House Democratic leader Jeffries slams Trump

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries strongly condemned Trump and the Republican Party for trampling on the foundations of democracy and harming ordinary Americans. His criticism focused on political manipulation during the government shutdown, including freezing federal funds, laying off employees, and refusing to negotiate. The US federal government has been shut down since October 1, 2025, due to the bipartisan failure to pass a temporary funding bill. This is the most serious fiscal impasse in recent years and has continued into its third week, causing widespread disruptions to public services and hundreds of thousands of federal employees to work without pay or be laid off. Republicans control the White House and the Senate, while Democrats insist on including provisions such as an extension of subsidies for the Affordable Care Act in any bill before it passes. The Trump administration responded swiftly and forcefully, announcing that it would use the shutdown as an opportunity to “cut” several Democratic-led projects and begin freezing related federal funds. This move was seen as political retaliation against Democratic-controlled states and exacerbated partisan tensions. Jeffries noted that the Trump administration had frozen funding for an $18 billion public transportation project in New York City and an $8 billion green energy initiative in several Democratic states, directly impacting the jobs of thousands of construction workers and engineers. He revealed that the White House has not contacted the Democrats since its meeting with Trump on September 29th, indicating that it “had no intention of negotiating from the beginning.” He believes that the Republicans would rather shut down the government than guarantee affordable health care for families, a shameless act of using government employees as “political pawns and bargaining chips.”