Democratic House Leader Jeffries Warns Country Is Heading For Two Years Of ‘Dysfunction’

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) warned that the historically long vote for House Speaker is a troubling sign of things to come.

Talking to NBC’s Chuck Todd. Jeffries reflected on the “dysfunction” of the Republican party.

It took a House Speaker 15 rounds of voting for the first time since the Civil War to secure the top seat. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) made significant concessions to the right wing of the party to gain the coveted seat.

The surrender to the hard-liners has dismayed Democrats.

“Well, our general concern is that the dysfunction that was historic that we saw this week is not at an end; it’s just the beginning,” Jeffries said to Todd. “While the Congress was held captive this particular time, what is going to be a problem is if the American people will be held captive over the next two years to the extreme ‘MAGA’ Republican agenda that apparently has been negotiated into the House rules and the functioning of the Congress.”

Jeffries won all 212 Democratic votes in all 15 rounds of voting. Throughout the early contests, Jeffries garnered the most votes of any candidate – but he didn’t secure the majority needed to win the gavel.

McCarthy negotiated with conservative nay-sayers, agreeing to rule changes and committee assignments that take power away from the speakership. Conservatives have been lauding the changes as necessary to overhaul a “corrupt government.”

Jeffries said that the overhaul of rules would likely make the government less responsive to Americans’ needs.

“It may undermine national security and a robust defense and undermine our ability to actually advance an agenda that is anchored in kitchen-table pocketbook issues and not extremism,” he said.