WATCH: Fired-Up Hakeem Jeffries Tells Voting Rights Opponents ‘You Better Back Up Off of Us!’ on House Floor

New York Congressman and Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus Hakeem Jeffries was fairly spitting fire on the House floor when he told opponents of voting rights legislation “You better back up off of us!”

On Thursday morning, as the House debated voting rights for several hours Rep. Jeffries rose to give a one-minute speech in which he threw down the gauntlet to the other side.

We are here today defending our democracy for one reason and one reason alone. It’s because the radical right has decided that the only way they can consistently win elections is to engage in massive voter suppression.

The right to vote is sacred. The right to vote is special. The right to vote is sacrosanct and central to the integrity of our democracy.

There are people who died, lost their lives, shed blood to make sure that Black people and everyone in America could vote.

We’re not going backward. We’re only going to go forward. You better back up off of us!

We will pass the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. We will pass the Joe Manchin Freedom to Vote Act. We will get it to Joe Biden’s desk, and we will end the era of voter suppression in America once and for all!

Jeffries’ speech, and the House debate, come on the heels of President Joe Biden’s voting rights speech earlier this week.

On Tuesday, the president spoke in support of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and did so in stark terms that rankled the opposition — as well as some members of the media.

“At consequential moments in history, they present a choice: Do you want to be the si- — on the side of Dr. King or George Wallace? Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?” the president said.

Watch Jeffries’ speech above via C-Span.