Hakeem Jeffries Reveals Democrats’ 2027 Agenda To Retake House & Reform Supreme Court

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]leader. Welcome back to the CAP ideas conference.

[00:00:04]>> Morning. Great to be here.

[00:00:05]>> Yeah, it's true a real honor for us to have you here. Um I want to get into uh what you have to live in and day day in and day out in the current Congress, but I want to take us to a happier place to begin with. It's January 3rd, 2027. You've just been sworn in as speaker of the house.

[00:00:28][cheering] See, they're are they're happy already.

[00:00:32][laughter] What uh what are the two or three big things you're going to want to get done for the American people when that happens?

[00:00:39]>> Well, thank you, John, uh for your friendship and your leadership and uh to Nerra. So, appreciate you and to everyone here and the CAP uh family, it's great to be back. You know, I think our focus and we're going to continue to relentlessly make this clear over the next few months in advance of taking back control of the House of Representatives. And then when we do uh in the next Congress, we want to focus on cost. We want to focus on care and we want to focus on combating corruption.

[00:01:09]But right at the top of that list uh is the economy, lowering the high cost of living, dealing with the fact that far too many everyday Americans are struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, can't thrive, and can barely survive.

[00:01:24]This in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, and it's unacceptable.

[00:01:29]And the American people have been crying out uh for this administration or this Congress to do something about lowering the high cost of living and they failed.

[00:01:40]And you know we define those costs in a variety of different you know issue areas that we have to tackle. housing, right? Gas, groceries, goods, and utilities in terms of what needs to happen, you know, related to the impact uh that this environment is having on everyday Americans. Related to that, of course, is care and the cost of it, but also making sure that that care is provided in a high quality way. So, clearly that's health care. We have a broken health care system that Republicans have decimated. unprecedented attack on the health care of the American people and all of the things that's on Medicaid, of course, the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, the attacks on hospitals and nursing homes, community-based health clinics, the Affordable Care Act, vaccine availability, the National Institute of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, the FDA, all of the things unprecedented attack on the health care of the American people. We got to fix our broken health care system and make sure that what we put in place uh is the best ever. And then of course related to that uh is child care on the front end and elder care on the back end. And then we certainly feel a responsibility to tackle like the just the naked corruption that we're seeing, but also connected to the fact uh that because Republicans are focused on enriching themselves, their family members, and their big donors, uh they're not focused on solving the problems that the American people want us to solve on their behalf. But there's a related issue, excuse me, that we need to deal that we need to deal with and that is dramatic reform to the fact that the system is rigged against everyday Americans to benefit, you know, the elites. And that's going to require massive campaign finance reform, massive electoral reform, and yes, massive Supreme Court reform as well. [applause] >> I want to I want to I want to come back to the court and I want and particularly the Cali decision. Uh but I I noted uh your current circumstances um and you're having to live with a a in a house that really is just on bended knee to the president. Uh but you've been actually been successful in peeling off Republicans uh and passing uh by uh using uh discharge petitions, the uh the premium tax credits, uh the release of the Epstein files, uh the stock trading ban, for example, speaking of of uh corruption, we just seen the stock trades of the president uh coming out.

[00:04:38]Uh uh h how's that worked? How have you gotten Republicans to come over? Is it just the political pressure of their constituents or and and is there any hope that you can actually create some bipartisan coalitions in the future?

[00:04:54]>> Well, you know, we began um the Congress understanding that we had two responsibilities. One, we had to do everything we can to push back against the extremism that is being unleashed on the American people, right? with righteous intensity to push back against this extremism devastating everyday Americans while at the same period of time do as much as we can to govern in the minority as if we were in the majority.

[00:05:25]And in the House, there are only limited tools available to accomplish that objective. in the discharge petition where you can get to 218 signatures on a piece of legislation and over the objection of the president and the speaker force an up or down vote on the floor of the House of Representatives.

[00:05:43]We've now done that six different times.

[00:05:47]And that, as far as we can tell, those six times plus the two times that we did it in the last Congress, eight is more in those two congresses than at any other point in the last 100 years in the House of Representatives. And so, we've had them on the run legislatively. And these have been on interesting issues as you indicated, John, in the aftermath of the 43-day government shutdown where we made the issue, right? We just said seven consecutive words over and over and over again, cancel the cuts, or I guess it was eight words, cancel the cuts, lower the cost, save health care, and repeating save healthcare over and over and over again. That was the fight. And in the immediate aftermath of that fight, the Republicans felt the pressure of extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits in the House on our terms. A three-year straightforward extension, we were able to do it on Epstein. And you'll hear from Robert, you know, Garcia and the oversight Dems have done a great job of standing with the Epstein survivors and pushing for transparency and accountability. And ultimately, we've broke them on a discharge petition with respect to Epstein. One of the things that hasn't gotten a lot of attention is that in November or early December last year, uh we actually compelled 20 Republicans to join with us to override one of Trump's first executive orders uh that smashed his executive order, collective bargaining rights for over a million federal employees. We passed legislation through a discharge petition in the House to override uh that executive order. And then of course, most recently, we extended temporary protectance status for Haitian migrants, which was interesting because just two years ago, these very same Republicans were claiming that these Haitian migrants were eating cats and dogs in Springfield.

