mr. jeffries: good morning, everyone. smokin' joe biden was on fire during the state of the union address. he was lit. he delivered a compelling vision for the american peoe an maga e. questions? reporter: one of the more notable parts of the speech is when biden discussed laken's death and said he murdered him as an illegal and people weren't happy with that term.

mr. jeffries: president biden laid out a comprehensive vision for fixing our prone immigration system and addressing the challenges at the border. he also acknowledged the horrific nature of the murder and of course emphasized the need more generally to keep our communities safe. reporter: for a follow-up, membt with the language. mr. jeffries: president biden delivered a speech very well■ received by the american people, beginning, middle and end. reporter: two dinkive things, the tiktok legislation is going on next week and where do you stand? and two you have a photo of george santos on the post beside you, what do you make of the fact he's back on the scene on

capitol hill and currently running? mr. jeffries: with respect to the tiktok legislation, there was a bipartisan vote that is impressive in nature in any instance but particularly as it relates to something in the social media space which hasn't always been easy for democrats and republicans to find common ground. look forward to having a conversation with frank pallone as well as tcrat on the legislation about the way forward in advance of floor consideration. reporter: in regard to the news just before that.es: i forgot to address my favorite topic. kind of an extraordinary thing that this guy won't go away.

it's indicative of the reality there's a clear choice in terms of what the american people face between democrats and between an that president biden laid out to move america forward and build an economy that's healthy and that puts working families, middle class families, and those that aspire to be part of the middle class first as compared to the extreme maga republicans who want to turn back the clock. and stick us with massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well off, and the well connected. marjorie taylor greene and george santos are running the

house republican conference. and at this point it's marjorie taylor greene on the inside and santos on the outside, but clearly he's trying to come back. now, here's the choice the american people are going to face next few months■?. team normal versus team chaos. team reasonable versus team dysfunction. and team get stuff done versus team extreme. team biden versus team marjorie taylor greene and george santos, and that's a clear choice for the american people. i was wondering what was happening on this side of the

room. reporter: something that wasn't mentioned was the farm bill and after re-authorization this year. will you set backgain? mr. jeffries: it's my hope we'll be able to get the farm bill ■q■= year and/or the calendar year and democrats, as we have been committed in otherwill continue to find bipartisan common ground with our republican colleagues. as i said, any issue wherever n order to make life better for the american people, the farm bill has always been bipartisan and as long as the extreme maga republicans in the house recognize that can't govet democratic support. every single thing that's happened in this congress tingfe american people in a positive way has been because house democrats have provided a

majority ofotes necessary to get things done. and that of course will be the case as it relates to the farm bill. i'll stick on this side. reporter: there are some republican infighting over earmarks in the government funding package. i believe you have some of your own. what do you make of the backlash earmarks received. mr. jeffries: community funded projects are an important part of enabling members of congresso identify priorities related to the expenditure of taxpayer dollars and that authority rests with the congress, not anybody else, according to the constitution. the congress.9u di do thinking it's important in a very modest way, which connected to

community funded projects that are heavily vetted to make sure that they are effective and efficient expenditures of taxpayer resources that it's a part of the appropriations process that is bipartisan and advances the ball people. reporter: on ukraine some republicans have floated the idea of making a loan guarantee unds they need to carry out the war. is that something democrats would consider if it meant getting ukraine aid sooner than waiting for speaker johnson to bring up the senate supplemental which clearly is not going to happen? mr. jeffries: the only way forward with respect to meeting the national security needs of the american people is for house republicans to put the bipartisan national security comprehensive bill sent over

from the senate on the floor for an up or down vote. and everybody in the house knows that were that to happen there would be 300 votes or more in support of the bipartisany bill so we could meet the needs of our allies, our democratic allies in uk israel and the indo-pacific and also surge humanitarian assistance, palestinians, civilians in harm's way through no faof their own and also civilians in theaters of war across the country. the bipartisan comprehensive bill is the only way forward.ty we need an up or down vote. it's time for the house republicans to support the national security interes from the pro putin maga

extremists in their party. reporter: given the decorum last night, is there real bipartisanship for the next election in this congress? mr. jeffries: we'll continue to find bipartisan ground, and wherever possible with our republican colleagues on any issue and we've done that repeatedly from the very beginning of this congress with respect to avoiding a catastrophic default in our nation's debt and funding the government and repeatedly keeping it open and avoiding a shutdown, passing the national defense authorization act, securing $16 billion in assistance for com devastated be weather events. passing that includes low income housing tax credit and enhanced child tax credit and most recently

providing majority of votes necessary to get the first six appropriation bills over the aro govern in a common sense way and we're just asking our republican colleagues to stop the political stunt.mbarrassment last night. a complete embarrassment. marjorie taylor greene who is basically running the house republican conference shows up in campaign paraphernalia and these people want to lecture joe biden strong and forceful speech that made them uncomfortable because he exposed their lives and amor extreme maga republicans who want to lecture us about decorum. get lost. you're a■p■ joke. exhibit a, marjorie taylor greene. exhibit b, george santos. reporter: i was worried you

weren't coming back to me. i wanted to ask you with president biden's announcement he had, and he talked about it briefly ring his speech, the emergency pier being set up on the coast of gaza. can you talk to me about the significance of having that, especially because it's been a growing concern for many within your own family. mr. jeffries: it was an important announcement to make sure we can insert humanitarian assistance in gaza in order to address the clear needs of thek" palestinian civilians in harm's way in the theater of war through no fault of their own as president biden articulated. there are three pressing things that need to be accomplished in the context of the war between israel and hamas. israel, as president bidenas a , unequivocal right to defend itself against hamas, a brutal terrorist organization that

inflicted unspeakable atrocities on 10/7. at the same time, make sure that we get the hostages out and can surge humanitarian assistance into gaza. the announcement with respect to establishing a will facilitate surging humanitarian assistance should be welcomed by everyone. because no one should be able to accept the suffering that we've seen. in israel and now the casualties and the conditions that civilians are with, and as president biden appropriately pointed out, bahamas

less about its own citizens. and that's a very challenging situation and there's a clear need for the united states to step in in the way that"p president biden has articulateed reporter: if i'm not the discharge position for his version of ukraine as it occurs today, and a couple days ago he mentioned there might be one more crack in the changes that might need to happen in the events to try to win other some democratic members for that measure. have you spoken with him what the changes would be in order to win other members on your side of the aisle. mr. jeffries: president biden ce union address we need to make sure we are surging humanitarian assistance in theaters of war across the world. and there's not a dime of humanitarian assistance in the legislation that's been■c

introduced by representative fitzpatrick. so that's a nonstarter for house democratic caucus. thank you, everyone. reporter: thank you, sir. [indiscernible] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] ■9