things that maybe he believed are just extreme. >> joining me now is the house democratic leader hakeem jefferiesyork. congressman jefferies. welcome back to "meet the press". >> good morning. great to be on. >> well, let's start with this meeting that you will have with the group of four congressional leaders and the president. it will include speaker mccarthy and senate majority leader schumer and yourself. i guess we should call this talks and not negotiations. is anything on the table or is this a negotiation? >> well, it's a very important discussion. i'm thankful that president biden has kaled us together. we need to do two things. we need to make sure america pays its bills to avoid a dangerous default on our debt in a manner that will blow up the united states' economy, likely trigger a job-killing recession and cost us millions of good paying jobs, crash the stock market which of course will adversely impact the retirement security of millions of americans and raise the cost for everyone. that has to be avoided and the one way to do that is to make sure that we raise the debt ceiling in

things that maybe he believed are just extreme. >> joining me now is the house democratic leader hakeem jefferiesn jefferies. welcome back to "meet the press". >> good morning. great to be on. >> well, let's start with this meeting that you will have with the group of four congressional leaders and the president. it will include speaker mccarthy and senate majority leader schumer and yourself. i guess we should call this talks and not negotiations. is anything on the table or is this a negotiation? >> well, it's a very important discussion. i'm thankful that president biden has kaled us together. we need to do two things. we need to make sure america pays its bills to avoid a dangerous default on our debt in a manner that will blow up the united states' economy, likely trigger a job-killing recession and cost us millions of good paying jobs, crash the stock market which of course will adversely impact the retirement security of millions of americans and raise the cost for everyone. that has to be avoided and the one way to do that is to make sure that we raise the debt ceiling in a manner consist

even when it comes to hakeem jefferys putting his weight behind some spending freeze. we don't know how long, how much. he's open to it. that is earning the wrath of some conservatives. the pound of flesh and something that the administration wants to push, some revenues in there. where is this and that part going? >> well, house speaker kevin mccarthy who you just heard it from him again, he's saying they're not going to approve any sort of tax increases on the wealthy and corporations, which has been the white house's position. he underscored they're not going to support a clean debt ceiling. i asked him about defense cuts. he said they're also off the table. so certainly they're going to have to find somewhere to meet in the middle. you suggested maybe they could find agreement when it comes to spending cap, whether that would be one year or two years as some democrats have suggested or the ten years that republicans want to see. >> neil: i'm wondering about that. lee, it's been a prominent part of the republican plan, not only to do something in the short term to p

and how will mitch mcconnell, chuck schumer and hakeem jefferies factor in?ll also be at that may 9th meeting. does it end an agreement to disagree until this fall? in other words, a short-term deal to avoid collapse? because that is what economists are worried about, a default that will send the markets into a freefall, add rocket fuel to inflation, slash millions of jobs, cut off social security payments and veterans' benefits and drag the u.s. economy into an ugly and potentially prolonged recession. no one wants that. joining me now is nbc news capitol hill correspondent, ali vitale and msnbc business and data reporter brian chung. no one wants that, ali, but the two sides don't seem to have anything that they agree on. talk to me about what the expectation are and how hakeem jefferies or mitch mcconnell might factor into this. >> no one wants that, but that's about the only thing they can agree on here because the paths to averting a debt ceiling crisis like this one are completely divergent based on what party you're talking to. we know house speaker mc

we might have gotten a first sign among the democrats, hakeem jefferys that said he's somewhat open tonding freeze. he's caught hell from progressives a couple of your members that said the president's plan is worth looking at with or without the tax increases that you alluded to. does that form the mild ground, chairman? i don't want you to give away negotiations. seems like that indicates a democrat willing to do something republicans want, a republican open to something that democrats want. what do you think? >> yeah, i think that whenever you have negotiations, you have to meet somewhere in the middle. we set a standard of what we're asking for under limits save, grow act. we should definitely get pieces of it. you have to give and take. jeffries, for example, has been pushing for this discharge petition for a blank check clean debt limit. he can't get all democrats to sign on to that. like i said what the president is pushing, they can't pass with the democrat-controlled senate and they can't do it be a discharge petition in the house of representatives. that's why very to continu

