Top House Democrats are pouring cold water on a Republican proposal to trade a debt limit increase for California wildfire aid, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries telling reporters it was a “nonstarter.”
He did not address whether Democrats would be willing to parlay on a more expansive deal that would include government funding ahead of a March 14 deadline, as some Republicans are starting to discuss. But he did set some red lines for those potential talks.
“What we are not willing to do is to enable extreme MAGA Republicans to have a blank check so they can enact massive tax breaks for billionaires and wealthy corporations and make working class Americans pay for it,” Jeffries told reporters Thursday morning. “The ball is in the Republicans’ court right now.”
They’re still waiting for a formal offer from Republicans — or even a phone call.
“The Republicans have not opened up any lines of communications with us,” he said. “It’s not hard to find me. They know where I’m at. They know my number. I haven’t received a single call about a single one of these issues.”
Coming out of a leadership meeting Thursday morning, other Democrats signaled they were still opposed to conditioning aid to rebuild after devastating wildfires in California.
“It has to go through without conditions,” said Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.). “We do not respond to disasters in America based on your state’s partisan politics.”
But one person familiar with the meeting, granted anonymity to discuss private conversations, said the parameters of a government funding deal did come up — albeit without any resolution, given the lack of detail on what Republicans might be offering.
“I don’t want to speculate on what we would support or don’t support if I don’t know what the substance of what the bill is,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). “There may be some scenarios I wonder, in which they could reach agreement with us on what would be included.”
He added, “Ultimately, the test is: Can they get the votes on their own?”
