Jeffries says House Democrats would reverse Medicaid cuts, check Trump on Iran

Three-seat gain would put Jeffries in line as first Black House speaker

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Wednesday that Democrats are positioned to win back control of the House in the November 3 midterm elections, and he laid out a legislative agenda that would reverse Trump-era healthcare cuts and confront the White House on the war in Iran and trade policy.

Speaking with reporters, Jeffries said he was “very confident” the party would win enough seats to regain a majority in the final two years of President Trump’s term, while cautioning that “it remains to be seen what that looks like in terms of the number of seats.”

For Democrats to take the House, they need a net gain of three seats. A victory would put Jeffries, a New York Democrat, in position to become the nation’s first Black speaker. A larger majority would give him more room to keep the party’s agenda on track and push back against any small group of holdouts.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) has predicted Republicans will defy historical trends and hold their majority, casting Democrats as wanting to roll out “socialist policies” that will hurt voters. The party of a sitting president has almost always lost seats in midterm elections. Election watchers currently rate Democrats as favored to win the House and as having a good shot at winning back the Senate as well.

On policy, Jeffries said a Democratic-led House would target Trump’s 2025 tax-and-spending law, which cut taxes and slashed more than $1 trillion in healthcare spending. He said Democrats would be united around reversing cuts to Medicaid and restoring expired enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits “right out of the gate.”

Any such legislation would face a possible filibuster in the Senate and Trump’s veto pen, setting up potential policy showdowns heading into the next presidential election.

With high fuel prices and inflation leading voter concerns, Jeffries said House Democrats would push back against the White House’s handling of the war in Iran. He also signaled plans to provide a check on the president’s trade agenda, predicting a more forceful congressional response to global trade disputes and higher tariffs.

Jeffries noted that Democratic congressional candidates have made corruption a key theme ahead of the midterms, accusing Trump and his allies of enriching themselves while in office and of issuing payments in exchange for pardons.

“These are all things that are going to need to be thoroughly investigated as part of our pledge to hold the crooks accountable beginning on day one,” Jeffries said, adding that Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Robert Garcia (D., Calif.), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, have been leading those efforts. Raskin and Garcia, he said, “have been doing a great job to date, and they’re just getting started.”

Asked about working with Trump as a potential House speaker, Jeffries declined to commit to a particular posture, saying, “We will cross that bridge when we get to it, based on what happens on Nov. 3, and then it will fall into the hands of the caucus to determine who is put in position to help lead us forward.”