09/29/2025

Jeffries Warns of ‘Five-alarm Fire’ on Shutdown

He also warned of looming healthcare cuts

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) warned Monday that Democrats will not accept any Republican spending bill that makes life more expensive for working-class people, pointing specifically to looming healthcare cuts as a "five-alarm fire" that must be addressed to win his party's support for legislation preventing a shutdown.

Just hours before he and other top congressional leaders were scheduled to meet with President Trump at the White House, Jeffries amplified the Democrats' opposition to the Republicans' highly partisan bill, saying it's doomed to fail unless Republicans agree to scale back the scheduled cuts to healthcare programs.

He did not draw specific red lines but pointed directly to threats to Medicaid, Medicare, medical research, vaccine availability and tax credits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that are due to expire at the end of 2026.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Hill.