House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday rejected the idea that voters would hand an Election Day mandate to Donald Trump and Republicans, arguing that the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives means that nothing will get done in Washington without Democratic support.

“Despite the claims of some of my Republican colleagues, who have spent a lot of time over the last two weeks talking about a big, huge mandate, I am looking for it,” Jeffries said at a news conference at the Capitol.

The comments were a shot in the arm for Republicans who, after gaining control of the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House in the next Congress, have asserted broad powers to pursue a decidedly conservative policy agenda. strive.

That includes Trump, who used his victory speech on election night to claim “an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who argued Tuesday that voters gave Trump the authority to select his favorite Cabinet picks. places – regardless of any controversy swirling around them.

“President Trump is looking for individuals who will shake up the status quo, and we have been given a mandate in this election cycle to do that,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol. “The status quo is not working for the American people. And so these are individuals who will step in and implement real reforms – significant reforms – in the agencies they lead.”

Jeffries, who was elected Tuesday to lead House Democrats again in the next Congress, vows to work with the new administration on areas of shared interest, while also promising a fight if Republicans try to destroy the sacred cows of the Democrats, including the right to abortion. and benefits under Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and ObamaCare.

“We will push back on far-right extremism where necessary,” Jeffries said.

Democrats in the House of Representatives will likely have some influence in the coming policy battle. While Republicans will control all the instruments of power in Washington next year, Republican Party leaders have repeatedly struggled to unite their warring forces to pass even the most basic bills, such as funding the federal government.

These problems are expected to persist in the next Congress, even with an ally in the White House, as Republican Party leaders try to move Trump’s ambitious — and costly — legislative agenda despite expected resistance from conservative budget hawks. While Republicans retained control of the House of Representatives in this month’s elections, their majority will be razor-thin, just as it has been during the current Congress. And the Senate filibuster ensures that Democrats, while relegated to the minority in the next Congress, will also retain significant influence over most bills passed by the House.

That combination, Jeffries said Tuesday, means Democrats will have plenty of legislative influence in the next Congress — and belies the Republican Party’s claims of a mandate.

“The question about this idea of ​​a mandate to make massive far-right policy changes – it doesn’t exist. It doesn’t exist,” Jeffries said.

“And so in the new Congress, if anything happens – especially if it involves an enlightened spending deal, or a guarantee that America won’t default on its debt and crash the economy and kill ordinary Americans for the first time in history of our country – it is clear that Republicans in the House of Representatives cannot do this alone.”

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