Hakeem Jeffries made clear this week “affordability” is House Democrats’ primary focus as the minority leader launched an effort to turn the party’s cost-of-living message into actual legislation ahead of the November midterms.
One problem: not all Democrats agree affordability is Job 1.
Multiple top lawmakers interviewed this week said they hope an incoming House Democratic majority would prioritize other issues — ranging from voting rights to anti-corruption measures to simply rolling back Trump administration initiatives — in the party’s signature bill, traditionally designated “H.R. 1.”
Even as new inflation figures showed prices rising at the highest annual rate since 2023 — driven by the Trump administration’s lingering war with Iran — some Democrats argued it would make sense to elevate other issues.
“We must secure and guarantee the right to vote and to have free and fair elections, because that is the basic premise of democratic society,” Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said in an interview. “We are constantly trying to escape the undertow of voter suppression, extreme gerrymandering, and attacks on the election process.”
Securing voting rights and overhauling elections was the subject of the last H.R. 1 Democrats introduced, under then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi when her party was trying to forge a path forward after President Donald Trump’s first election. But that legislation not only failed to become law, it could not connect viscerally with disaffected voters who later returned Trump to office.
Now Jeffries faces a test as a would-be speaker in rallying his 212-member caucus behind not only a campaign message but also palatable, passable legislation that the party can champion ahead of the 2028 campaign cycle.
While House Democrats broadly agree they should attempt to lower costs in early legislation should they take back the majority, they also recognize the symbolic heft of designating a bill H.R. 1. Major economic bills passed under Trump and former President Barack Obama also carried the designation.
That symbolism is especially important given the fact that any Democratic bill won’t become law so long as Trump is in the White House.
“Democrats need to reinspire the country,” Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in an interview. “And that’s going to be in part a way to do that, is to show people what we stand for.”
The last Democratic H.R. 1 was also known as the For the People Act, which focused on beefing up government ethics, cracking down on untraceable “dark money,” ensuring voting access and eliminating partisan gerrymandering.
There’s an appetite in the caucus beyond just Raskin for revisiting those issues in a signature bill. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) said the Congressional Black Caucus, which she leads, would also like to see a major Democratic voting rights bill, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, revived in any new H.R. 1. That push has gained momentum in recent weeks since the Supreme Court further rolled back the Voting Rights Act of 1965, allowing Louisiana and other red states to carve up majority-minority districts before the midterms.
Yet Clarke also said that she personally would prefer her party rally around “comprehensive immigration reform” as its first bill should it gain the majority.
Jeffries seemed to settle the debate earlier this week when he told reporters at a Monday news conference that “when we look at the legislation that we’re going to lean into — including but not limited to H.R. 1 — it will be hyper-focused on driving down the high cost of living.”
Many Democrats see the wisdom in that strategy and are ready to embrace a slate of affordability legislation as prices surged this week.
“Democrats should be confident that our economic message is resonating with people,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said in an interview Wednesday as the new inflation data sunk in. “People understand that inflation matters, and it’s not something you should love.”
But even those Democrats who agree that lowering costs has to be top of mind have differing perspectives on how to do it.
The leader of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), said he, for instance, wants H.R. 1 to claw back Immigration and Customs Enforcement funding and redirect it to programs that saw cuts under the GOP trifecta, such as Medicaid and affordable housing.
The two largest ideological Democratic caucuses — the Progressive Caucus and the centrist New Democrats Coalition — target overlapping issues in their respective affordability agendas. But the CPC also eyes federally guaranteed paid time off and the abolition of super PACs.
Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), the New Democrats chair, told reporters last week that he wants the party to undo Trump’s global tariffs in their first action in a potential majority, while the CPC does not touch on tariffs at all.
“Our first action will be to stop the damage that this administration is doing to our economy and our local communities,” Schneider said. “If we address those tariffs, that would be a big step.”
Jeffries announced five working groups this week designed to broker consensus around lowering the cost of housing, gas and utilities, groceries and goods, caregiving and health care. The groups are led by at least one CPC member and one New Democrats member.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), for instance, will be leading the health care effort — and approaching the issue from very different perspectives. Ocasio-Cortez as a leading advocate for a Medicare-for-All-style single-payer program while an action plan compiled by Sewell for the New Democrats last year takes a more moderate approach to expanding coverage.
“If I could wave my magic wand, we’d all have guaranteed health care,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview.
Jeffries has not weighed in on specifics, but said Monday that “fixing our broken health care system” would be “a part” of the Democratic agenda.
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