{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://jeffries.house.gov/2026/09/13/leader-jeffries-on-abc-donald-trump-has-broken-every-promise-that-hes-presented/", "LEADER JEFFRIES ON ABC: \u201cDONALD TRUMP HAS BROKEN EVERY PROMISE THAT HE\u2019S PRESENTED\u201d", "2026-09-13", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "NY", "Hakeem S. Jeffries", "J000294", "jeffries.house.gov", "jeffries", "https://jeffries.house.gov/category/press-release/page/", "scraper", "Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on ABC\u2019s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, where he made clear that while Republicans have abandoned the American people, House Democrats will continue to fight hard for an affordable America.\n\nGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: We\u2019re joined now by the House Democratic Leader, Hakeem Jeffries. Mr. Leader, thank you for coming in this morning. We want to talk about the convention in a second, but let\u2019s start with AI and these remarkable warnings we\u2019re getting this week. I know you met with President Obama and talked about this issue earlier this week. What will Democrats\u2014what do Democrats think needs to be done right now?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we certainly need to begin to act urgently to address the challenges that exist and unfortunately Republicans have abandoned their responsibility. So, under Speaker Mike Johnson, he killed a bipartisan task force this Congress that was prepared to do the serious work necessary to try to erect the guardrails to protect the health, the safety, the well-being of the American people. So what we did as Democrats was to begin last December a Commission on Artificial Intelligence and the Innovation Economy so we could evaluate the steps that needed to be done and then present an aggressive framework, which we\u2019re in the process of doing so that Congress can act on behalf of the American people.\n\nGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But do we even have time for that? You\u2019ve got some of your colleagues, like Representative Ro Khanna and other Democrats, saying Congress should come back in right now, take urgent action right now. Don\u2019t go back for the midterm elections until they\u2019ve done something.\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: I agree with my colleagues that we actually need to act urgently, and unfortunately, House Republicans have effectively canceled the last two weeks of the legislative session scheduled for this month, which is something that they\u2019ve repeatedly done. We should take decisive action now so that we can slow down, as the CEOs have recently acknowledged, slow down the pace of development in order to protect the American people and ensure that AI is proceeding safely.\n\nGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: What is decisive action? Senator Bernie Sanders, as I said, has called for a ban on artificial superintelligence. Your colleague, Ted Lieu of California, says there needs to be a kill switch inside the companies. Are you for those?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we\u2019ll have that conversation this week upon our return. We\u2019re going to meet as a Caucus on Tuesday morning, and a high priority will be action on artificial intelligence.\n\nGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Okay, let\u2019s turn to the midterm convention\u2014the President\u2019s $5,000 promise. If Democrats take control next year, is that dead on arrival?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Well, listen, it wasn\u2019t a serious proposal that was presented by Donald Trump. He\u2019s broken every promise that he\u2019s presented. Donald Trump promised to actually lower costs on day one. Costs haven\u2019t gone down. They\u2019ve gone up. Donald Trump promised not to start endless wars in the Middle East, but to stop them and then turned around and did the exact opposite in Iran. Donald Trump even promised to love and cherish Medicaid and then enacted the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. As Democrats, we\u2019re going to focus on aggressively driving down the high cost of living and fighting for an affordable America because the cost of living in this country is way too high. Republicans have made the situation worse. Democrats are going to act aggressively.\n\nGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Democrats aren\u2019t much more popular than Republicans right now. And the President and his allies at the convention this week tried to argue that you\u2019re the party of communism. Let\u2019s take a look.\n\nRECORDING OF DONALD TRUMP: Remember during the last State of the Union, I said, our country will never be a socialist country. I was right. It\u2019s going to be a communist country, if they win. You know what they did? They dropped socialism. They went right for the big one. And all I\u2019m asking in this election is that you stand with me together. We will defeat communism in America once and for all.\n\nGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Worried that attack might cut?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Not at all. One thing that Donald Trump did say at the midterm convention that was interesting is to pretend as if he\u2019s on the ballot. Mr. President, we don\u2019t have to pretend. You are actually on the ballot. Your failed economy is on the ballot. The cost of living crisis is on the ballot. The fact that you\u2019ve gotten us involved in a reckless and costly war of choice in the Middle East that has skyrocketed gas prices\u2014that\u2019s on the ballot. Ripping healthcare away from millions of Americans is on the ballot. The Trump Tariffs, which have increased costs on everyday Americans by thousands of dollars per year, are on the ballot. Donald Trump is absolutely on the ballot in November, and the American people are going to send a message loudly and clearly on Election Day that even Donald Trump cannot ignore.\n\nGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: The internet activist Hasan Piker was also front and center at this convention in Dallas this week, particularly his comment that America deserved 9/11. How should Democrats handle him?