Hakeem Jeffries Rejects Medicare for All, Distances Democrats From DSA Agenda

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries drew fresh battle lines inside the Democratic Party on Sunday, rejecting Medicare for All and the policy agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) while predicting his party will win back the House majority in November. In a wide-ranging appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," the New York Democrat also left the door open to expanding the Supreme Court, saying he backs "dramatic reform" of the nation's highest court.

Jeffries, who co-sponsored Medicare for All legislation for years before taking the party's top House post, now says the single-payer plan is not something he supports. The shift puts him at odds with the party's progressive wing just months before the midterms, and it sets up a defining fight over what a Democratic Congress would actually do with power.

Jeffries Draws the Line on Medicare for All

Asked directly whether he personally supports Medicare for All, Jeffries was unambiguous: "It's not legislation that I currently am cosponsoring or that I support." He acknowledged that he had backed earlier versions of the bill between 2013 and 2021 but said he has not cosponsored the versions introduced in recent years.

Instead of a government-run health care system, Jeffries argued Democrats should focus on making insurance more affordable by reversing Medicaid cuts he attributed to Republicans and renewing the expanded Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits that lapsed at the start of the year. He said the lapse sent premiums soaring for more than 20 million Americans.

"I do think we need to figure out how to fix our broken healthcare system and then build something better once we repair the damage that has been done," Jeffries said.

His position immediately drew a public break from Representative Ro Khanna of California, who appeared on the same program and called Medicare for All "arguably the most important priority." Khanna cited a Yale study estimating the plan would save $1 trillion and 114,000 lives per year, and he demanded a floor vote on the legislation, saying the majority of House Democrats support it.

A Party Split Over ICE and the Border

Jeffries also distanced himself from the growing abolition movement inside his own party. He rejected calls to dismantle U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), saying Democrats are instead "committed to dramatically reforming" the agency.

"The masks should come off. Body cameras should come on," Jeffries said. "Judicial warrants should be required before ICE can storm into the homes of the American people, rip them out of their bed in the dead of night, and try to detain them without justification."

The comments came one day after Democratic National Committee (DNC) members backed a resolution urging Democratic lawmakers to pass legislation dissolving ICE entirely. DNC Chairman Ken Martin stressed that official party positions are set at the national convention, but said Democrats remain united against the current approach to border enforcement.

The White House pushed back hard on the abolition push. A White House spokeswoman said extreme radical Democrats want to abolish ICE and defund the police, and noted that President Donald Trump's efforts to remove criminal illegal aliens from American communities are delivering results, including the lowest murder rate in 125 years.

Supreme Court "Dramatic Reform" Looms

Jeffries raised eyebrows when he left the door open to adding justices to the Supreme Court. He said he supports "dramatic reform" of the court and that House Democrats on the Judiciary Committee will take the lead on shaping it, starting with a binding ethics code for justices.

"We've seen right-wing justices like Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito engage in behavior that is ethically questionable at best," Jeffries said. "That has to change, because the American people should have confidence in the highest court in the land."

His remarks track with reporting that Democrats are weighing court expansion, 18-year term limits for justices, and rule changes to the Senate filibuster to force the measures through. At the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Atlanta, Jeffries said a "variety of different options are on the table" and that the party cannot "foreclose on any single one of them," while labeling the current court a subsidiary of the Trump administration.

A Broad Caucus and a High-Stakes Bet

Jeffries made clear he is not trying to purge the party's left flank. He said he would welcome DSA-backed candidates into the caucus if they win in November, predicting "it's going to be a broad caucus" that spans progressives, moderates, and Blue Dog Democrats.

What he will not do, he said, is let the socialist agenda define the party. "I do not support defunding the police. I do not support open borders," Jeffries said, insisting the Democratic focus is on lowering the high cost of living for working families.

The balancing act is a high-stakes bet. Jeffries predicted Democrats will regain the majority by winning at least 218 seats, and he argued a Democratic Congress would prioritize affordability on groceries, gas, housing, and health care. "The American people want us to focus on driving down the high cost of living," he said, adding that too many families are working hard but can barely survive.

Whether that centrist pitch holds will depend on the primaries still unfolding, where progressive challengers have already ousted several incumbents. The clash between Jeffries and Khanna on national television is a preview of the internal fight Democrats will carry into the fall, and it leaves voters with a clear picture of two very different Democratic Parties competing for the same majority.