House of Representatives Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., blasted Republicans for not keeping their promise to voters who elected President Donald Trump and gave his party full control of Congress to address the high cost of living. During a House floor speech on Monday, Congressman Jeffries chastised his GOP colleagues for not focusing their first weeks in the new 119th Congress on what they promised would be their focus if voters gave Republicans power in Washington, D.C.
“House Democrats want nothing to do with the Republican bait and switch, and we will do everything possible to stop it,” said Rep. Jeffries, who made history in 2023 as the first Black American to be elected as leader of a national political party.
“The cost of living in the United States of America is far too high. Housing costs are too high, grocery costs are too high, insurance costs are too high, utility costs are too high, child care costs are too high,” the Democrat continued. “America is too expensive. It is not acceptable in the wealthiest country in the history of the world that far too many everyday Americans are struggling to live paycheck to paycheck.”
Despite signing 59 executive orders to date, President Trump’s agenda has focused on reducing federal spending and cultural issues like diversity, equity and inclusion, and gender identity, not specifically driving down costs of things like grocery prices, housing, or health care. Last week, Trump met with Republican lawmakers to discuss his top economic priorities, which included permanently extending his 2017 tax cut law and other additional tax-related items.
Congressman Jeffries called the 2017 tax law a “scam” that mainly benefited billionaires and “wealthy” corporations, citing that 83% of the benefits went to the nation’s “wealthiest 1%.”
“Everything is about massive tax cuts for billionaires and wealthy corporations, who, in many cases, aren’t even asking for it,” said the New York lawmaker. “And they certainly don’t need the relief that everyday Americans need, that working-class Americans need, that middle-class Americans need that all those people who aspire to be part of the middle-class need.”
Democrats have long warned about Trump and Republicans’ tax agenda and how they would make significant cuts to crucial federal programs that millions of Americans rely on in order to pay for it.
“Their plan is to destroy Social Security, destroy Medicare, and destroy Medicaid as we know it,” warned Jeffries, adding, “And now, with Republicans controlling the House, the Senate, and the presidency, it’s their intention to try and do it.”
Medicaid cuts would be “devastating,” the congressman cautioned. He continued, “Hospitals will close, including in rural America and urban America and in the heartland of America. Nursing homes will be shut down, and everyday Americans, children, seniors, those who are suffering with disabilities, will be hurt as part of the Republican effort to target earned benefits.”
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Democratic nominee and then-Vice President Kamala Harris gave similar warnings to voters. Harris introduced plans like up to $25,000 down payments for first-time home buyers and a corporate grocery ban on price gouging. Despite her efforts, voters, who said addressing the economy was their top priority in the presidential election, elected Trump for a second term.
Democratic strategist Joel Payne tells theGrio that Americans, frustrated by inflation and high costs, “voted against the continuation of Joe Biden and, by extension, Kamala Harris,” however, he emphasized, “They voted against the thing, not for a thing.” Payne said he doesn’t believe that Trump’s actions thus far are what they intended, which include orders to freeze federal spending and allowing billionaire Elon Musk, who is a non-government employee, and his Department of Government Efficiency to access sensitive and personal data.
Leader Jeffries said Trump and Republicans have so far spent their time in control “implementing the most extreme parts of Project 2025 and have done nothing to lower the high cost of living.” He continued, “Not a single thing, not a single bill, not a single idea, not a single proposal from my House Republican colleagues to do anything about the high cost of living In the United States of America.”
He added, “We will continue to expose it to the American people. House Democrats want nothing to do with it, and we’re going to do everything in our power to stop it.”
