Jeffries: US 'in a crisis across the board, in every way possible'

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that the country is facing a "crisis across the board," less than 100 days since President Trump returned to the White House.

"We are in a crisis across the board, in every way possible, including the assault on the democratic way of life," Jeffries told CNN's Dana Bash in a Thursday interview. "The president is assaulting the economy, assaulting Social Security, assaulting healthcare, assaulting the American way of life, and assaulting our democracy."

"None of this is normal," he added.

The White House didn't immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment on Jeffries's remarks. Trump was meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the White House.

Jeffries, who is leading the Democratic opposition to the GOP's razor-thin majority in the House, has been pushing against Trump as Republicans seek to advance the president's legislative agenda.

"It is all a crisis now, with respect to what we need to deal with," the New York Democrat said.

The GOP-controlled House and Senate approved a budget framework earlier this month that would cut federal spending and trim the deficit to free up money for tax cuts Trump wants. The proposals have prompted concerns about the future of safety net programs, such as Social Security and Medicaid.

Trump repeatedly has stressed that there will be no cuts to Social Security benefits during his second administration, but the agency has faced internal cutbacks driven by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) defended the nearly $880 billion hit to Medicaid under the GOP's budget blueprint as being primarily covered by savings from rooting out waste, fraud and abuse and expanding work requirements. Vulnerable and moderate House Republicans have said they will not support legislation that includes cuts to Medicaid benefits.

But Jeffries said constituents are still fearful over the uncertainty.

"This is a life-or-death matter for many of the people that I represent, and folks all across the country, and so that's why, as Democrats, we're focused on these issues," Jeffries said.

Aside from budget risks for domestic programs, the lawmaker claimed Trump's policies elsewhere are also driving up costs and threatening livelihoods.

"Donald Trump is clearly crashing the economy in real time, and he's driving us towards a recession," he said.

Trump on April 3 unveiled a sweeping slate of tariffs on imports from most countries. Many of them have been temporarily paused as world leaders try to negotiate agreements with the president, though a 145 percent tariff rate remains in place on most goods coming from China.

Jeffries said he thinks import taxes can be useful in lifting the American economy but "that's not this in terms of what is taking place."

"The manner in which these tariffs have been unleashed on the American people will result in the largest tax increase on everyday Americans since at least 1968," he said. "That clearly is a problem. That's not what the American people signed up for."