House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) denied having complained about the debt ceiling bill to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
McCarthy boasted on Sunday in an appearance on Fox News that Jeffries had said there was “not one thing in the bill for Democrats.” Jeffries claimed otherwise, saying that he has “no idea” what McCarthy was talking about.
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“I have no idea what [McCarthy is] talking about, particularly because I have not been able to review the actual legislative texts. All that we’ve reached is an agreement in principle,” Jeffries said in an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation.
The New York Democrat added that he hadn’t even talked to McCarthy since Saturday afternoon before the final agreement was reached with President Joe Biden.
“What I have consistently said, however, privately and publicly, was that the extreme MAGA Republican negotiating position and that the extreme bill that they passed on April 26, the Default on America Act, contained nothing that was consistent with Democratic values or American values,” he added.
Jeffries pledged that the agreement reached Saturday would not be the final version of the bill, and that he hasn’t reviewed the text of the bill yet.
The House minority leader’s denial was issued after McCarthy claimed to have talked to Jeffries after reaching an agreement with Biden, at which Jeffries expressed dismay over the bill.
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“Right now, the Democrats are very upset,” McCarthy said. “But one thing Hakeem told me: there’s nothing in the bill for them. There’s not one thing in the bill for Democrats.”
After weeks of uncertainty, McCarthy and Biden finally reached a tentative deal regarding the debt ceiling on Saturday. The text of the bill is expected to be released Sunday.