hakeem jefferys is there mitch mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate, chuck schumer, the senate majority leader. we'll keep you posted on how that is going to chad pergram on how its sorting out. it's all about each side maybe giving the other something. as they stand now, they're miles apart, right? >> that's right, neil. market down. this meeting is the start of what could be certain walks of talks and barbs. the president and kevin mccarthy have not discussed the debt ceiling in more than three months. >> i hope it's been different than the last 97 days. i sat down with the president february 1 and saying we should work on the debt creeing. hopefully the attitude changed. >> but nothing happened since winter. the deadline is inching closer. there's a reason this meeting comes after the markets closed. z. >> financial markets with each day will be increasingly uncertain that the u.s. government has its act together. that is going to create all sorts of financial turmoil. i think there's a lot of fingers crossed here that policy makers will indeed at the very last minute step i

. >> [overlapping speakers] liz: okay, i don't see mitch mcconnell and i don't see hakeem jefferies.not there? okay, so they are supposed to be there as well, but this is of course speaker mccarthy, along with senator schumer, president biden, and kamala harris i believe about to talk about the debt ceiling, so if anything comes out of this because we've got those cameras standing by, we will let you know but that was a whole lot of nothing. he said i'm not going to make any comment and then of course we all start screaming. federal reserve vice chairman of bank supervising michael barr was also on the hill today not just greg becker of silicon valley bank. barr testified before the house financial services committee and said that the march collapse of silicon valley bank was a textbook case of bank mismanagement, not the fed, or anything else, and that some of their practices violated "basic principles of banking 101". he then took the opportunity to warn of the rising risk around commercial real estate loans, many of which were written by regional banks, with more than a trillion d

other congressional leaders, senate minority leader chuck schumer and house democratic leader hakeem jefferiesey are not in the room and that is a reflection of the state of the negotiations and this is a deal that will come down to these two men and that warning from the treasury secretary being reiterated that in just ten days we could potentially hit default. we estimate that it is highly likely that treasury will no longer be able to satisfy the obligations if congress does not act by early june and potentially june 1st. it is likely in term of that time line and now she says it is heightly likely a stepped-up warning with very little time to act. >> let's go over to capitol hill right now where malani zanona, and he went into the meeting keenly aware that a deal needs to happen to avoid default. if a deal is reached, can mccarthy get his members onboard? >> kevin mccarthy will have to sell this deal to the members and he knows that that's why he's holding the line on so many republican demands like cutting spending and the social safety net programs and members of the hard line freedom ca

. >> hakeem jefferys today advocated that his members sign a discharge petition. they could go around the speaker and put a debt ceiling bill on the floor if they get 218 votes. but gop members are not expected to sign. neil? >> neil: bottom line, chad, even if they strike a deal this hour, there's a process to go through. that takes time, right? >> it would probably take through the weekend to get this in to legislative form. kevin mccarthy, the house speaker says he will adhere to what they call the 72-hour rule for members to digest this. that takes you in to the middle of next week or next weekend and the senate probably a week. that gets us in to the first week of june. >> neil: thank you. chad pergram. let's go to jacqui heinrich. the president says he's traveling but monitoring events and day by day, minute by minute. what's the latest, jacqui? >> yeah, monitoring minute by minute and talking to his team at the white house and talking to mccarthy's team. congressional democrats are wondering, what piece of this are they going to be hearing about? the presid

je j house democratic leader hakeem jefferys put out a statement saying early i spoke to congressmannolly. we a grateful or the the members of law enforcement and medical professionals that swiftly acted to apprehend the suspect and care for the affected members of our capitol hill community. the u.s. capitol police says they have investigated troubling comments in recent years. bipartisan they report a similar number of threats to republicans and democrats. neil? >> neil: yeah, if you think of the pelosi report, rand paul and his wife, the supreme court justice. there's a certain ring to a lot of this. people have said wait, let's step back from this. >> gabby giffords and steve scalise. >> neil: thanks, mike emanuel on that. other developments taking place in washington tomorrow, the debt talks back on before the president leaves for japan. let's get the late forecast clad -- chad pergram. >> a new letter from janet yellen says the nation could hit the debt limit by june 1. kevin mccarthy is pessimistic. >> there's no movement. there's are not tough decisions. that's what i'm so fe

