speaker of the house. he should reject the endorsement of hakeem jeffries and the entire democrat leadership team. that's not an endorsement that any republican speaker should ever want or embrace and this vote will be called next week and i just want to urge all of our colleagues to prepare for it. it's the right thing to do for america, it's time to clean house and get our conference in order and get ready to support president trump's agenda, god willing he wins in november and we take back full power here ine

israel hamas war. this is about 20 minutes.

mr. jeffries: good afternoon, everyone. freedom is under assault here in america and throughout the world. house democrats, we believe in a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive health care decisions. and we strongly oppose any effort by extreme maga republicans to criminalize abortion care, impose a nationwide ban, target women and physicians and medical professionals across the country and try to impose government mandated pregnancies, even in instances where there's been rape or incest.

freedom is under ais salt by the extreme maga republicans and ground zero at the moment is in florida where there is a ban that will impact millions of women in the state of florida and throughout the deep south because up until this point, florida was perhaps the only state in the southeastern part of the country where a woman could seek reproductive health care. freedom is under assault. house democrats are defending it. extreme maga republicans are determined to undermine it. and donald trump and everyone who blindly follows him are

responsible for what has taken place in this country as a result of the fall of roe v. wade and the attacks on freedom that have been underway ever since. freedom under assault in america. freedom under assault across the world. particularly in ukraine. which is why it was so critically important that we worked together to get the national security legislation that was bipartisan and comprehensive over the tippish line -- finish line and defeat the pro-putin republicans who were determined to undermine america's national security, undermine freedom and democracy

throughout the world and undermine american leadership in a way that would have hurt the safety and security of the american people, perhaps for decades to come if vladimir putin and russian aggression is allowed to prevail. freedom under assault in america. freedom under assault throughout the world. freedom will be on the ballot in november. questions? reporter: i know that as much as members of your caucus have said they will help johnson out of a motion to vacate scenario, you also heard earlier this week from members of your caucus, you don't remember this guy as the architect of the japan 6 committee, all that. how do you make the case when the americans see the motion to table, i guess there's a distinction but you guys come in and saved the speaker's job? mr. jeffries: my statement on

this issue speaks for itself. the member who you are referencing is a very distinguished member of the house democratic caucus who in those very remarks made clear she also is a team player, and you can ask her correctly what that means in terms of how she ultimately decides to vote. we've made clear this is a vote of conscience, a procedural vote on a motion to table but also a vote of conscience that every single member of the house democratic caucus will make a decision on based on their assessment of the situation. katherine clark, peteing aily are and myself, joined -- pete aguilar and myself joined by many others have taken the position it's time to end this chapter of pro putin obstruction

among the extreme maga republican wing on the other side of the aisle, and we're prepared to do just that. reporter: leader? congressman greene said she might force repeated votes on this. is it your position to table a one time thing or continually vote to table? mr. jeffries: we'll take it someone step at a time. reporter: two questions, are you going to condemn the comments made by ms. omar and called the students, at least some of them, pro genocide, i don't know if those are words you would use yourself and will you commend the actions of the nypd about what they did last night in columbia university? mr. jeffries: as far as i can tell, the efforts by the nypd were thorough, professional, and exercised the degree of calm in a very tense situation that

should be commended. with respect to any comments that have been made by representative omar, my policy has always been until i've had an opportunity to talk specifically to that member, i'm going to refrain from making any other public comments. my position on the conflict between israel and hamas is clear. israel is fighting a war of necessity. they have to decisively defeat hamas who brutally attacked the israeli people on october 7. hamas must be decisively defeated. we have to do everything possible to free the hostages. and at the same time make sure that we are surging humanitarian assistance into gaza so we can help out palestinian civilians

who are in harm's way through no fault of their own. reporter: when will you talk to her, leader? mr. jeffries: thank you. reporter: ralph norman said there must be some way the democrats are treating johnson differently than mccarthy, why would they do that unless there was a quid pro quo, what do you see is the difference between mccarthy and johnson in this situation? just also, how much are you democrats enjoying seeing the republicans in disarray like this? mr. jeffries: we'll continue to keep the focus on getting things done for the american people and delivering real results on their behalf. with respect to the decision that was collectively made on october 3, and the decision that has been made in connection with the current motion to vacate, katherine clark, pete aguilar,

and myself issued a very thorough statement on october 3 laying out our rationale as to why we would vote against a motion to table in the prior instance and we've also articulated in a very thorough way our rationale for why we've taken a different position at this point in time. reporter: back to the agenda fast approaching is the 2025 appropriations. how are discussions with the republicans on the type line? are you going to adhere to the debt ceiling agreement? is there some decision not to do that? mr. jeffries: it remains our position that the top line spending number has to be the number that was agreed upon in the bipartisan fiscal responsibility act that was passed by the house and the senate and signed into law by president joe biden.

