Leader Jeffries on CNN: “WE ARE Fighting for an Affordable America”

July 26th, 2026 | Press Release LEADER JEFFRIES ON CNN: “WE ARE FIGHTING FOR AN AFFORDABLE AMERICA” Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on CNN’s State of the Union, where he outlined how with 100 days until the midterm elections, Democrats are going to continue to push back on Republican extremism and fight to lower costs for hardworking American taxpayers. DANA BASH: Here with me now is the House Democratic Leader, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. Mr. Leader, thank you so much for being here. I know that you are launching what Democrats are calling 100 Days Out Weekend of Action with more than 400 grassroots events in competitive states, including Pennsylvania, where you’re going to be speaking later today. At the same time, your party is fighting over whether the path back to the majority runs through the center or the activist left, who want to defund the police, abolish ICE, end aid to Israel, open borders. I know that you call the Democratic Party a mosaic, but are you going to push any of those positions if you win the majority back? LEADER JEFFRIES: Well what unites the party, and certainly what will take place over the next 100 days, beginning today, is a focus on us fighting for an affordable America , based on the reality that life in this country is far too expensive and everybody agrees that that’s the dynamic that the country confronts. Too many people are working hard, they’re playing by the rules, but they can’t thrive and they can barely survive. Not enough food on the table, not enough gas in the tank, unable to actually regularly and consistently afford to pay the rent or pay the mortgage. We want to drive down the cost of groceries, drive down and lower the cost of gasoline, drive down the cost of housing and also make sure that healthcare is affordable for every single American . DANA BASH: Right, but to do those things, which is the messaging that I’ve heard you say, especially recently, you need to come up with policy proposals. So will those policy proposals be in line with what some of the more progressive members who keep getting elected are pushing? Or will you sort of move more towards the moderate area, where if you do win the majority, it will be likely because they pick up swing districts? LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we want to make sure that we are solving problems on behalf of the American people, and that’s in every possible area. It is clear that what unites Democrats, for instance, we forcefully have been pushing back against the One Big Ugly Bill and the effort to enact the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. That’s a disgrace , and clearly that needs to be reversed. We need to make sure that we do things like extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits so that more than 20 million people actually can have healthcare that they can afford restored to them as opposed to the situation that they confront right now because of MAGA extremist policies, which is that they’ve experienced dramatic increases in their health insurance premiums in some cases more than $1000 per month. It certainly is the case, as we’ve already demonstrated unanimously on the House Floor, that we need to stop this reckless and costly war of choice that has skyrocketed gas prices on everyday Americans, and we need to stop the Trump tariffs, which have increased costs on everyday Americans by thousands of dollars per year. DANA BASH: You, according to my colleague Manu Raju, clash with Senator Bernie Sanders over the fact that he is campaigning for progressive candidates, some of whom are challenging incumbents you back, including Members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Are Senator Sanders and other progressives in the party making it harder for you to win in November? Is that what you said to Senator Sanders? LEADER JEFFRIES: No, I wouldn’t describe it as a clash. It was a candid conversation along with Congressman Greg Meeks, the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, with respect to one particular race in North Carolina at the beginning of the primary cycle and trying to get a sense of his approach to that race. I do think that Senator Sanders and Democrats in both the House and the Senate understand the stakes that are in front of us, particularly as we are one hundred days out. And that’s making sure that we actually take back control of the Congress so we can end this MAGA extremism that has been unleashed on the American people that is actively hurting hardworking American taxpayers and actually commit to making life more affordable for the American people. That’s clearly what the American people want to see done , and that’s not what Republicans have been able to accomplish during their time in office since Trump was sworn in back in January of last year. DANA BASH: I think one of the things that some of those who are winning their primaries and will likely be in office want to know is if you are going to agree to hold votes on abolishing ICE, opening borders, things of that nature. Will you? LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I’ve spoken to several of the incoming Members of Congress across the ideological spectrum. Not a single person has raised those issues, other than obviously what they’ve seen from Democrats in pushing back against an out-of-control ICE because we believe that immigration enforcement in this country clearly should be fair, just and humane, and that’s not what’s taking place. That’s the reason why House Democrats have taken a strong position as it relates to not giving a dime to Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation machine until, of course, there is dramatic reform in this country and that ICE agents actually start to conduct themselves like every other cop, police officer and law enforcement agent in the country. DANA BASH: Your next-door neighbor, New Jersey, just disclosed that 6,600 non-citizens were mistakenly registered to vote there from 2023 to 2024. 400 of them actually voted in elections since then. It is a small number compared to the 7 million voters in New Jersey and there’s no evidence that that swayed any election. But this is one of the most significant disclosures of non-citizen registration. Democrats have repeatedly said that non-citizen voting doesn’t happen. It happened. Is this a problem? LEADER JEFFRIES: I think that I continue to have confidence in state and local authorities in making sure that there’s going to be a free and fair election in November. And if modest or minor challenges emerge, such as the one that was disclosed voluntarily by the authorities in New Jersey, that it is immediately corrected. And that’s what I expect will continue to happen. Unfortunately, what we’ve seen from Donald Trump is that, in this particular case, Republicans have adopted voter suppression as an electoral strategy because they have failed to actually deliver on making life more affordable for the American people. It was Donald Trump who promised to lower costs on day one, but we know that costs haven’t gone down in this country, costs have gone up. It was Donald Trump, I believe, who said that he was elected not to start wars—endless wars in the Middle East—but to stop them, and then turned around and has gotten us involved in this reckless war of choice in Iran that has skyrocketed gas prices on the American people. By the way, it was Donald Trump who said they were going to love and cherish Medicaid, and then Republicans enacted the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, ripping healthcare away from more than 14 million Americans. They have nothing to run on. We’re going to run on fighting for an affordable America. DANA BASH: Mr. Leader, before I let you go, President Trump ordered signs placed outside the Museum of American History, warning that it promotes inaccurate history. It comes, of course, as the White House is attacking the Smithsonian, accusing the institution of promoting left-wing ideology. Is there anything you can do to stop those signs from going up? LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we’re going to explore every legislative avenue and every litigation avenue, as we’ve repeatedly done up until this point. Here’s the thing. Black history is American history, and we are not going to let the extremists whitewash it. Not now. Not ever. DANA BASH: Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Leader of the House of Representatives. Thanks so much for being here. I appreciate it. LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you. Full interview can be watched here. ### Back to News Share: Facebook Twitter