>> this morning the top democrat in the house hakeem jefferies, he's setting up to try and bypass speakero raise the debt ceiling, but the math right now is not adding up. all 213 house democrats would need to support the move, of course, but that means they would also need five republicans to join them to get a vote to the floor and at this hour there is zero republican interest in supporting the move, at least stated publicly. the critical timing here is june 1. that is when the treasury secretary says the united states could run out of money to pay its bills. let's go to capitol hill. manu raju is standing by. what exactly are you hearing that jefferies is trying to do? >> this is considered a fallback plan in the event that no deal can be reached and in the event that some republicans can decide to break ranks and mccarthy wants to put a bill on the house and the democrats are in the minority and there are procedures in which they can force a vote on the house floor and they need 218 signatures and support from 218 members to force a vote and the democrats have 213 seats and they need

democrats watching right now at the white house, your friend, hakeem jefferies and others, do they still worry about the progressive caucus and whether they will support. >> yes. you have to worry. >> you heard the lady. >> thank you very much, congresswoman, good to see you as always. >> thank you, jake. >>> we'll have more analysis of the agreement and whether it can pass coming up and next up presidential politics and is the gop field about to get bigger? governor chris sununu from new hampshire is here to talk about his decision and the lane he sees for himself next. giving you a stronger lawn. smell that freedom, eh? pick up a bag at lowe's today. feed your lawn. feed it. i'm off to america's best i heard what you said about not overpaying for glasses. two pairs and a free, quality eye exam starting at just $79.95? the exam alone is worth... 59 bucks. i mean, people deserve breaks, right? yeah, brakes...! [out of control] book an exam today at americasbest.com. -okay, and one more. -i think we got it. -yeah, let's focus on the rv. -rv? okay, everybody, look at the rv and smile. this

the president and ranking house member hakeem jefferies and senator chuck schumer had holding to a no but treasury secretary janet yellen warns both sides got to knock it off. time and money are running out. if lawmakers can't come to an agreement by early june, the u.s. government will default on the debt, causing a ripple effect of painful economic consequences. right now, we are looking at the moment to go live to the white house where edward lawrence has the very latest. have the players arrived yet, edward? reporter: no, not as of yet. we do expect them very shortly but i can tell you that maybe the markets reacting to comments on the senate floor just now by senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. he said basically the president needs to negotiate going forward he says the president has been m ia, but this is the key point. he said a compromised package between the president and house republicans would easily pass the senate. that would mean that it could hit the president's desk. that might be effecting the markets right now. in about 15 minutes we'll see the biggest meeting ba

hakeem jefferies, he's the one in the spot right now. the democrats are really pushing -- their side is more irs agents. that's how we'll spin it. more irs agents, more regulation and, you know, more spending. so i think they're -- i think kevin mccarthy is in a very powerful position right now. >> you talked about the democrats. let's talk about the republicans. let's play a bit of what then president trump said on the national debt almost five years ago. >> the economy, we can go a lot higher and, you know, people don't talk, we have 21 trillion in debt. when this really kicks in we'll start paying off that debt like it's water. we will start paying that debt down. >> you know, congressman, former president trump, then president trump promised to pay down the debt. he never did it. in fact, under president trump it climbed from about $20 trillion to about 28 trillion, now stands at about 31 trillion. doesn't your party and former president trump have a credibility problem when it comes to this issue of the national debt? >> we're all a

senate majority leader chuck schumer, house minority leader hakeem jefferies will sit this out and so will senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. over the weekend in japan president biden continued to call on speaker mccarthy to be the one to budge. as far as timing goes, speaker mccarthy said this afternoon the two sides have to reach a deal by the end of this week, essentially, in order to pass something in the house and senate by that deadline. we're also learning about when that deadline might be a little more precisely treasury secretary janet yellen sent a letter to speaker mccarthy tonight saying that the u.s. might not be able to pay its bills as early as june 1 certainly, in the first part of june, early june is what she said in that letter, so we will see what happens in tonight's high stakes meeting, jackie. jackie: we sure will. it always seems to get down to the wire. grady trimble thank you so much. joining me now is former economic advisor to president trump steve moore and former treasury official monica crowley it is great to have you both here tonight. let's start w

