Hakeem Jeffries rejects Medicare for All, DSA agenda as Ro Khanna calls health plan 'most important priority'

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., rejected support for Medicare for All and the Democratic Socialists of America's (DSA) agenda Sunday, saying Democrats should prioritize affordability as they seek to recapture the House in November following a wave of progressive primary victories.

"Meet the Press," host Kristen Welker asked Jeffries directly whether he personally supported Medicare for All.

"No, i — as you indicated, I havent cosponsored the that has been introduced over the last several years," Jeffries said. "I do think we need to figure out how to fix our broken health care system and then build something better once we repair the damage that has been done."

Jeffries also said that as the Democratic leader in the House, it was not legislation he supported, while also reiterating that he wanted to find a path to fix the health care system and "make health care affordable for every single American."

THE MEDICARE FOR ALL TRADE-OFFS SOCIALISTS AREN'T TALKING ABOUT, ACCORDING TO EXPERTS

Congressional records show Jeffries formally co-sponsored the Medicare for All Act of 2019 and later co-sponsored the 2021 version. However, he was not among the 102 additional House cosponsors announced when Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., introduced H.R. 3069 in April 2025.

The NYC DSA Healthcare Working Group credited its months-long organizing campaign with helping secure his 2019 support, although it described his position as qualified because he also backed Medicare X, a public-option bill.

"Rep. Jeffries public endorsement of this legislation is the result of all these efforts and of this growing national movement," the working group said at the time.

The DSA's new "Workers Deserve More!" program calls for universal health care at no cost to individuals, as well as abolishing ICE and the Senate, replacing the president and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary subordinate to Congress and redirecting police funding as a step toward fully abolishing police and prisons.

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When Welker asked whether democratic socialists belong under the Democratic Partys tent, Jeffries rejected the organizations platform while leaving room for candidates who win Democratic nominations.

"I dont support the DSA agenda as has been articulated by the DSA itself," Jeffries said.

"Youre going to have individual members who have been elected in Democratic primaries, and if they are elected in the general in November, will be part of the House Democratic Caucus. Its going to be a broad caucus. There will be progressives. There will be New Dems. There will be Blue Dogs," he added.

Seven incumbent House Democrats have lost primaries this cycle, thus far. They include Jeffries-backed Reps. Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat, who lost to

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