House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has hit back at claims that his party isn’t doing enough to keep President Trump and the Republican party in check.
And the top Democrat in the lower chamber could only brush off the concerns during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, while not providing any specifics as to how his party would halt plans by the GOP to introduce cuts to Medicaid and food stamps in order to power the extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts. Republicans are working on such plans as the party nears passage of budget legislation.
Jeffries was asked by the show’s host Jake Tapper about Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro — who was almost Kamala Harris’s running mate — criticizing Democrats in Congress for “failing to address the real concerns that people have” and not being a sufficient “check” on the power of Trump and his DOGE chief, Elon Musk.
“I have no idea what the Governor was talking about, so you’re going to have to ask him for clarification,” Jeffries responded.
He went on to say that Democrats were “partnering on at least 79 different lawsuits that have been brought related to about 35 different illegal or unconstitutional executive orders.” However, those lawsuits are primarily being led by state attorneys general, not Congress.
“Democrats are going to continue to make clear that we will stand against the effort to end Medicaid as we know it, stand against the effort to detonate Social Security or Medicare, certainly stand against the effort to undermine veterans benefits or nutritional assistance to children and families,” said Jeffries.
He and Tapper went back and forth over which Republicans the House Democratic leader thought his party would have the best chance in turning against the budget legislation, while not providing any details or signs of success related to that effort.
Republicans have just three votes separating their party from the Democrats. The defection of even two members on a budget agreement such as this could tank the measure.
But Democrats have not shown any public movement towards convincing Republicans to vote against the bill, and in one instance Jeffries himself seemed to dismiss the idea that his party had any leverage at all over the GOP — despite the likelihood that the entirety of his caucus will vote against it, putting the legislation permanently on the brink of failure.
“I’m trying to figure out what leverage we actually have,” he said at a press conference. “What leverage do we have? Republicans have repeatedly lectured America — they control the House, the Senate and the presidency. It’s their government.”
Democrats have continuously crossed party lines to confirm Trump’s nominees for various agencies and continue to negotiate with Republicans on legislation to fund the government through the remainder of the fiscal year, without securing concessions from the GOP.
Jeffries and other Democrats, including his state’s governor Kathy Hochul, have also refused to call for the removal of Eric Adams, the embattled mayor of New York, who has seemingly agreed to work with administration officials on the president’s mass deportation effort while the Justice Department tries to abandon his prosecution for corruption-related charges.
A Quinnipiac University poll last week found that only 21 percent of Americans approve of the job congressional Democrats are doing.
