Jeffries warns of 'five-alarm fire' on shutdown, looming health care cuts

Source: The Hill

09/29/25 11:39 AM ET


House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) warned Monday that Democrats won’t accept any Republican spending bill that makes life more expensive for working class people, pointing specifically to looming health care 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’ partisan bill, saying it’s doomed to fail unless Republicans agree to scale back the scheduled cuts to health care programs.

He did not draw specific red lines but pointed directly to threats to Medicaid, Medicare, medical research, vaccine availability and tax credits under ObamaCare that are due to expire at the end of the year.

“What we will not do is support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the health care of the American people,” Jeffries told reporters in the Capitol. “This is a five-alarm fire in terms of the Republican-caused health care crisis. And that’s why Democrats are determined to turn things around.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5527023-democrats-oppose-republican-spending/