nothing less than that will ever be acceptable to us as house democrats. reporter: thank you, mr. leader. you talked about your statement -- back to the motion to vacate. with the other leaders and together the three of you said you wanted to turn the page on the chaos. can you tell us a little bit about what that looks like? are you in talks with speaker johnson or with other republicans on what sort of post chaos might look like, are there shared goals? is this a coalition government? what does it look like? mr. jeffries: our focus right now is on the three important things substantively that are in front of us which relate to, one, f.a.a. re-authorization, two, the farm bill, and three, making sure we fund the government in a manner that takes care of the needs of the

american people in advance of the fiscal year 2025 deadline. from the very beginning of this congress, house republicans have visited chaos, dysfunction, and extremism on the american people. marjorie taylor greene is the star of the show, the show is called republicans gone wild. it is undermining the well-being of the american people and preventing us from delivering real and meaningful results on the issues that matter. house republicans are either unwilling or unable to get marjorie taylor greene and the extreme maga republicans under control, and so it's going to take a bipartisan coalition and

partnership to accomplish that objective. we need more common sense in washington, d.c. and less chaos. the republicans have done nothing but deliver chaos. we're in the common sense business. second row. reporter: are you going to vote for the anti-semitism bill that's supposed to come to the floor today and how wide do you expect democratic support to be? mr. jeffries: in terms of the second part of the question, you have to ask katherine clark. i intend to support the resolution that will be before the floor and my view of the situation is this, there is a troubling and disturbing rise in anti-semitism in the united states of america. that existed prior to october 7

and has been exacerbated since october 7. we should be doing everything possible in a serious and sensible way to combat, to crush anti-semitism, to bury it in the ground, and make sure it can never rise again. combating anti-semitism is not a democratic issue or republican issue, it should be an american issue. and we should be working together to confront anti-semitism and all other forms of racism and hatred and xenophobia in america and throughout the world. reporter: do you plan to visit columbia university or any of the universities that are in unrest right now?

mr. jeffries: i have no current plans to do that right now. reporter: thank you, mr. leader. the biden administration yesterday reclassified cannabis, and booker and widen reintroduced it for the ramifications of the biden decision for the country. do you support what was reintroduce dad? mr. jeffries: i support the legislation introduced by the senators and have been long involved in the effort to try to deschedule marijuana and break the back of the prison industrial complex and mass incarceration in the united states of america. it was an honor for me to be part of helping to make sure that the first step act was ushered into law which was done in a bipartisan way with democrats and republicans, the left, the right, progressives, and conservatives working with the prior administration to get

meaningful criminal justice reform done for the first time in decades and begin to try to reverse the adverse impact on mass incarceration which affects many communities across the country, including those that i was raised in? central brooklyn. the effort taken by the biden administration was impactful and another step in the right direction that we should build upon legislatively. to the back and then back up front. reporter: to follow up on the comments on anti-semitism. the house republicans announced they'll expand their investigation on anti-semitism and the vote today. if democrats were in the majority, what steps would you be taking in response to what's been happening on campus. reporter: a great question.

the biden administration put forth a comprehensive report and series of recommendations in may of 2023 designed to aggressively combat the rise of anti-semitism in the united states of america. representative kathy manning has introduced bipartisan legislation that is designed to bring many of those recommendations to life. in order to get to a better place in the united states of america. and it is my hope that representative manning's legislation will receive an up our down vote in the next few weeks before we leave town in advance of memorial day. it's bipartisan legislation. kathy manning's legislation has the support of the anti-defamation league. it has the support of a.g.c.