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I\u2019ve been very clear in terms of my denunciation of him and the aggressive, in some cases antisemitic remarks that he\u2019s issued, as have other Democratic candidates all across the country. Now what\u2019s interesting is, in terms of who\u2019s going to be on the ballot, George, in November, we\u2019ve got extraordinary candidates. We\u2019ve got combat veterans like Cait Conley and Rebecca Bennett, we\u2019ve got doctors, we\u2019ve got nurses, we have engineers, we have farmers, we have union leaders, we\u2019ve got firefighters, we\u2019ve got police officers, we have a hostage negotiator, we have a Tejano music superstar in the Rio Grande Valley and even a smokejumper in Montana. These are extraordinary candidates. Their names will appear on the ballot. They\u2019ve got incredible patriotic life experiences and their commitment to public service is going to speak for itself.\n\nGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You\u2019ve taken some heat from progressives in the party, including from many who align with the Democratic Socialists. Are you confident that you\u2019ll actually be Speaker if the Democrats win?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we\u2019re focused right now on taking back control of the House of Representatives. That is the only mission that\u2019s important, so we can lower the high cost of living, lower the cost of gas, lower the cost of groceries, lower the cost of housing, certainly fight to make healthcare affordable for every single American and combat the unprecedented corruption that\u2019s been unleashed on the American people and beginning on day one, hold the crooks accountable. We\u2019ve made clear, George, that if someone has been screwing over the American people, shortchanging the American people or stealing from the American people, they\u2019re going to be held accountable under a Democratic majority.\n\nGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You said hold the crooks accountable. Does that mean that the House is going to be pursuing impeachment proceedings on day one?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: No, we haven\u2019t ruled anything in and we haven\u2019t ruled anything out in terms of impeachment. As it relates to accountability, what we\u2019re going to do, led by Jamie Raskin and House Committee Democrats on the Judiciary Committee as well as House Democrats on the Oversight Committee, led by Robert Garcia\u2014both of them are doing a tremendous job\u2014we\u2019ve got to follow the facts, apply the law, be guided by the Constitution and then let the chips fall where they may, in the best interest of the American people so that the House, once again, can function like a separate and co-equal branch of government and a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch.\n\nGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: On that theme, a lot of Democrats had raised questions about the activities\u2014the private business activities of Jared Kushner. Was it a mistake for you to meet with him?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: No, listen, I\u2019m of the view that if we\u2019re going to be committed to actually solving problems on behalf of the American people, including, by the way, passing the housing affordability bill in this Congress that became law as a result of bipartisan work led by Maxine Waters in the House and Elizabeth Warren in the Senate, there are going to be times that you have to speak with people on the other side of the aisle, even individuals who you strongly disagree with on the overwhelming majority of issues.\n\nGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And if the number one issue is the cost of living right now, what do Democrats do on day one about that?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Well, listen, there\u2019s a variety of different things that we\u2019re going to have to do. We have to end the Trump Tariffs, because we know the Trump Tariffs have increased costs on everyday Americans by thousands of dollars per year. We\u2019ve got to stop this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran, which has skyrocketed gas prices to the highest levels, for instance, on Labor Day ever seen in the United States of America. We\u2019ve certainly got to fix our broken healthcare system and do the type of things like restoring the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which have increased costs on everyday Americans by thousands of dollars per year, in some cases up to a thousand dollars per month in ways that are unaffordable for people who can no longer be able to go see a doctor when they need one. These are some of the things that I think we can begin to do, but it\u2019s going to have to be a bold, aggressive legislative effort that we sustain, not just for the first 100 days, but for the first year and the entirety of the Congress.\n\nGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: It\u2019s almost certainly going to have to take some cooperation from President Trump. He went on Fox News this week and said he thinks he can make deals with you. Do you see areas where cooperation is possible?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I think, look\u2014we\u2019ve said from the very beginning of this Congress, if the other side of the aisle is willing to find the common ground necessary to decisively address the fact that everyday Americans are drowning in this Republican economy, working hard, playing by the rules, can\u2019t thrive and can barely survive, then we\u2019re committed to actually trying to find that common ground, as we just recently did with the housing affordability bill that is now law.\n\nGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Leader Jeffries, thanks for your time this morning.\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Thanks, George.\n\nFull interview can be watched here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-14T10:19:32Z", "2026-09-14T10:21:05Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://jeffries.house.gov/2026/09/13/leader-jeffries-on-abc-donald-trump-has-broken-every-promise-that-hes-presented/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4570120256394148, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}