February 06, 2019

CAUCUS CHAIRMAN JEFFRIES: “The President briefly talked the talk. Now it’s time to walk the walk together.”

House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was joined by Caucus Vice Chair Katherine Clark (D-MA) at House Democratic leadership’s weekly press conference, where he responded to last night’s State of the Union Address. Following is a transcript of his remarks:

“Good morning, everyone. Thank you for your presence. I am joined, of course, by our distinguished Vice Chair, Katherine Clark. 

“The best thing that can be said about the President’s speech is that it’s over. Donald Trump has left the building, and now we can get back to doing the business of fighting for the people.

“House Democrats have been very clear that we have an agenda that’s focused on working families, middle class folks, senior citizens, the poor, the sick, the afflicted and veterans. House Democrats have been very clear that we’re focused on lowering health care costs, increasing pay for everyday Americans through a real infrastructure plan and cleaning up the corruption and the mess that the other side of the aisle has created.

“It appears, tangentially, based on Donald Trump’s speech, that he agrees with parts of the House Democratic agenda, particularly as it relates to lowering health care costs and a real, meaningful, bipartisan infrastructure plan. 

“House Democrats believe that we should lower health care costs, beginning with a focus on driving down the high cost of life-saving prescription drugs. House Democrats want to give Medicare the ability to use its bulk price purchasing power to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of the American people. House Democrats have a $1 trillion infrastructure plan that we believe will fix our crumbling bridges, roads, tunnels, airports and mass transportation system, and also create 16 million good-paying jobs. 

“House Democrats are going to continue our focus on kitchen table, pocketbook issues. The President briefly talked the talk. Now it’s time for us to walk the walk together. House Democrats have an ambitious agenda on lowering health care costs and on a real infrastructure plan and we look forward to working on these issues in a bipartisan fashion.”

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Video of the full press conference and Q&A can be viewed here.