it has the support of a variety of different jewish organizations. and no one has been more of a leader throughout her professional career in dealing with these challenges than representative manning. and so i'd like to see her legislation brought to the floor. reporter: you have tomorrow, many members will travel for the funeral of the late don payne, looking forward with that seat, do you have any intel when that seat might be filled, is that looking to be next congress and do you imagine a next representative will be elected between now and november? mr. jeffries: we haven't had those conversations because we're in the process of mourning a great member of congress and a classmate of mine, representative donald payne jr., as well as celebrating his life. , which has been done throughout the week in different ways, including on the house floor

yesterday in a special order hour led by the congressional black caucus and the leadership of assistant democratic leader joe neguse, representative paper jr. will lie in state today at the essex county courthouse and then dozens of members are going to travel to newark, new jersey tomorrow morning to pay our honor and respect to representative payne. until that happens, we've given zero thought to what comes next in the 10th congressional district of new jersey. thanks. second row? reporter: thank you, mr. leader. so earlier on you said you commended the way the nypd handled the unrest at the university of columbia's campus. i wanted to know, do you think their use of force was appropriate? and are you at all worried that

in the future police brutality cases against peaceful protesters might become a thing? mr. jeffries: i didn't see the nypd use excessive force yesterday. reporter: a bit after two-parter, taking a broader look at these protests, what do you make of the protests against israel happening across college campuses. mr. jeffries: the first amendment is an important part of the fabric of america. peaceful protests is an important part of the fabric of america. civil disobedience that is nonviolent is a important part of the fabric of america. but we shouldn't see any protest ever bear into threatening the safety and security of others and into anti-semitism or racism or xenophobia or islamophobia or anything that is inconsistent with the fact that america is a

gorgeous mosaic of people of different races, religions, and ethnicities, and that is what makes us an incredibly strong nation and different from any other nation in the world. reporter: thank you, leader. do you believe that colleges and universities should lose their federal funding if they've been found to not be cracking down on anti-semitism? 's mr. jeffries: i haven't taken a look at any specific proposal in that regard. but we'll have a conversation about the best way for colleges and universities to respond at the appropriate point. i can say that with respect to the most recent appropriations bill, house democrats wanted to increase funding for the office of civil rights of the department of education which is

the office charged with the responsibility of making sure no student is targeted in any way because of their race, their religion, or their ethnicity. house republicans wanted to slash and burn the office of civil rights of the department of education by 25%. and ultimately it was house democrats led by rosa delauro that were able to restore the proposed extreme maga republican cut that would haved a engineersly impacted the ability of the department of education to combat anti-semitism and all other forms of hatred on college campuses. we don't need rhetoric from some of my republican colleagues, we need real action. reporter: thank you, leader. there were repeat clashes at

ucla between protesters and counterprotesters and for hours there were no police to be found. do you have any response what was going on at ucla last night and the police response or lack thereof? mr. jeffries: i have have not had the opportunity to take a look at what happened on the ucla campus. reporter: i know it's been alluded to some members have visited campuses. what is your message to democratic lawmakers who have gone in and supported sort of the demonstrators at columbia or other campuses? mr. jeffries: i don't have a message one way or the other. i'm sorry. one last question, sure. reporter: your caucus is likely to provide the votes to keep leader johnson in power next week. you feel it gives you a stronger hand headed into these appropriation negotiations? mr. jeffries: from the beginning of congress as house democrats we have said we'll find bipartisan common ground with our republican colleagues on any issue whenever and wherever possible in order to deliver real results for the american people.

we have repeatedly done it throughout this entire congress, having to overcome republican chaos, dysfunction, and extremism that began during the very beginning of this congress when it took 15 different votes before congress could begin, and a loaded gun was handed over to some of the more extreme elements of the house republican conference in order to even get started. this is what the american people have faced from the very beginning of this congress. and we have decided that we are going to approach our jobs maturely to find common ground whenever possible to deliver real results for the american people, to protect their health, safety, security, and economic

well-being while at the same time pushing back against republican maga extremism whenever necessary. that has been the blueprint that we followed throughout the entirety of the 118th congress, and i expect that's going to continue until the extremists are vacated from the majority during the first tuesday in november. thank you. reporter: does the anti-semitism bill vote happen today? [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024]