Democrats say they’ll lower costs. Can they cut deals with Trump?

Democrats say they'll lower costs. Can they cut deals with Trump?

Key points

• When Democrats ultimately won the House, the party proposed six themes, former Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison remarked, in 2006.
• House Speaker Mike Johnson sought to distance Republicans from the Jeffries-Kushner session that was widely perceived as the White House testing the waters with Democrats.
• The tete-a-tete sparked backlash from influential Democrats such as former aide to President Barack Obama and "Pod Save America" host Tommy Vietor.
• While Democrats are projected to win the House in November, President Donald Trump will still be in office for two more years.
• House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries remarked it will need to be a "family conversation" when asked how he planned to handle Democrats who break ranks.

Democrats say they'll lower costs. Can they cut deals with Trump? If Democrats win control of Congress, President Donald Trump remarked he'll primarily act as a "blocker." But he additionally suggested he's open to making deals with House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. Francesca Chambers USA TODAY. Hakeem Jeffries asked if he will 'punish' Dems who break rank.

WASHINGTON – House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is promising voters his party will create life more affordable, if they boot Republicans from power in Congress in the midterms.

While Democrats are projected to win the House in November, President Donald Trump will still be in office for two more years. Democrats' ability to move their agenda may rest on Jeffries' ability to cut deals with the Republican president.

That could prove tough, with Democrats promising to investigate, and potentially impeach, Trump and members of his administration, and the president insisting he deserves an A+ for his handling of the economy.

While pledging that Democrats won't lose focus or offer into what they view as extreme Republican demands, it's a tricky situation that Jeffries is weighing how to navigate.

"As long as the president and the people around him continue to pretend like everything is okay, then it's going to be very difficult to actually get to a point of us decisively doing something in all of these areas, " Jeffries informed USA TODAY in an interview a month out from the election.

Exclusive: Can House Democrats stay unified next year? It may be up to one man.

Jeffries is projected to come under pressure from progressives in his caucus to push party-line bills like Medicare for All, legislation he does not personally backing and that the White House has accused of being socialism and a drag on the federal deficit.

If Democrats gain control, Trump remarked he'll primarily act as a "blocker." But the president has additionally suggested he's open to some deal-making with Democrats.

"They're going to want some stuff, " Trump informed Fox News host Laura Ingraham last month. "You create deals. I mean, it's one of those things."

There may not be much overlap on Trump and Jeffries' wish lists. The House lawmaker informed USA TODAY that Democrats' top priorities would include passing resolutions to end Trump's war in Iran and terminate his tariffs.

"Congress needs to reclaim its authority in the area of tariffs, " Jeffries remarked, "because the way in which it's been abused by Donald Trump has had an adverse impact on the high cost of living."

In a bid to identify areas of potential collaboration, Jeffries lately met with Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and special envoy for peace.

Jeffries informed USA TODAY they discussed housing affordability and the First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform law he and Kushner worked on in Trump's first term.

House Speaker Mike Johnson sought to distance Republicans from the Jeffries-Kushner session that was widely perceived as the White House testing the waters with Democrats. Johnson informed Fox News that Kushner is "not really directly involved" in the day-to-day of the administration.

For context, the tete-a-tete sparked backlash from influential Democrats such as former aide to President Barack Obama and "Pod Save America" host Tommy Vietor. This person remarked on X that the only way Jeffries should work with Kushner is on "demands for documents and subpoenas."

Kushner has not commented publicly on the session. The White House did not comment on the session directly in an official note it provided to USA TODAY that defended Kushner's overseas work.

Ashley Etienne, a senior adviser to Nancy Pelosi when she was House speaker, remarked it's in the interest of the American residents for Jeffries to try to find common ground where he can.

"But my caution to him is that Trump plays five-dimensional chess, " she remarked.

In the interview, Jeffries remarked it "remains to be seen" whether he can produce deals with Trump. He pointed to the criminal justice reform law. It trump signed in 2018, and a bipartisan housing bill that passed over the summer as examples of Democrats' ability to work throughout the aisle.

"You try to find common ground in order to get something meaningful done for the American people, " Jeffries remarked. "That's a continuing responsibility for all of us."

Exclusive: Johnson notes housing bill will become law, with or without Trump.

In practice, the housing law went into effect after Trump declined to block it but remarked he would not sign the legislation until the GOP-backed SAVE America Act, aimed at overhauling elections, passed in the Senate. Trump abruptly canceled a signing ceremony for the bipartisan legislation and called it a "big yawn."

Trump is hard to predict, remarked Neera Tanden, a former domestic policy adviser to President Joe Biden and the current president and CEO of the Center for American Progress.

Meanwhile, the president could lean in harder to executive orders to try to bypass Congress, she assessed. But if Democrats pick up Senate seats in red states such as Texas and Alaska, along with winning the House, it could be a particularly different conversation.

"It's up to Trump to see what he wants to do and how battered his party is, " Tanden remarked. "Maybe Trump will feel like he has to deal." Trump and Jeffries tussle.

Trump and Jeffries are not known to have much of a relationship, even though both hail from New York. They've met at the White House once in Trump's second term, during a September 2025 session with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Since then they've had their fair share of run-ins, with Trump and the White House posting AI-generated videos of Jeffries wearing a sombrero. It were denounced as racist, against the backdrop of a administration shutdown last year that involved expiring health insurance subsidies.

In a May post, Trump called Jeffries a "Low IQ" individual, "nothing but a THUG" and a "danger to our Country!"

More lately, the president has softened his tone. "I think he's a nice guy, " Trump remarked in a Punchbowl News interview in August. "I'd probably get along with him very well."

Jeffries has repeatedly accused the Trump administration of corruption and remarked Democrats have not ruled out impeaching Trump for an unprecedented third time, setting up the potential for a contentious battle between Democrats and the White House that lasts until the end of the president's second and final term.

"We have a responsibility to, in all instances – whether it relates to the president, the vice president, Cabinet secretaries, corrupt members of the administration, people on the outside – follow the facts, apply the law, be guided by the Constitution, and let the chips fall where they may, " Jeffries remarked. Democrats zero in on affordability.

Democrats are otherwise mulling actions they can take in the first 100 hours, first 100 days and first year of the new Congress, if they win control of the legislative body, to deliver on their promise to lower costs for the American individuals, two sources familiar with the aims noted.

While providing few specifics, party leaders have remarked they'll act on housing, health care, gas and utilities, caregiving and groceries and goods.

As they barrel toward reclaiming the majority in Congress, they have been intentionally vague regarding the bills they would pass, and in what order.

"That's to be discussed in terms of how we move forward, " Jeffries remarked of the first bill his party would seek to pass.

They are projected to include a repeal of Medicaid changes in Trump's tax law and the reinstatement of expired Obamacare subsidies.

Notably, a number of Democrats in touch with party leadership stated they expect Jeffries to lay out what those bills are immediately after the election.

In short, democrats say they'll lower costs. Can they cut deals with Trump? Is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.