[00:07:44]And two years later, we forced them to join with us to extend temporary protected status uh because it's the right thing to do. So, I think what it's demonstrated is that on issue after issue after issue, when we're on the right side of it, and when we're disciplined and when we're focused and when we put pressure in particular on the so-called swing seat Republicans, they have been breaking with us to do the right thing for the American people.

[00:08:08]>> Yeah, it's a little bit different than old school, you you get a little bit, I get a little bit. It's really pressure and focus. Uh, and that can happen on the affirmative agenda as well. you you have anticipation that you that will help actually move from ideas and and control in the House to be able to get stuff that actually gets signed, maybe roll back the Medicaid cuts, uh get those premium tax increases done. Uh >> well, that's exactly right. And you know what, I guess part of how we as House Democrats view this moment, either MAGA extremists are going to break the country or we're going to break them.

[00:08:48]And our goal is to break them. We will defeat them. [applause] We have to beat them electorally and then we have to break their spirit because of the extremism that's being unleashed on the American people. That's completely and totally unacceptable. And that's the approach that we've taken with respect to legislating on these discharge petitions.

[00:09:08]>> Yeah. Let me uh let speaking of extremism, uh let's talk a little bit about redistricting. Uh Trump started this off tried to urge all the uh MAGA state legislatures, state legislative bodies uh to redistrict in in the middle of term. Democrats have fought back uh in California. We lost that Supreme Court case in Virginia. Uh tried to uh really uh push back, but I think we've now created a cycle uh that the American people must sit back and and wonder about. Added to that is this Cala decision which gutted the voting rights act. Uh they had done a lot already to weaken the voting rights act. Uh endorsed extreme partisan redistricting.

[00:09:57]Uh but uh going forward what's the strategy uh to get a level playing field for in the in the elections?

[00:10:05]>> Yeah. Well, because of um you know, the Republican gerrymandering scheme had been a complete and total failure with Democrats fighting back aggressively until they were aided and emedded by the Cala decision and an egregious decision by the Virginia Supreme Court 43 decision, partisan decision, completely unacceptable to overturn the will of more than 3 million Virginia voters.

[00:10:32]Now, we're still going to win two seats minimum in Virginia, and then we're going to work as hard as we can in advance of 2028 to restore that 10-1 map because that's what the voters uh decided would be appropriate moving forward. Now, notwithstanding, you know, the Cala decision and what happened in Virginia, you know, our assessment is that the Republicans may have netted when it's all said and done in terms of what's happening in the South right now, maybe three or four seats in this environment, which means that they will go perhaps from plus three, which is where we started, narrowest majority that any party has had in the Congress since 1930, the Great Depression, uh to maybe plus 6 or plus 7. Keep in mind when we won the House back in 2018, and we're in a 2018 type of environment right now, as poll after poll, private and public, continue to show, if not better, uh we needed to flip 24 seats, John, as you recall, with the help of many of the people in this room and people all across the country, we flipped 40. 31 of those seats were in districts that Donald Trump had just won.

[00:11:45]And so we only need to flip a fraction of those, even given all of the gerrymandering that they've done, aided and emedded by these two Supreme Court decisions. We only need to flip a fraction of those uh in order to take back control of the House. And I can tell you right now, as a guarantee, we are taking back control of the United States House of Representatives in November.

[00:12:09][applause] But then our work is not done. Um, Republicans had a structural advantage, which is why they launched this gerrymandering scheme because so many of our states had commissions built into the law or constitutional impediments to being able to redraw districts in this cycle that have to be unwound. And in most state legislatures, California was an exception. uh it takes two consecutively elected legislative bodies before you can bring something before the voters or do it uh in the state legislature. uh which means that in states like New York and New Jersey and Washington and Colorado and we'll add on top of that Oregon, Illinois, and Maryland will have at least seven states that we believe we need to respond in advance of 2028 uh to what they are doing in the Deep South to wipe out any structural advantage that they're trying to get themselves in advance of 2028. and we'll have some opportunities uh in legislative bodies across the country where we're only one or two seats short of a trifecta uh to be able to explore uh what can be done and we still have pending um litigation in Wisconsin where we're waiting on the Wisconsin Supreme Court uh to act. And so we look at this as a two-step process, right? We'll finish the job in 2026. will take back the house and then we've got uh to make sure in these states all across the country where we'll have a renewed opportunity to respond because you'll have two consecutively elected legislatores and in many of these places like New York they'll act in the first instance this year and then come back in January early next year they'll act again and then we'll have new maps in these states all across the country uh to wipe away any advantage that they may try to gain. by going into further states in the deep south.

