U.S. House of Representatives
Early years in Congress (2013–2018) |left|200x200pxOn April 11, 2013, Jeffries introduced the
Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument Preservation Act (H.R. 1501; 113th Congress). The bill would direct the
secretary of the interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating the
Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument in
Fort Greene Park in
Brooklyn as a unit of the National Park System (NPS). Jeffries said, "as one of America's largest revolutionary war burial sites and in tribute to the patriots that lost their lives fighting for our nation's independence, this monument deserves to be considered as a unit of the National Park Service." On April 28, 2014, the Prison Ship Martyrs's Monument Preservation Act was passed by the House. On July 15, 2014, Jeffries, who in private practice addressed intellectual property issues, introduced the
To establish the Law School Clinic Certification Program of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (H.R. 5108; 113th Congress), which would establish the Law School Clinic Certification Program of the
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to be available to accredited law schools for the ten-year period after enactment of the Act. In 2015, Jeffries led the effort to pass the Slain Officer Family Support Act, which extended the tax deadline for people making donations to organizations supporting the families of deceased NYPD detectives Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos. The families of the officers, who had been killed in their patrol car on December 20, 2014, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Jeffries's district, had been the recipients of charitable fundraising. Before the law's enactment, people would have had to make those contributions by December 31, 2014, to qualify for a tax deduction in connection with taxes filed in 2015. With the change, contributions made until April 15, 2015, were deductible. President Obama signed the bill into law on April 1, 2015. In 2015, prominent African-American pastors called for Jeffries to step into the 2017 Democratic primary for mayor of New York City against
Bill de Blasio. Jeffries said he had "no interest" and wished to remain a member of Congress. On May 22, 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bipartisan
First Step Act by a 358–36 vote with Jeffries as a key sponsor. The bill was the bipartisan product of Jeffries and Representative
Doug Collins. President Trump signed it into law on December 21, 2018. It eased mandatory minimum federal sentences, expanded early releases, and ended some draconian practices, such as the shackling of women inmates giving birth. Jeffries also played a key role in the House passage of the bipartisan
Music Modernization Act, which became law in 2018. Again, he teamed up with Collins in a bipartisan manner to introduce and pass this law. Among the practices Jeffries continued from his time in the Assembly in Congress is Summer at the Subway, rebranded as "Congress on Your Corner", offering outdoor evening office hours from June through August near subway stations that allow him to connect and hear constituents' concerns firsthand.
Committee assignments As a freshman, Jeffries served on the influential
Budget Committee. Later, he served on the
Judiciary Committee. During the
114th Congress, Jeffries also served on the
House Education and Workforce Committee. He has been a long-standing member of the
Congressional Black Caucus and the
Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Leadership (2018–2022) Democratic Caucus Chair and President
Joe Biden in March 2022 On November 28, 2018, Jeffries defeated California congresswoman
Barbara Lee to become chair of the
House Democratic Caucus. His term began when the new Congress was sworn in on January 3, 2019. In this role, he was the fifth-ranking member of the Democratic leadership. On January 22, 2020, a protester in the Senate gallery interrupted Jeffries by yelling comments at the senators seated a floor below. Jeffries quickly responded with a scripture verse, Psalm 37:28, "For the Lord loves justice and will not abandon his faithful ones", before continuing with his testimony. During the impeachment hearings, in response to Trump's counsel's rhetorical question “Why are we here?” to the Senate, Jeffries delivered a soliloquy that concluded by quoting
Biggie Smalls: "
and if you don't know, now you know".
Billboard magazine called it a "noteworthy mic-drop moment".
House Democratic Leader (2022–) With outgoing Speaker Pelosi's endorsement, Jeffries was elected unopposed as House Democratic leader for the
118th Congress in November 2022, becoming the first African American to lead a party caucus in either chamber of Congress.
