WATCH: Hakeem Jeffries Tussles With Fox News Anchor Over Shutdown

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) tussled with Fox News anchor Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday over the partial government shutdown that’s hampering government agencies as a major winter storm targets the East Coast.

“Where we get to now is ICE — you know it’s funded,” Bream began, referring to the One Big Beautiful Bill. “Why shut down the government? We got new information this morning that TSA pre-check is going away, global entry is going away. 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?”

“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 —” Jeffries started his answer as Bream cut him off.

“But you know they cannot move forward without Democrat votes. They can’t do it. You guys have got to vote with them,” she said.

“Okay, so let’s talk about that,” Jeffries continued. “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 —”

“Again, you’re not going to shut down ICE as part of this shutdown,” Bream interjected. “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 shot back, “I am happy to respond if you give me the opportunity to respond!”

He then laid out the Democrats’ argument for holding up the government:

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. 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.

As of this weekend, the White House and Democratic lawmakers continued their stalemate on reopening the Department of Homeland Security. According to Politico, Trump administration officials “dismissed Democrats’ latest proposal to overhaul federal immigration enforcement as ‘very unserious.'”

Meanwhile, Democrats, criticized the lack of “high level effort” from Trump and congressional Democrats.

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