Jeffries: We are in a full crisis, in every possible way’

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.) said Thursday that the country is facing a “full crisis” since President Trump returned to the White House.

“We will be in full crisis in all possible circumstances, including attacks on democratic lifestyles,” Jeffries told CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview Thursday. “The president is attacking the economy, attacking social security, attacking health care, attacking American lifestyles and attacking our democracy.”

“It’s not all normal,” he added.

The White House did not immediately respond to Hill’s request for comment on Jeffries’ remarks. Trump is meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the White House.

Jeffries, who leads Democrats who oppose the Republican majority in the House, has been pushing Trump as Republicans seek to advance the president’s legislative agenda.

“It’s a crisis in terms of what we need to deal with,” said the New York Democrat.

Republican-controlled housing and the Senate approved a budget framework earlier this month that would reduce federal spending and reduce deficits to free up the tax cuts Trump wants. These proposals have attracted attention to the future of safety net programs such as Social Security and Medicaid.

Trump has repeatedly stressed that in his second administration, social security benefits will not be cut, but the agency faces internal cuts driven by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) defended the Republican budget blueprint for nearly $880 billion in hits to Medicaid, mainly covered by the elimination of waste, fraud and abuse, and the savings to expand job requirements. Fragile and moderate House Republicans said they would not support legislation that includes cutting Medicaid benefits.

But Jeffries said voters are still scared of uncertainty.

“For many of the people I represent and people across the country, it’s a matter of life or death, so as Democrats, we focus on the reasons for these issues,” Jeffries said.

In addition to the budget risks of domestic programs, lawmakers claim that Trump’s policies elsewhere are also raising costs and threatening livelihoods.

“Donald Trump is clearly breaking down in real time, and he is driving us into recession,” he said.

Trump revealed on April 3 that tariffs imposed on imports by most countries. Many of them temporarily paused when world leaders tried to negotiate a deal with the president, although most goods from China still had a tariff rate of 145%.

Jeffries said he thinks import taxes are useful in lifting the U.S. economy, but “it’s not in terms of what’s going on.”

“The way these tariffs are released on the American people since at least 1968 will result in the biggest taxes for everyday Americans,” he said. “It’s obviously a problem. It’s not signed by the American people.”

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