House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) contended Sunday that House Republicans are in the middle of a “civil war” that is increasing the chances of a government shutdown.
Jeffries argued that the GOP is divided on impeachment and government spending, the two issues dominating the fall after the House returned to the Capitol last week following its August recess.
“House Republicans are in the middle of a civil war. A civil war has the following attributes: chaos, dysfunction and extremism,” Jeffries said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“That House Republican civil war is hurting hardworking American taxpayers and limiting our ability to be able to solve problems on their behalf. It’s unfortunate, but as House Democrats, we’re going to continue to try to find common ground with the other side of the aisle.”
Jeffries’s comments come as the House has just two weeks to pass a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown.
Republicans have been divided over their strategy in the spending fight, with conservatives pushing for deeper cuts than the spending ceilings agreed to as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling earlier this summer.
The GOP has also been divided over impeaching President Biden, with Senate Republicans arguing an impeachment inquiry could hurt the party.
The House GOP is also badly divided over its leader, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), with some in the conference arguing he should be ousted. McCarthy in an internal GOP meeting this week revealed his frustration with those critics, saying “if you want to file a motion to vacate, then file the f‑‑‑ing motion,” according to a recounting of the internal discussion from Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.).
A motion to vacate is essentially a vote to remove the House Speaker.
Jeffries and other Democrats are already putting out the argument that if there is a shutdown, the House GOP will be to blame.
On Sunday, he said he hoped that “House Republicans will come along so that we can work to make sure we are funding the government that we have a government that can provide for the health, the safety, the economic well being of the American people, and we can end the partisan political gamesmanship that right now has captured House Republicans.”
He argued that there are “no facts” to suggest that Biden has committed impeachable offenses, adding that it is an “illegitimate impeachment inquiry.”
“It’s a product of the House Republicans civil war,” he said. “Why in the world in the middle of all the issues that we are trying to tackle, all of the problems that we are trying to solve on behalf of the American people, would House Republicans inject this illegitimate impeachment inquiry in the middle of us trying to do the business of the American people.”