{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://jeffries.house.gov/2026/09/29/leader-jeffries-on-pbs-everyday-americans-need-us-to-decisively-act-in-order-to-make-life-more-affordable/", "LEADER JEFFRIES ON PBS: \u201cEVERYDAY AMERICANS NEED US TO DECISIVELY ACT IN ORDER TO MAKE LIFE MORE AFFORDABLE\u201d", "2026-09-29", "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 PBS News Hour, where he made clear that House Democrats are committed to fighting for an affordable America and holding the crooks accountable who are ripping off the American people.\n\nGEOFF BENNETT: The latest national polling shows Democrats with a solid shot of regaining control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections. If they do, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries could go from Minority Leader to Speaker of the House, with debates over the economy, government funding and President Trump\u2019s agenda all unfolding. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries joins us now. Thanks for being with us.\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Great to be with you.\n\nGEOFF BENNETT: I want to start with AI, what with President Trump meeting with those tech leaders at the White House today. You have said that Congress needs to lean in on AI safety. What does that mean in practice? What guardrails should Congress put in place?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Our fundamental responsibility as Members of Congress is to protect the general welfare, the health, the safety and the well-being of the American people. And you have industry stakeholders raising alarms that the pace of AI development is going so fast that the ability to make sure we ensure the safety of the American people is in question. And that, of course, in our view, means that congressional action that is decisive, working with all of the relevant parties involved, is important. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has come to the conclusion that self-policing is appropriate. It is not. This is a nation of laws, and Congress is here for a reason: to ensure, yes, of course, that science and innovation and technology can continue to develop at a pace that exceeds what\u2019s going on in China with the Chinese Communist Party. At the same period of time, we also want to make sure we protect the American people from bad actors and harms that could befall them.\n\nGEOFF BENNETT: Let\u2019s shift our focus to the economy because Democrats are making affordability central to the midterm argument. What would Democrats actually do with control of the House that would make life less expensive for the American public?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Life is far too expensive for the American people, and everyday Americans need us to decisively act in order to make life more affordable. There are too many people\u2014they\u2019re working hard, they\u2019re playing by the rules, they can\u2019t thrive and can barely survive. People are drowning in this failed Trump economy and have had enough. There are a variety of different things that need to happen. One, we need to end the Trump Tariffs, which have cost everyday Americans thousands of dollars per year in additional expenses, particularly as it relates to groceries and goods. We need to stop this reckless war of choice in Iran, which has skyrocketed gas prices on the American people and also had an impact on increasing food prices because of the increase in fertilizer expenses, as well as the increase in diesel prices. And certainly, we need to reverse the Medicaid cuts, which have ripped healthcare away from more than 10 million Americans or is threatening to do so. And at the same period of time, we certainly need to restore the Affordable Care Act tax credits so we can reverse the increases in health insurance premiums that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing.\n\nGEOFF BENNETT: Another fight playing out in Washington right now is over Congress\u2019s power of the purse. And I raise this because for the second year in a row, President Trump is trying to cancel money that Congress has already approved, this time more than $800 million. If this money expires before Congress or the courts can act, hasn\u2019t the White House found a way around Congress\u2019s power to appropriate funds?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: It has been incredibly unfortunate that my Republican colleagues have become nothing more than a reckless rubber stamp for Donald Trump\u2019s extreme agenda and, as opposed to behaving like separate and co-equal parts of a branch of the federal government that is not subservient to Donald Trump but is co-equal to the executive branch, they continue to allow the President to try to get away with anything he wants to do, including changing the allocation of funds that Congress previously appropriated in a bipartisan way. And so, in connection with the upcoming spending debate and agreement that we\u2019ll need to reach by December 11, certainly, I think it\u2019s important for the American people that Congress reasserts its authority.\n\nGEOFF BENNETT: If the White House can simply refuse to spend parts of a bipartisan funding agreement, I\u2019m sure people will ask the question: why should Democrats ever make another deal, another spending deal with Republicans?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Certainly, it\u2019s the case that we cannot proceed in entering into an agreement when it\u2019s clear that the other side of the aisle is not going to, in good faith, adhere to that agreement. It\u2019s going to be one of the things that certainly will be part of the discussion as we move forward, because when decisions are made to allocate taxpayer dollars in ways that are designed to uplift the health and the safety and the economic well-being of the American people, that money should be spent in a manner consistent with what the law says should happen. And when that doesn\u2019t occur, of course, Congress is going to have to respond, in our view, and certainly the courts are going to have to respond as they\u2019ve previously done in other instances.\n\nGEOFF BENNETT: If Democrats retake control of the House come November, what\u2019s the first bill a Democratic House under your leadership would pass?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: We\u2019ll have that discussion at the appropriate time. Right now, we are running through the finish line, but we\u2019re going to make sure that dealing with the affordability crisis is a top priority. And we\u2019ve established working groups in five different areas where we believe action needs to be taken on affordability. That\u2019s housing. That\u2019s healthcare. That\u2019s gas and utilities and energy affordability. It\u2019s groceries and goods. And it\u2019s caregiving. We believe that decisive action needs to be taken at minimum in all five of these areas and that certainly will be our intention.\n\nGEOFF BENNETT: On accountability, there are some Democrats who are already talking about impeachment. Of course, as you well know, you were a former House impeachment manager. The President was impeached twice, acquitted twice in the Senate. How are you thinking about impeachment or, more broadly, accountability, if Democrats take control of the House?\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: We certainly haven\u2019t ruled anything in and we haven\u2019t ruled anything out because our focus is going to be delivering accountability in areas where you have individuals who have stolen from the American people, are shortchanging the American people or have been screwing over the American people. And when you have people in high office who are so focused on enriching themselves, their family members, their friends or their donors, then what it means is that they\u2019re not actually doing the job to make life more affordable, more comfortable and more livable for everyday Americans. And so, we\u2019ve promised on the accountability front, beginning on day one, to make sure that we\u2019re holding the crooks accountable. We will follow the facts, apply the law, be guided by the Constitution and then, of course, let the chips fall where they may in the best interest of the American people.\n\nGEOFF BENNETT: House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, thanks again for joining us this evening.\n\nLEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you.\n\nFull interview can be watched here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-30T10:57:52Z", "2026-09-30T10:59:04Z"]], "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/2026/09/29/leader-jeffries-on-pbs-everyday-americans-need-us-to-decisively-act-in-order-to-make-life-more-affordable/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5895301476120949, "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"}