VIDEO: LEADER JEFFRIES FLOOR SPEECH IN SUPPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT FUNDING PACKAGE

Floor Speech

"I thank the distinguished gentlelady from the great state of Connecticut for yielding, the honorable Rosa DeLauro. And thank her for her extraordinary leadership throughout this process in getting us to this principled result. I thank all of the appropriators for their extraordinary work on the Democratic side and on the Republican side as part of the effort to complete the fiscal year 2024 appropriations.

This hasn't been a perfect process, but we should never let the perfect be the enemy of the good when it comes to solving problems on behalf of hardworking American taxpayers. And this is a good result for the American people in terms of standing up for their health, their safety, their education, their national security protection and of course, above all else, their economic well-being. A bipartisan process leading to a bipartisan result that will hopefully lay a foundation for us to continue to do the work of the American people together. Now, we've said from the very beginning of this Congress, as Democrats, that we will find bipartisan common ground with our Republican colleagues on any issue, whenever and wherever possible, as long as it will make life better for the American people. That's exactly what House Democrats continue to do.

At the same time, we've said we will push back against extremism whenever necessary.We will always defend a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive health care decisions. We will always defend the gorgeous mosaic of the American people and push back against unnecessary attacks against diversity, equity and inclusion. These are American values. We will always fight to protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare and we will always put People over Politics. And we hope that that will continue, not just on the Democratic side but together to solve problems for the American people.

As soon as we complete this work, let us turn to our national security priorities and make sure that we don't abandon the people of Ukraine in their hour of greatest need as they fight for principles like democracy and freedom and truth, and push back against autocracy, tyranny and propaganda. America should always stand on the side of these principles like democracy and freedom and truth, and that means standing with the people of Ukraine.

I thank, once again, the appropriators for their leadership in concluding this process. I urge everybody to support this legislation. And I hope that as we move forward, and our promise to you, but more importantly, to the American people who expect that in this Congress, we should have more common sense and less chaos. We should have more decency and less dysfunction. And more exceptionalism and less extremism. Our promise to you is that we will do our best to put People Over Politics and we hope that you will do the same. Vote yes on this bill."

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