House Democrats will start their majority focused on boosting healthcare
and ending the Iran war
[November 09, 2026]
By KEVIN FREKING
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democratic leaders are placing an early emphasis
on healthcare as they discuss their immediate priorities upon the
swearing-in of the new Congress on Jan. 3.
Early votes in the House next year are expected to focus on boosting
Medicaid and restoring an enhanced tax subsidy that is designed to lower
the cost of Affordable Care Act health plans for millions of enrollees.
Democrats are also promising swift action on legislation to stop the war
with Iran and to reverse some of President Donald Trump'strade tariffs.
“We’re going to get out of the gate fast,” said New York Rep. Hakeem
Jeffries, the Democratic leader who is in line to become the next House
speaker.
The legislative flurry carries enormous stakes for Democrats as they
seek to translate their sweeping victories in the midterms — their
numbers will exceed 250 in the 435-member House — into achievements that
deliver on their promises to lower the cost of living.
Obstacles abound for the Democratic agenda
Passing those bills should not be a problem with such a large Democratic
House majority. Getting them signed into law most certainly could be.
A 60-vote threshold in the Senate looms for the legislation, as does a
potential presidential veto. Trump on election night posted a photo on
his social media site of a red hat with a simple message on it: “VETO”.
Following those early votes, Jeffries said five working groups are
developing plans to put forward bills that would lower costs in areas
such as housing, energy, groceries and caregiving.
Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., said Democrats will at some point take up
legislation dealing with artificial intelligence and data centers. He is
part of a group of lawmakers working on a document that will lay out
some of the priorities for Jeffries to consider.
“House Republicans last year made a conscious decision to let the AI
industry run wild, and that was a bad decision politically and a bad
decision on policy,” Lieu said. “Two things will change next term. We
will hold public hearings on AI. We will pass legislation, reasonable
guardrails on AI, and specifically data centers.”
New Congress will return to past political fights
Democrats are trying to reverse Medicaid changes that are expected to
cut more than $900 billion from the program over a decade. The
Republican-approved cuts helped offset some of the costs of Trump's big
tax and spending cut bill that was signed into law last year. The
Medicaid changes in the bill imposed new administrative requirements and
added conditions for eligibility, including work requirements.
Some of the most substantial changes have yet to take effect. Still,
enrollment in Medicaid has dropped by about 5 million, or about 7% since
July 2025, when the bill was signed into law, according to KFF, a health
policy research and news organization.
Reversing those cuts would likely require Trump and the Republicans to
abandon the hard-fought changes they made to cut entitlement spending in
their signature tax bill. It's an unlikely proposition.
The effort to extend enhanced tax subsidies for certain enrollees in ACA
plans has also been debated and voted on in the current Congress. The
measure passed the House with some Republican support but stalled in the
Senate.
There also have been numerous war powers votes regarding Iran — 14 in
the Senate and six in the House.
Gridlock may be on the horizon
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said going into the election
that a Democratic majority in the next Congress would amount to “two
years of paralysis.”
“I don’t think that’s good for anybody,” Thune said.
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House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks during a
election night event at a hotel on Capitol Hill in Washington,
Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
 But Democratic leader Chuck Schumer
of New York is insisting that Democrats will push their agenda with
or without the Republican president's help.
“If he vetoes it, it will show the divisions. As much as we didn’t
want to shut down, when we shut down the government for a month over
healthcare, people knew we were on their side,” Schumer said in an
interview with The New York Times' podcast “The Daily.”
Schumer said he believes Democrats can gain some Republican votes on
restoring the enhanced subsidies for ACA plans. When asked if he was
hearing from Republicans expressing a willingness to work with him
on legislation, he replied: “They’re never so definitive but, yes, I
am getting initial signs that way on certain issues, not on every
issue.”
While the prospects for getting any of the early priority bills over
the finish line are uncertain, the votes in Congress will help frame
the choices voters will face during a presidential election in 2028.
Tensions exist within the new Democratic majority
Progressive groups call the agenda outlined by Jeffries a good early
start, but they have much greater expectations for Democrats this
Congress.
“It's perfectly fine if the Senate and the House are unified and
Donald Trump is standing in the way because that sets up another
tidal wave election in 2028,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the
Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a Democratic-aligned group
that backs progressive candidates and policies.
At the same time, he said Schumer cannot be content to let bills die
in the Senate because of the 60-vote threshold.
“It will require the Democrats to get rid of the filibuster,” Green
said. “There's no doubt about it.”
He said there's a disparity because Republicans' top priorities —
tax cuts and Supreme Court justices — can get through with simple
majorities. But the Democratic Party's top priorities require 60
votes to overcome a filibuster.
“The only question is will the American public trust Democrats
enough to keep giving us more power or will this week's gains
whittle away because we do nothing? That's why the filibuster is a
threshold question," Green said.
Schumer in an interview with The Associated Press this week would
not say whether he would try and eliminate the filibuster.
“The focus has got to be on getting things done,” Schumer said.
“That’s all I am saying.”
In a memo to fellow members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus,
Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, said Democrats also need to target what he
called “powerful forces outside of government.” Examples he cited
were corporations using Americans’ private data to adjust their
pricing based on a consumer's personal data and AI companies that he
says are putting jobs and lives at risk.
"By focusing not just on the Trump administration but also on big
corporations and billionaires, we will show the American people we
are not just anti-Trump but also pro-worker and pro-consumer," Casar
said.
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Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this
report.
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