Hakeem Jeffries and Single Payer

It appears yesterday’s episode of Meet the Press was sponsored by E’ggo, given the ways in which House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) waffled on the issue of single payer health care. The full exchange is pasted below, but two things are clear: First, Jeffries himself co-sponsored single-payer legislation in prior Congresses, as host Kristen Welker noted.

Second, Jeffries never came out and said he would vote against the single-payer bill if it came to a floor vote in the House. So in theory, Jeffries could be for the bill before he was against it—and then come out and be for it again. (Got all that?)

KRISTEN WELKER: All right, let’s move on to Medicare for All. You co-sponsored Medicare for All legislation from 2013 to 2021. You’ve not cosponsored it since you became Democratic leader. Will you put Medicare for All up for a vote if you become speaker?

LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES: Well, listen, these are all conversations that the House Democratic Caucus is going to have to have. Right now, we’re focused on November 3rd, not January 3rd. What we are promising the American people is that we’re going to fight to make health care affordable for every single American. And we know there’s a lot of damage that Republicans have done that we’ve got to restore and repair. For instance, Republicans have enacted the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. More than a trillion dollars or so has been cut from Medicaid. And what you’re going to have is about 14 million Americans lose access to health care.

KRISTEN WELKER: Do you personally support –

LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES: That has to be reversed.

KRISTEN WELKER: – Medicare for All? Do you personally support Medicare for All?

LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES: No, I — as you indicated, I haven’t cosponsored the Medicare for All legislation that has been introduced over the last several years. I do think we need to figure out how to fix our broken health care system and then build something better once we repair the damage that has been done. Now, that will include doing things like extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits so that more than 20 million people, who have seen their health insurance premiums skyrocket, in some cases by up to a thousand dollars a month, that’s not sustainable. And that’s something that Donald Trump and Republicans have visited upon the American people.

KRISTEN WELKER: Just be very clear though, as the Democratic leader in the House, would you vote for or against Medicare for All?

LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES: I think as you’ve indicated in your question to me, it’s not legislation that I currently am co-sponsoring or that I support.

KRISTEN WELKER: Okay.

LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES: But we do support the notion that we’ve got to find a path forward to fix our broken health care system and make health care affordable for every single American.