118th Congress Start of 118th Congress At the start of the 118th Congress on January 3, 2023, the House of Representatives began the nominating contest for
Speaker of the House. The Democratic caucus unanimously nominated Jeffries for speaker. He received 212 votes, all from Democrats, on nearly every ballot. (
David Trone missed the 12th round of voting for a surgery but returned for the 13th round.) Meanwhile,
Kevin McCarthy, the Republican front-runner, failed to secure a majority of votes cast. On January 6, McCarthy finally received a majority and was elected on the 15th ballot after making concessions to the far right. In total, Jeffries received 3,179 votes for speaker. When McCarthy was elected speaker, Jeffries handed him the gavel after a 15-minute speech. The speech, an alphabetical recitation of words describing what the government should and should not be, was dubbed the "ABCs of Democracy". The video of Jeffries's alphabet speech has been viewed over 2.4 million times on social media. On July 31, 2024, Jeffries announced he had penned an illustrated book,
The ABCs of Democracy, to be published on November 12, 2024. House Democrats unanimously nominated Jeffries again in the
October 2023 election after the
successful motion to vacate McCarthy's speakership.
Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 The first major test of the 118th Congress was
the looming expiration of the nation's debt ceiling. Economists warned that a breach and subsequent default would be catastrophic. On May 29, 2023, Representative
Patrick McHenry introduced the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. Democrats initially resisted the measure. When the Fiscal Responsibility Act was brought for a vote on May 31, Jeffries held up a green card to alert Democrats that they could vote in favor of it; over 50 did. The Fiscal Responsibility Act was signed into law on June 3 and is estimated to have reduced the deficit by $1.5 trillion over 10 years.
Removal of Speaker McCarthy On October 3, 2023, Representative
Matt Gaetz filed a motion to vacate the speakership criticizing McCarthy for working with Democrats to pass a spending bill which did not include fiscally conservative reforms. Preceding the vote, Jeffries said in a letter to colleagues that House Democratic leaders would vote “yes” on the motion to vacate the chair. After listing off reasons not to keep McCarthy in power, Jeffries said Democrats “remain willing to find common ground on an enlightened path forward.” Immediately after Gaetz filed his motion to vacate, an attempt to remove the motion through a motion to table was filed by Representative
Tom Cole, a McCarthy ally, but it was voted down by House Democrats and eleven Republicans. Following the
removal of McCarthy, Jeffries published a column in the
Washington Post calling for a “bipartisan governing coalition” in which he pitched a path for consensus legislation that could not be blocked by a “small handful of extreme members” when large swaths of the House supported a bill. The column ultimately signaled a governing coalition Jeffries led from the with reports beginning to describe him as de facto or shadow Speaker of the House.
Governing by coalition In December 2023, Jeffries led the House Democratic Caucus in providing the majority of the votes, 163–147, to pass the
National Defense Authorization Act, allowing it to pass under suspension of the rules. The bill included a 5.2% pay increase. On January 7, 2024, Jeffries and congressional leaders agreed to a $1.59 trillion topline spending deal. The topline spending levels agreed to for 2024 were not substantially different from the deal McCarthy and President Biden had negotiated. On March 6, the House passed
a $459 billion "minibus" spending package containing six of the 12 appropriations bills. The bill funded the departments of
Agriculture,
Commerce,
Justice,
Energy,
Interior,
Veterans Affairs,
Transportation, and
Housing and Urban Development, along with the
EPA, the
Army Corps of Engineers, and other military construction. Jeffries led negotiations and applauded Democrats for ensuring the
WIC program remained untouched, as well as providing rental assistance, a pay raise for firefighters and investments in new air traffic controllers. After the vote, he said, "Once again, Democrats protected the American people and delivered the overwhelming majority of votes necessary to get things done." On March 22, the House passed a second $741 billion minibus to fund the remaining departments with Democratic support; a majority of Republicans voted against the package. Jeffries touted the work of the
bipartisan coalition, saying: "We've said from the very beginning of this Congress, as Democrats, that we will find bipartisan common ground with our Republican colleagues on any issue, whenever and wherever possible, as long as it will make life better for the American people. That's exactly what House Democrats continue to do". As part of negotiations to avert a government shutdown, Jeffries helped secure at least one project as an
earmark for every Democratic member. Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee
Rosa DeLauro said, "He negotiated. He got what we needed to have". The final vote was 273–147, with Democrats delivering votes to protect national security under
Section 702. Biden signed the legislation hours before the program expired. Jeffries negotiated a legislative path for the bill and delivered a majority of Democratic votes to pass a package providing aid to the three countries in separate bills, each of which passed Congress with bipartisan support and large majorities and was signed into law by Biden. Three Freedom Caucus members voted against the bill in committee, but all Democrats voted for it. The
legislative package also included a
House-passed bill to force the app TikTok to divest from its Chinese Communist Party-owned parent company,
ByteDance, as well as the REPO for Ukrainians Act, which allows the U.S. government to fund the Ukrainian war effort with assets seized from Russian oligarchs. During debate on the bill, Jeffries emphasized the role of the bipartisan legislative coalition, saying, "We have a responsibility, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans, to defend democracy wherever it is at risk". In an interview with
60 Minutes after the vote, he said House Democrats "effectively have been governing as if we were in the majority." On May 15, the House passed the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, which included programs to improve safety and protect consumers, with more Democrats (195) than Republicans (192) voting for it. After the votes to avert a federal government shutdown and send foreign assistance abroad, the
Associated Press said that Jeffries, as the minority leader, "might very well be the most powerful person in Congress right now".
