Democratic lawmakers in the House say they will stand against the Trump administration’s plans to mess with popular safety net programs like Social Security and Medicare, or any other part of the “far-right” agenda offered by Republicans in the 119th Congress.

After reelecting New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries as House Minority Leader on Tuesday, top lower-chamber lawmakers — including U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, the House minority whip, and U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan — held a press conference to lay out the Democratic opposition position.

Republicans, the lawmakers say, have a plan to go after earned retirement and medical benefits paid for by all Americans.

“If the idea is that they are going to cut Medicare and Social Security, our education system and public schools — that they are going to take food programs away from hungry children in order to give corporations an even bigger tax break — they’re going to have a fight on their hands from House Democrats,” Clark said.

The minority whip, who was also just reelected by her House colleagues on Tuesday, said that Democratic lawmakers are “ready to enact solutions” in answer to American kitchen-table issues, like the high costs of housing and child care.

“House Democrats — we stand united in a single mission: building an America where every single person has a fair shot. No matter what district we represent — blue, purple, red — we see that the cost of living is pushing the American Dream out of reach for so many,” Clark said.

Jeffries, rewarded with the minority leader’s role for a second time despite the fact that Democrats failed to secure a House minority during this year’s election, said that he and his colleagues are prepared to work with the Republican majority, but that they will “push back against far-right extremism whenever necessary.”

“We will protect the things that the American people have made clear matter to them: protect Social Security, protect Medicare, protect the Affordable Care Act, protect the progress that has been made in the context of the climate crisis, protect our veterans, and protect a woman’s freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions,” Jeffries said.

President-elect Donald Trump, during his campaign, pushed back on assertions he wanted to alter Social Security or Medicare, instead promising to end taxes of Social Security payments.

Jeffries said Republican claims of a mandate to radically change parts of the government is not a reality.

“I’m looking for it,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that we don’t have to make adjustments, to make sure we can get beyond fighting House Republicans — with a national wave on top of us — to a draw. But the question, about this notion of some mandate to make far-right extreme policy changes, it doesn’t exist. It doesn’t exist!” Jeffries said.

The balance of power in the House currently stands at 218 Republicans to 212 Democrats, with five races yet to be called.

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