LEADER JEFFRIES ON FOX: "WE'RE FOCUSED ON TRYING TO LOWER THE HIGH COST OF LIVING, FIX OUR BROKEN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM AND GET ICE UNDER CONTROL"

Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on FOX News Sunday, where he laid out how House Democrats are standing up for the health, safety and economic well-being of the American people, while Republicans continue to show their inability to deliver on their promises to make life better for hardworking taxpayers.

Image

SHANNON BREAM: Joining us now for another take, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Great to have you back, Mr. Leader.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Good morning. Great to be on.

SHANNON BREAM: Okay, so you heard Ambassador Greer. He talked about all the positives that have come from the tariffs. He talked about the ability to negotiate and change trade as we now know it. Assessing the effect of the tariffs a few weeks ago at the end of '25, Fortune said that Trump's higher tariffs are certainly raising money. They've raked in more than $236 billion, much more than in the past. And the trade deficit, meanwhile, has fallen significantly since the start of '25. The article says that tariffs have slashed the deficit in half. Is that not a good thing for Americans?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, the trade deficit has not been meaningfully closed. That's number one. Point number two is that we know farmers and small business owners, companies, as well as perhaps most importantly, the American consumer have been hurt, being forced to pay thousands of dollars more per year in additional expense when the affordability crisis right now is already crushing everyday Americans, middle class Americans and working class Americans. And we also haven't seen a return of manufacturing jobs to the United States of America, which is what the Trump administration promised would take place.

SHANNON BREAM: So to the point of affordability, inflation is down, wage growth is up—it's far outpacing inflation—consumer sentiment is positive, small business consumer sentiment is positive as well. I mean, there are a lot of markers that seem to be moving in the right direction. The American people, I mean gas prices down, grocery prices have slowed, are those not positive?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, the American people understand that this administration promised that they would lower costs on day one. That's the standard that this administration, that the President himself set. Costs haven't gone down in the United States of America. We know costs have gone up. Housing costs out of control, grocery costs out of control, electricity bills out of control, healthcare costs out of control and child care costs out of control. America right now is far too expensive. And we all should be working together to lower the high cost of living, to bring about a situation in this country where if you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to live an affordable life. Far too many people in this country—this is not Democrats or Republicans, these are Americans. This is not a partisan issue—far too many people are struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, can barely survive and certainly can't thrive. And that's the situation that we need to change decisively here in the United States of America.

SHANNON BREAM: Okay but, fair to say, looking at the data, that huge spikes in things like grocery prices and other things happened under the Biden administration. I mean, near record levels of inflation at 9%. That's not gonna change overnight, but if it's now nearing 2%, and rent prices have cooled, gas prices are down, those things have happened. I mean you can't change all of that overnight. Do you not acknowledge that a lot of that happened under the last administration?

LEADER JEFFRIES: We're focused right now on the here and now—

SHANNON BREAM: Which takes time.

LEADER JEFFRIES: —in terms of what the American people are confronting. This is 2026. Listen, the President himself is the one who said that costs were going to go down on day one.

SHANNON BREAM: And many counts they have.

LEADER JEFFRIES: That's not the standard that we as Democrats set. That's the standard that the President set. Now, I think in your own Fox News poll, 70% of the American people believe that the economy is not moving in the right direction. So this is not the Democratic position, this is the position of the American people. And we're determined to do everything possible, working with anyone, anytime, anyplace, to lower the high cost of living because we do have an affordability crisis in America. It's not a hoax. It's very real, and it's impacting people all throughout the land.

SHANNON BREAM: Okay, so I want to talk to you about the Supreme Court case, because you celebrated it on Friday, as many Democrats did. You have been very critical of the Supreme Court, as have many Democrats, calling them corrupt, saying they're in the pocket of President Trump, saying that they need to be term-limited, the Court needs to be expanded. After the decision on Friday, which included a couple of the President's own nominees voting against him and the arguments he was making, are Democrats now prepared to say that the court is neutral, it's independent and you'll stop talk of packing or term limiting the court?

LEADER JEFFRIES: I strongly disagreed with Supreme Court decisions in the past, and will continue to do so. However, the Supreme Court in this instance did the right thing. In terms of packing the court, that's not a discussion that we've engaged in.

SHANNON BREAM: Many of your Members have.