Killing second motion to vacate attempt As far-right Republicans issued warnings about a Motion to Vacate the Chair after a series of bills passed with the support of a majority of Democrats, Jeffries hinted at providing a lifeline to Speaker Mike Johnson in an interview with the
New York Times. On May 8, 2024, Representative
Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had strongly opposed Johnson's resolve to provide Ukraine with further aid, introduced the motion to vacate his speakership on the floor, forcing a vote on it. Citing Johnson's decision to hold a vote on the legislative package to aid allies abroad, Jeffries and Democratic leaders said Democrats would vote to table Greene's motion. The House voted to table the motion, 359-43, allowing Johnson to remain speaker. 196 Republicans and 163 Democrats voted to table the motion; 11 Republicans and 32 Democrats voted against tabling it. The Democrats who supported Johnson said they did so because of the vital role he had played in passing funding for the federal government and supporting Ukraine. Greene did not rule out forcing another vote to oust Johnson, but the
Wall Street Journal wrote that Jeffries "flexes power as Mike Johnson flounders".
119th Congress Start of the Trump's second term at the
Atlas Performing Arts Center in Washington, D.C. in 2025 Jeffries attended Trump's second inauguration on January 20, 2025. On February 3, Jeffries laid out a 10-part plan to fight Trump and congressional Republicans legislatively while Democrats were in the minority in both chambers of Congress in a "dear colleague" letter to House Democrats. He vowed to use a March 14 federal funding deadline as leverage to prevent Trump from freezing or diverting congressionally appropriated funds. Jeffries also said Democrats would introduce a bill to prevent "unlawful access" to the Treasury Department's payment system after the
Department of Government Efficiency reportedly obtained forced access to it over the objections of top officials. On March 11, the House passed a continuing resolution. Jeffries was credited with keeping House Democrats unified in opposition to the continuing resolution. The 217–213 vote went almost entirely along party lines. On March 12, Jeffries, Clark, and Aguilar announced support for a four-week continuing resolution to allow Congress to reach a final agreement. On March 14, the U.S. Senate passed the House-version of the bill, almost entirely along partisan lines. The Senate voted 54–46 as the Democratic base clamored for a fight in the Senate. Ultimately, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer decided it was not worth risking a shutdown that could empower Trump and
Elon Musk. After the vote, Jeffries, Clark, and Aguilar held an emergency press conference ahead of the government funding deadline in which they laid out the House Democratic vision for government funding. Asked whether it was time for new Senate leadership, Jeffries replied, "Next question." On February 24, Jeffries wrote a "dear colleagues" letter in response to House Republicans' budget framework to set in motion the cuts needed to reauthorize
Trump's 2017 tax law. In the letter, Jeffries lambasted Republicans for the cuts to Medicaid in their tax package. On April 27, after House Republicans passed their budget framework, Jeffries and Senator
Cory Booker held an event on the Capitol steps to protest the proposed Medicaid cuts. The
sit-in began around 6 a.m. and lasted over 12 hours. A few days later, Jeffries gave a speech marking Trump's first 100 days in office in which he called Republicans in Congress a "rubber stamp" for Trump's agenda of "chaos, cruelty, and corruption" and said that Democrats would lay out a "blueprint for a better America". On July 3, during the
119th Congress, after months of negotiations, the House voted on the
One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Jeffries used his
magic minute to speak for eight hours and 44 minutes in opposition to the bill, from 4:53am to 1:38pm. He broke former Speaker
Kevin McCarthy's record of eight hours and 32 minutes, set in 2021. In his remarks, Jeffries discussed his background as son of a veteran, called the bill an "all-out assault" on workers, shared stories of Americans who would be hurt by the bill, quoted
Martin Luther King Jr., and read from
Matthew 25:35–40. He said he would "take my sweet time" and asked the American people to imagine a nation where anyone who works hard can live a good life.
