Scoop: House Dem group unveils steep demand list to stop shutdown
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Rep. Jake Auchincloss speaks at the Semafor World Economy Summit in Washington, D.C., in 2023. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A new group of younger House Democrats is issuing a steep demand to Republicans: Repeal major portions of the "one big, beautiful bill" that's now law and other Trump policies or prepare for a government shutdown.
Why it matters: It's the kind of hardline negotiating stance that some in the Democratic grassroots have been demanding for months, and it comes from a group whose modus operandi is upending the party's status quo.
- The group is called Majority Democrats and is led by Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) as chair and Reps. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Mich.) and Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) as vice chairs.
- "Instead of simply going along, Democrats need to fight for a budget that puts money and power where it belongs: with YOU," the group's leaders said in a statement first shared with Axios.
Driving the news: In the statement, Auchincloss, McDonald Rivet and Ryan listed five "priorities in [the] shutdown fight" they said would constitute "a deal that would work for Americans."
- Reverse the cuts to Medicaid in the "one big, beautiful bill" signed into law.
- Replace the law's tax cuts with a "tax cut for the 99% of America."
- Eliminate the Trump administration's tariffs.
- Restoration of COPS grants.
- The release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and a ban on members of Congress trading stock as part of an effort to "root out corruption" in the government.
Between the lines: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have demanded Republicans come to the negotiating table. They suggested health care access will be the primary focus of their demands.
- Rank-and-file Democrats have debated just how far they should go in using the Sept. 30 government funding deadline as leverage to draw down Trump's policies and check his power.
- House Republicans are forging ahead on a largely "clean" stopgap funding bill that would keep federal funding at 2024 levels while not reversing any Trump policies.
- Because of the filibuster, however, Senate Republicans will need at least seven Democratic votes to pass the bill. House Republicans may also need Democratic votes due to GOP defections.
What they're saying: "As a starting point, to seek Democratic votes, this proposal is saying that MAGA has to stop being a rubber stamp to crime, inflation and corruption," Auchincloss told Axios in a phone interview.
- The Massachusetts Democrat framed the statement — the first the group has made since it launched in July — as part of a broader push to revitalize the image of the Democratic Party.
- "Generational change is a critical element of helping reinvent the Democratic Party, but that is not sufficient," he said. "We also need big and bold ideas and ... the ability to take big ideas and turn them into effective governance."
Zoom in: The group's members tend to be younger than the average congressional Democrat, and while many come from the party's center-left wing, its leaders told the New York Times it is not an ideological bloc.
- Other members of the group include Reps. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), Jared Golden (D-Maine), Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), Sarah McBride (D-Del.), and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.).
- Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) are also in the group, as are Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, Nevada state Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui and Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis.