LEADER JEFFRIES: As Democrats, listen, we've made clear to the American people. We've made clear, and I certainly made clear, that we're focused on trying to do three things at this moment. Lower the high cost of living. Fix our broken healthcare system—we can begin by extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits so that tens of millions of hard-working American taxpayers don't experience dramatically increased premiums, co-pays and deductibles throughout the year. And of course, we also need to get ICE under control and deliver immigration enforcement in this country that's fair, that's just, that's humane, so that taxpayer dollars aren't being used to actually kill American citizens, like Renee Nicole Good or Alex Pretti.

SHANNON BREAM: So let's unpack some of that. First of all, about the ACA subsidies. That was the last time you were here. We were talking about the shutdown that lasted 43 days had an enormous impact on the economy and a lot of people who missed a lot of paychecks, and yet Democrats who held the votes necessary to move things forward ultimately moved forward without a change to the ACA subsidies. We come to find out that 90-to-93% of people who are on these ACA marketplaces are getting federal subsidies. Meaning other taxpayers are paying into that, that doesn't sound affordable. So, what about the promise of the Affordable Care Act that we're now still fighting about these subsidies because it is so difficult to be paid for?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Listen, we have a broken healthcare system and we need to fix it in a comprehensive way. Ideally, we should fix it a bipartisan way. Part of the challenge that we've confronted during this administration is the One Big Ugly Bill enacted the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. As a result of that policy, hospitals, nursing homes and community-based health clinics are closing all throughout the country, including in rural America. People are struggling and part of the way in which we can fix this is to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, to impact everyone in blue states, in purple states and in red states. In fact, in Republican-controlled states, people who have lost their Affordable Care Act tax credits are suffering the most. We're talking about states like Wyoming or West Virginia, Alaska, South Carolina, Texas. These are states where people are struggling. So we're trying to resolve this issue on behalf of everyone.

SHANNON BREAM: Okay, so to the issue of those cuts, you know that a lot of that has to do with either waste, fraud and abuse or it has to with eligibility and making sure that those benefits are there for people who actually need them, not able-bodied adults or those who are choosing not to work as part of the system. And there is money in there for those hospitals. They can reopen under an emergency basis. The money is there to help them move forward. So all of that was part of the One Big Beautiful Bill too. But where we get to now is ICE. You know it's funded. Why shut down the government? We get new information this morning that TSA PreCheck is going away, Global Entry is going away. You know, there's real worry now TSA and FEMA are not going to get paid. There's a winter storm coming to your Northeastern location there. Why take away funding from FEMA, from TSA, the Coast Guard and others when ICE is fully funded? Why not reopen the government?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, let's remember, Republicans control the House, the Senate and the presidency. To the extent there is ever a shutdown, as was the case with the 43-day Trump-Republican shutdown in the fall and right now—

SHANNON BREAM: But you know they cannot move forward out of a shutdown without Democrat votes. They can't do it. You guys have got to go with them.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Okay. So let's talk about that. Our basic value proposition is that taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the American people, not to brutalize or kill them, as was done with an ICU VA nurse—

SHANNON BREAM: Again, you're not going to shut down ICE as part of this shutdown.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Alex Pretti. And so, our view—

SHANNON BREAM: And those are tragic cases that are being investigated and must be. We need answers on that. But that—

LEADER JEFFRIES: I'm happy to respond.

SHANNON BREAM: ICE is not going to shut down.

LEADER JEFFRIES: I'm happy to respond if you give me the opportunity to respond. So we believe that this moment should be used to make dramatic changes to ICE that are bold, that are transformational and that are meaningful, that include lifting up the Fourth Amendment and ensuring that judicial warrants are actually required before ICE agents can break into the homes of the American people. We believe there should be independent investigations so that if ICE breaks the law, state and local authorities can investigate and prosecute them, as is the case with every other law enforcement agency in the country. We believe that sensitive locations, like houses of worship, like hospitals, like schools and like polling sites, should be protected. These are basic common sense demands that have been laid out, and unfortunately, rather than dramatically reform ICE, the administration has decided to shut down FEMA, shut down the TSA and shut down the Coast Guard.

SHANNON BREAM: They will say your votes are doing that and, you know, there's a lot of debate in there. We hope you find some common ground because there are some things there It sounds like Republicans agree with you on as well and the American people too. House Minority Leader Jeffries. Always good to have you. Thanks for coming by.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you.

Full interview can be watched here.