that did not seem to be in the offing here, hakeem jefferys, the democratic leader was dead set against that as a nonstarter proposal. democrats are now coming out to say where they think things stand. chuck schumer is among them. here's schumer. >> we also agreed that we need to pass a bipartisan bill with bipartisan support in both chambers. i asked speaker mccarthy, does he agree with that. he said yes. his bill is not a bipartisan bill. so the bottom line is that we all came to agreement that we were going to continue discussions in the way that i believe speaker mccarthy described, which was agreed by us in the room together. hopefully we can come to an agreement. we don't have much time. but default is just the worst, worst alternative. having a bipartisan bill in both chambers is the only way, the only way we're going to avoid default. hakeem and i are committed to trying to get that bipartisan bill done. >> it was a positive meeting. i thank the president for convening us. it was an open and an honest but a very cordial discussion. we all agreed that the only path forward is to

hakeem jeffries agrees that congress needs to act. we have a constitutional responsibility to make sure that we protect the full faith and credit of the united states of america. >> jefferies fears that a default on the debt will lead to recession. millions of jobs lost and the stock market crash that could hurt retirement for americans. if america defaults on our bills, that's exactly what is going to happen. and everyone is going to pay the price. house republicans passed the debt ceiling plan and texas republican congressman jodey arrington told fox news sunday the democrats and the president should consider it. we're not going to give any politician, including the president, a blank check to continue to bankrupt the country. oklahoma senator james lankford called out the president for having plenty of time to work towards a solution. everyone knew this was coming and the president's refused to be able to negotiate about it. >> now, some lawmakers also say extending the deadline is not a good idea either and that congress should just focus on getting this passed. now reporting live in washington. i'm basil, john reyna. basil, thank you for the update. there. well, still

hakeem jeffries agrees that congress needs to act. we have a constitutional responsibility to make sure that we protect the full faith and credit of the united states of america. >> jefferiesrs that a default on the debt will lead to recession. millions of jobs lost in the stock market crash that could hurt retirement for americans. if america defaults on our bills, that's exactly what is going to happen. and everyone is going to pay the price. house republicans passed the debt ceiling plan and texas republican congressman jodey arrington told fox news sunday the democrats and the president should consider it. we're not going to give any politician, including the president, a blank check to continue to bankrupt the country. oklahoma senator james lankford called out the president for having plenty of time to work towards a solution. everyone knew this was coming and the president's refused to be able to negotiate about it. >> that was basil, john, reporting for us. protesters in new york city block subway tracks and fought with police over the chokehold death of subway passenger. jordan neely after chanting for justice through the streets. saturday afternoon, folks took ov

hakeem jeffries agrees that congress needs to act. we have a constitutional responsibility to make sure that we protect the full faith and credit of the united states of america. >> jefferies fears that a default on the debt will lead to recession. millions of jobs lost. >> in the stock market crash that could hurt retirement for americans. if america defaults on our bills, that's exactly what is going to happen. and everyone is going to pay the price. house republicans passed the debt ceiling plan and texas republican congressman jodey arrington told fox news sunday the democrats and the president should consider it. we're not going to give any politician, including the president, a blank check to continue to bankrupt the country. oklahoma senator james lankford called out the president for having plenty of time to work towards a solution. everyone knew this was coming and the president's refused to be able to negotiate about it. >> now, some lawmakers also say extending the deadline is not a good idea. and congress should just focus on getting this passed. now reporting live in washington. i'm basil, john. all right, basil, thank you very much. >> it's 5.21. and coming u

hakeem jeffries agrees that congress needs to act. we have a constitutional responsibility to make sure that we protect the full faith and credit of the united states of america. >> jefferiesears that a default on the debt will lead to recession. millions of jobs lost. >> in the stock market crash that could hurt retirement for americans. if america defaults on our bills, that's exactly what is going to happen. and everyone is going to pay the price. house republicans passed the debt ceiling plan and texas republican congressman jodey arrington told fox news sunday the democrats and the president should consider it. we're not going to give any politician, including the president, a blank check to continue to bankrupt the country. oklahoma senator james lankford called out the president for having plenty of time to work towards a solution. everyone knew this was coming and the president's refused to be able to negotiate about it. >> now some lawmakers say extending the deadline is also not a good option. and congress just needs to focus on taking care of this. now reporting live in washington. i'm basil, john. it's 6.23, thank you, basil. we'reagoing to be back in just a fe