Millions of Americans face higher insurance costs after Affordable Care Act tax credits expired in 2025. If Democrats win the majority in next month’s elections, House Democrats say they’ll seek an early vote to restore them. Their proposed agenda also targets Republican Medicaid cuts, tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump and U.S. military action in Iran.
Costs and cuts
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said the party would unite “right out of the gate” around restoring the health care tax breaks, reversing Medicaid cuts, voting against the Iran war and undoing Trump’s tariff regime. Democrats plan to start that work in the first 100 hours after the new Congress is seated in January.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” brought Medicaid cuts, combining tax breaks with program cuts and adding new work requirements for recipients. Democrats say they’ll propose reversing those cuts. Meanwhile, millions face higher insurance costs because the health care tax credits expired.
Jeffries cast the agenda as a response to the pressure on working people. “Fighting for an affordable America — that's what unites Democrats all across the country,” he said at the party campaign headquarters in Washington. “That's our commitment to the American people, because the cost of living is way too high and far too many people who are working hard, playing by the rules, can't thrive and can barely survive — and are drowning — in the Trump economy.”
Five groups will handle the party’s affordability work, focusing on healthcare, housing, groceries and goods, gas and utilities, and caregiving. Each group has a progressive and a centrist Democrat at its head. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama lead the healthcare group, tasked with drafting policies all House Democrats can support.
Votes, investigations and limits
Democrats also plan to reverse Trump’s tariffs as Congress seeks to reclaim power from the White House. On Iran, they intend to push the administration to end military action by advancing more war powers resolutions. Democrats have already forced multiple votes on ending the conflict.
Jeffries asked the ranking Democrats on the House Oversight and Judiciary committees to prepare investigations of Trump, his family and his administration as part of an anti-corruption effort. He said impeachment is neither on nor off the table. “We need to lower the cost of groceries and gas. Two, we need to make healthcare affordable for every single American. Three, we're going to hold the crooks accountable who've visited unprecedented corruption on the American people,” Jeffries said. “Beginning on day one.”
How far the agenda could go would depend partly on the size of the House majority and whether Democrats also win the Senate. Trump would keep his veto power. Usamah Andrabi, a spokesman for Justice Democrats, an outside group supporting far-left progressives, said, “We cannot simply go back to the status quo.”
Party unity under pressure
Democrats have been out of power in the House since 2023. Jeffries could become speaker if the party wins, leading a new generation that includes several far-left candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America. Jeffries, Rep. Greg Casar and other Democrats have contacted progressive candidates, many backed by the DSA, while working on shared priorities.
Rep. Nikki Budzinski of Illinois, poised to become chair of the New Democrat Coalition, said, “The antidote to that is getting things done.” She said Democrats want to show Americans that “Democrats know how to govern.” Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said progressives want to pass legislation, unlike the Freedom Caucus, which he said “breaks things.”
Republicans cast Democrats as beholden to a far-left socialist agenda. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Republicans would continue the agenda pursued with Trump if they retain power, focused on cutting taxes and federal spending. “What we would do in the next two years is exactly what we have been doing already,” Johnson said on CNBC's Squawk Box, “and that is putting the conditions in place for a strong America again.”
Rep. Troy Carter of Louisiana said Democrats wouldn’t be disjointed, while acknowledging limits on what they could accomplish: “We will not be able to fix everything overnight.”