2025 government shutdown During the
2025 United States federal government shutdown, Jeffries played a central role in shaping the Democratic response to the budget impasse. Jeffries and House Democrats framed the dispute primarily around health care policy, particularly the expiration of enhanced
Affordable Care Act (ACA)'s
premium tax credits, a key point of contention between Democrats and Republicans during negotiations. During the summer of 2025, Jeffries had urged the White House and congressional Republicans to negotiate in an attempt to reach a bipartisan budget agreement and avert a funding lapse. As the funding deadline approached, he and Senate Democratic Leader
Chuck Schumer sought direct talks with President Trump; Trump ultimately met with them at the White House on September 29, 2025, shortly before the deadline, marking Jeffries’s first meeting with Trump during his second presidency. Jeffries became involved in procedural disputes related to the shutdown, including the delayed swearing-in of Representative-elect
Adelita Grijalva, whose certification and seating in the House became entangled in broader political tensions during the standoff. Democrats viewed the delay as politically motivated and tied to ongoing congressional maneuvering during the shutdown, as well as Republican hesitation to force a vote on
releasing the
Epstein files. When the government reopened after 43 days, the longest full government shutdown in history, Jeffries continued to pursue legislation addressing the health care issue that had dominated the shutdown. In November 2025, he filed a discharge petition to force a House vote on extending ACA premium tax credits for three years, an effort intended to bypass Republican leadership and bring the issue directly to the House floor. In December 2025, his discharge petition to force a vote on extending the enhanced ACA tax credits reached the required 218 signatures after several Republicans joined Democrats. The measure was brought to the House floor and passed on January 8, 2026, by a vote of 230-196, with all Democrats and several Republicans voting in favor of the three-year extension. The vote was seen as a political setback for House Republican leadership and the Trump administration, as a group of Republican lawmakers from competitive districts broke ranks to support the measure. This underscored internal Republican divisions over health care policy and elevated health care affordability as a key issue heading into the
2026 midterm elections. The DCCC under Jeffries's control consistently set fundraising records in the
2024 election, raising $280.9 million for the cycle as of October 2024. The SuperPAC affiliated with Jeffries, House Majority PAC, also broke fundraising records. Jeffries's first major political test as leader came in February 2024, after
George Santos was expelled from Congress. For the
special election to fill the vacancy, Jeffries tapped former representative
Tom Suozzi. Jeffries deployed his political team and key allies across the district and helped raise $1 million for the special election, holding fundraisers for Suozzi in New York, Washington and elsewhere. where he gave a speech inspired by
Psalm 30:5. He endorsed Kamala Harris for president and likened Donald Trump to "an old boyfriend". According to
Essence, Jeffries delivered the speech with the "cadence of a seasoned preacher". •
U.S.–Japan Caucus •
Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans •
Congressional Taiwan Caucus Committee assignments 119th Congress No committee assignments as
party leader; ex-officio member of
United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
117th Congress •
Committee on the Judiciary •
Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet •
Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law •
Committee on the Budget 116th Congress • Committee on the Judiciary • Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet •
Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security • Committee on the Budget
115th Congress • Committee on the Judiciary • Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet • Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations • Committee on the Budget
114th Congress •
Committee on Education and Workforce •
Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions •
Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training • Committee on the Judiciary • Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet • Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations
113th Congress • Committee on the Judiciary • Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet • Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law • Committee on the Budget ==Political positions==