House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries released a 10-point plan Monday for Democrats to try to thwart President Donald Trump’s efforts to slash the social safety net, to purge the government, and to shutter federal agencies.
Trump has unlawfully tried to shut down all federal spending, close the U.S. Agency for International Development, and pass legislation that could strip middle-class and low-income Americans of health care.
“House Democrats will continue to push back against the far-right extremism that is being relentlessly unleashed on the American people,” Jeffries said before laying out the steps Democrats will take to stop Trump.
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In the first item of the plan, Jeffries said that Democrats will not support any GOP funding bills if they include efforts to “end Medicaid as we know it or defund programs important to everyday Americans.”
Given the slim GOP House majority combined with the Republicans who vote against any spending bills, House Speaker Mike Johnson could need Democratic votes to get the annual funding bill and a debt ceiling increase over the finish line, giving Democrats some negotiating power.
Jeffries said that Democrats will also introduce legislation “to prevent unlawful access to the Department of Treasury Bureau of the Fiscal Service payment system that contains highly confidential and personal information related to Social Security and Medicare recipients, taxpayers, households, nonprofits, businesses and federal contractors.”
This legislation is necessary because billionaire DOGE Chair Elon Musk and an army of unqualified tech bros gained access to sensitive Treasury data in a possible effort to make good on their pledge to freeze all federal spending that they do not like—a move that federal courts have already blocked because it’s unconstitutional.
Jeffries said that, after Trump unilaterally imposed tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China that Trump admitted will cause “pain” for U.S. consumers, Democrats will “continue to highlight Republican policies that raise the already high cost of living for everyday Americans, including the wide-ranging tariffs directed at allies that risk dramatically increasing the price of groceries, fuel and automobiles in the United States of America.”
Democrats will also work on legal efforts to block “several of the unlawful executive actions, including, but not limited to, ending birthright citizenship, the firing of Inspectors General, terminations of federal civil service employees, the purge of the FBI and the suspension of funds appropriated by Congress.”
A number of those lawsuits were filed on Day 1 of Trump’s second term.
Additionally, Jeffries said that Democrats will launch a “safety accountability project” to “detail for the American people the threat presented by violent felons who have been pardoned and released back into neighborhoods throughout the country, some of whom have a criminal record of predatory offenses including weapons charges, domestic violence and rape.”
Indeed, a number of the more than 1,500 insurrectionists Trump pardoned have already been arrested for other crimes, including one for solicitation of a minor, and another who was shot and killed by law enforcement after resisting arrest.
Aside from the plan Jeffries laid out, Democrats also held a news conference Monday at the USAID headquarters where they laid out the disastrous consequences that shuttering the federal agency would have on Americans and the world.
“This is a constitutional crisis that we are in today. Let’s call it what it is,” Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said.
Murphy: “This is a constitutional crisis that we are in today. Let’s call it what it is.”— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-02-03T18:26:49.203Z
And Sen. Brian Brian Schatz of Hawaii said he is putting a hold on all State Department nominees over the USAID closing—a tactic that GOP senators often used to try to stop former President Joe Biden’s agenda.
But ultimately, without control of either chamber of Congress or the White House, Democrats have few avenues to stop Trump’s disastrous agenda. Nevertheless, Jeffries and Democrats are going to do what they can to save the country from the mad king.
“Thank you for your continued leadership during this perilous moment for our country,” Jeffries said. “Together, we press onward.”
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