New: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is in the middle of another government-funding fight.
A clash like this — a major policy disagreement with a government shutdown on the line — is almost a rite of passage for a modern-day congressional leader, a moment that gives definition to a power profile in Washington.
And with just four days until government funding runs out, both Republicans and Democrats seem unnaturally comfortable with their positions in the fight.
During an interview on Fly Out Day from the Punchbowl News Townhouse, Jeffries showed no signs of skittishness or nervousness about the looming shutdown brawl against President Donald Trump and GOP congressional leaders.
“They spent the whole year telling America they have a massive mandate to do whatever the hell they want, and now they want to act like Democrats are somehow responsible for their continued efforts to destroy the American way of life?” Jeffries said. “No one’s buying that.”
The situation is a bit more complicated than that, as you know from reading our editions over the last few weeks.
House Republicans passed a clean Nov. 21 CR, which Senate Democrats blocked. Democrats are asking to roll back massive Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, restrict future rescissions and permanently extend enhanced premium tax subsidies for Obamacare. Republicans say those demands are far too steep a price for a seven-week CR and blocked the Democrats’ Oct. 31 counter-proposal.
Jeffries puts the Democratic asks this way: “Cancel the cuts, lower the cost, save healthcare. Eight words. Not complicated for [Trump] to understand, and that’s the starting point for our conversation.”
Jeffries is digging in, as we’ve noted over the last few days. Jeffries says that any CR needs to include “ironclad” legislative language on the Democrats’ policy demands.
“How can anyone trust these people?” Jeffries said, pointing to December, when Republicans abandoned a funding deal at Trump’s request, as well as the billions of dollars in rescissions the president has enacted since.
On Trump. As usual, Trump has thrust himself into the middle of the funding clash. The president had a meeting scheduled for Thursday with Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, but then backed out, saying that the Democrats’ demands were “unserious and ridiculous.”
Jeffries has absolutely no relationship with Trump. The two have never met. In fact, Democrats say Trump has never even uttered Jeffries’ name.
While Jeffries says he’s happy to sit down with Trump “anytime, anyplace” to solve the shutdown, here’s what the New York Democrat said about the president seemingly ignoring his existence:
“There are a lot of people who find it strange that in 10 years of Donald Trump being in our face, he never mentioned my name. Not once publicly. And as a matter of fact, in over two-and-a-half years as House Democratic leader, including throughout the entirety of this year, you’d have to ask him, or people close to him, what the issue is, what the concern is.
“But all I know is that he scheduled a meeting, agreed to it, and then turned around and said, ‘I don’t know, maybe this is not going to work out for us as Republicans. Because our position is not defensible.’ And the Democratic position is pretty simple: cancel the cuts, lower the cost, save health care.”
Jeffries compared Trump to an “organized crime boss going after all of the things that matter to the American people, which is why we have to push back aggressively.”
On Schumer. One of the more interesting relationships to watch during this crisis is Jeffries and Schumer. The two New York Democrats couldn’t be any more different in personal style, history and temperament.
Jeffries, 55, has been in Congress for 12 years. The 74-year-old Schumer was first elected to Congress in 1980, when Jeffries was only 10. Schumer was a two-time DSCC chair who took over as Democratic leader in 2017 following the retirement of the late Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.). In 2023, Jeffries succeeded the iconic former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who still serves in the House.
The two top Democrats saw this year’s first government-funding fight in March very differently. Jeffries was willing to provoke a shutdown in order to confront Trump and GOP leaders, while Schumer thought it was the wrong move that early in 2025.
In private, many House Democrats still worry Schumer is going to fold in the end. Jeffries said he’s “very confident” that Schumer won’t.
“We have been preparing for a government shutdown showdown for months, meeting House and Senate Democratic leaders, appropriators and others, for months and are very confident, as we saw last Friday, that Senate Democrats are holding the line,” Jeffries said.
Since today is Friday and government funding runs out at midnight Tuesday, it’s fair to say that a shutdown is a virtual certainty barring some major reversal, especially considering House Republicans will be out of town until Wednesday.
In the meantime, Jeffries is hosting a House Democratic Caucus call today and an in-person meeting Monday to strategize.
“We’re supposed to be in Washington next week for votes on Monday and Tuesday, in advance of the end of the fiscal year,” Jeffries said. “House Republicans canceled the votes. Now, Democrats are going to be here making it clear to the American people that we’re ready to do our jobs on their behalf and prevent a government shutdown.”
Watch the episode for more, including Jeffries on redistricting and on whether he will endorse Zohran Mamdani. Plus, who does Jeffries think is the top Brooklyn MC: the Notorious B.I.G. or Jay-Z.