[00:14:18]>> Uh in the past, uh Democrats, not so much in the House, but in the White House and in the uh and in the Senate have been criticized for not focusing as much on judges and the Supreme Court in particular as the Republicans done. Uh is there anything we can do about that at this stage? Do do you anticipate uh trying to uh find a way to uh either through term limits or other ways to reform the court which has been just so partisan lowered its standing with the American people.

[00:14:47]>> Yeah. In my view, listen, all options are on the table. Uh and you know that effort will be led, you know, by Jamie Rascin. No finer constitutional scholar you'll find in this country. uh who will be the chair of the judiciary committee uh and the Democrats on the judiciary committee as it relates to what needs to be done to ensure that we don't have you know we don't have a Supreme Court that in far too many instances they're operating like partisan political hacks right trying to advance [applause] the interests of the Republican party and by the way we should take a step back and Eric Holder had an oped today where he laid out several of the things that I think need to be on the table in terms of Supreme Court reform. Uh but perhaps the original most recent sin from this Supreme Court was granting this president blanket immunity which has given him the ability to operate with impunity unleashing corruption that we've never seen in the history of the country. I mean, Donald Trump makes Richard Nixon look like a choir boy.

[00:16:02]It's outrageous and it's hurting the American people. And we're seeing it with the billion dollar ballroom now.

[00:16:08]We're seeing it with the multi-billion dollar slush fund for violent insurrectionists who brutally beat police officers. And we're seeing it with the more recent disclosures of the stock trading ban. And when we talk about cleaning up corruption, we want to do it across the board. our own institution, the Supreme Court, which needs an ethical code of conduct imposed upon them. And of course, you know, the White House, which is a Trump cartel, an organized crime entity that is unfolding in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. There's no other way to say it, and the American people know it. And we can start uh by prohibiting the ability for members of Congress, for the president and the vice president, and for Supreme Court justices to trade stocks.

[00:16:58]We're we're we're out of time, but I just I want to give you a one shot at uh Robert Garcia is going to be here uh later. Uh but there's kind of a free fire zone out there on oversight going into a new Congress. Uh what are the priorities? I think maybe you just laid them out on the corruption side. There's the war uh in Iran. There's uh the bad policy decisions. Uh how do you organize the House to actually tell a story of the American people? Well, I you know, I think our our fundamental premise is that taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the American people, to improve their quality of life, not to unleash masked untrained ICE agents to brutalize or kill American citizens as we horrifically saw. Not to fund a reckless and costly war of choice that has increased, you know, gas prices on the American people. And certainly we shouldn't see taxpayer dollars used, you know, to subsidize the lifestyles of the rich and shameless who are connected to Donald Trump, right, as part of a friends and family plan that he is unleashed on the American people in real time, hiding in plain sight. And so I think in terms of our oversight responsibilities and this corruption piece, I think it's the American people intrinsically believe the system is broken, it's rigged, and it's corrupt.

[00:18:23]What we have to do is connect that corruption to the fact that things aren't happening here in Washington that they want to see happen, right?

[00:18:32]Particularly driving down the high cost of living. And the thing I'll say about this, John, is in terms of listen, our oversight effort, it's not a Democratic playbook. It's not a partisan playbook.

[00:18:45]It's the James Madison playbook. Like it was Madison who said Congress at its best should be a rival to the executive branch. He said it and there were no political parties. It was the American thing to do. And of course, that's not what this Congress, you know, has done.

[00:19:01]They've just been a reckless rubber stamp for Donald Trump's extreme agenda.

[00:19:04]And I found it fascinating when King Charles came and spoke crisp 20-minut speech that he gave uh to the Congress.

[00:19:12]And one perhaps the most memorable part is when he referenced the Magna Carta and talked about the Magna Carta as the foundation for the principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances.

[00:19:29]And every single Democrat immediately got up and gave him a standing ovation.

[00:19:34]And then I looked over to the other side of the aisle and much to my surprise, I saw Republicans standing up and giving him an ovation. And I'm thinking to myself, don't they know King Charles is talking about them right now?

