House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) led the condemnation of the GOP budget bill up for a final vote Tuesday while previewing messaging for the 2026 midterm elections when he hopes to flip control of the House.

The press conference included three testimonies of people who would be affected by cuts to Medicaid health insurance or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, which help millions of lower-income people. Roughly 200 advocates gathered in support of House Democrats chanting, “Tax the rich.”

“The Republican budget represents the largest Medicaid cut in American history,” Jeffries said, despite the budget not authorizing any direct cuts to Medicaid or other programs.

“So let me be clear, House Democrats will not provide a single vote to this reckless Republican budget,” the leader continued. “Not one.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) sweeping budget framework would renew $4.5 trillion of Trump’s expiring tax cuts from 2017 coupled with $2 trillion in spending reductions that could tee up Medicaid cuts when the final legislation is drafted.

The framework directs congressional committees to make various cuts without outlining specifics. Under the 10-year plan, the House Energy and Commerce Committee would have to reduce spending to programs it oversees by $880 billion, which Democrats contend would put Medicaid benefits on the chopping block, though Republicans have favored more general reforms such as work requirements.

House leadership continues to meet with members to sway Republican holdouts given their razor-thin majority, as Johnson holds on to hope for a vote on the bill Tuesday evening. The legislation cleared its first hurdle on Tuesday afternoon in a 217-211, party-line vote.

Centrist Republicans met with Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) on Monday to hear “alternative savings.” Several swing-district and -state lawmakers are concerned that the $880 billion in proposed committee cuts will likely run right through Medicaid.

Since President Donald Trump returned to office on Jan. 20, signed an avalanche of executive orders, and authorized mass layoffs of federal workers and dismantling of agencies, Democrats have been on defense to protest such cuts to the federal bureaucracy.

However, the risk of cutting Medicaid to pay for an extension of his first-term tax cuts has galvanized the Democratic Party and put some swing-district Republicans on defense.

As Republicans hold a trifecta in Washington for the next two years, Democrats are eager to find messaging that sticks with voters in their quest to win back the House.

“I would say that we would show up in rural America,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) told the Washington Examiner. “We would show up and let them know. Listen, SNAP benefits, rural America uses more of those than urban America, and guess who’s always fighting for it.”

HOLDOUTS PUT HOUSE BUDGET RESOLUTION IN JEOPARDY OVER SPENDING CUTS

As Democrats keep slamming Elon Musk’s involvement in Trump’s administration, which has consisted of slashing spending and upending federal agencies, Crockett had one response to the billionaire.

“F*** off,” Crockett said.