[00:19:49]But checks and balances, that's an American thing. It's not a partisan thing. It's a Madisonian thing. It's it's the framer's vision for what the Article One first amongst equals branch of government should be. And so while we have a responsibility to drive down the high cost of living and focus on the affordability agenda, we also believe uh that there's an accountability agenda that the American people uh will expect rightfully for a separate and co-equal branch of government to pursue, you know, and led by Robert Garcia who do a great job. The oversight Democrats have already done a great job. If you think about it, in the minority, in the minority, Christy Gnome is gone. We ran her out of town and Pam Bondi is gone. [applause] And if I have anything to do with it, Pete Hexf will be next. Pete Hexf will be next. [applause] Um, we've got to maybe get to one or two questions from the audience that have been uh submitted, but uh one that's important, which is uh and I'll just read the question, which is that polls show American people don't trust government institutions anymore. I think that's particularly true of young people. How do you restore that sense of of uh support, faith that things can get better, that government can be on your side?

[00:21:15]>> Yeah. No, it's incredibly important and we have to deliver, right? We we're going to make a series of promises as part of our affirmative agenda to the American people and then we got to work as hard as we can to bring those promises to life in ways that tangibly, you know, will improve their quality of life. And young people are facing a very uncertain environment. It was the case prior to the rise of AI. Now with AI, it even adds further uh to that uncertainty. And we got to run straight into that uncertainty and make sure that this generation doesn't become the first one where you can't clearly see a better quality of life for them uh as compared to the generations upon whose shoulders they stand. You know, I have the honor of serving in a district that was once represented by Shirley Chisum. Shirley Chisum, the great Shirley Chisum, she once said to some young folks who were thinking about running for office, if you run for office, don't be a career politician, be a states person. And they said, what's the difference? And she said, well, a career politician is only concerned with the next election. But a states person cares about the next generation, and we've got to make sure that we deliver for this generation of young people and future generations to come.

[00:22:38]We say it, we feel it, but we have to mean it in terms of the actions that actually occur to bring that to life.

[00:22:47]Um, and I think, you know, that's the responsibility that we all shoulder. Uh, we know it's a heavy responsibility. Uh, but we plan on delivering like the Democratic Party going all the way back to FDR has. We've done it before. We've done it before. You're talking about Social Security and rural electrification and the GI Bill and Medicare and Medicaid and Head Start and the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act and the Fair Housing Act and the Children's Health Insurance Program and the Affordable Care Act and the Inflation Reduction Act and all the things that were accomplished in the last administration.

[00:23:24]Every single one of those things brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Democratic party. That's a pretty good track record of success to stand upon.

[00:23:33]And we've got to build upon that to continue to deliver for the future.

[00:23:37]>> I told you I was going to ask you uh who's your hero in politics or in life and then we're going to get out of here.

[00:23:45]>> You could pick which one.

[00:23:46]>> Yeah. Well, I I thought you were going to actually ask me you am I picking the Knicks in five or in six?

[00:23:51]>> Oh, I want to say one of >> But um >> is there a is there a question there?

[00:23:57]>> Yes. But but I will you know I will say >> I figured the answer to that was obvious. Well, they that's right.

[00:24:03][laughter] Um I I I think you know there's so many legends that I've had the opportunity to serve with in this Congress. Of course, Nancy Pelosi and Stenny and you know Jim Clyurn, but we all feel like a particular sense of pride and honor to have served with John Lewis. And he was a real American hero.

[00:24:25][applause] And you know, I'll never forget that when I was on the floor as a as a new member of Congress, my first or second day, saw John Lewis called me over and he asked me a question. He said, "Are you the new guy?"

[00:24:45]And I said, "Yes, sir, Mr. Lewis, that's me."

[00:24:51]He said, "Hakee, you're a colleague of mine right now. You don't have to call me Mr. Lewis. You can call me John.

[00:24:59]I said, "Yes, sir. Mr. Lewis, I understand."

[00:25:04]Then he asked whether I was from Brooklyn. He thought I said, "Yes." Um, he said, "Well, you know, I I hear some good things about your class, yourself, and I came in, there was 52 other 51 52 other Democrats, some great Democrats, but Washington DC can be a a tough place.

[00:25:22]So, young man, I don't want you to get into any trouble unless it's good trouble.

[00:25:29]And he lived a life of good trouble. And he showed such character and courage and conviction and belief in America, the good of America, even when confronting the ugly underbelly of America. And we certainly are called upon to summon that that type of courage and character and conviction to get us through the storm which we will get through this storm and make sure that we come out stronger as a country on the other side of it. John Lewis.

[00:26:01]>> Thank you, Mr. Jeff.

[00:26:02]>> Thank you all.

[00:26:03]>> Thank you, leader. [applause]