When the new Congress is seated in January, Hakeem Jeffries is projected to become the first Black Speaker of the House in American history. His plan for the first days is not a victory lap. It is health care.
“Day One plan is going to be to make sure we’re going to be focused on healthcare,” Jeffries said, along with the price of groceries, gas and housing. Democrats say they will move quickly to reinstate the Affordable Care Act premium subsidies that expired in 2025 and to reverse nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts passed in the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. They also plan votes to end Trump’s global tariffs and restore Congress’s authority over trade.
Black readers have more riding on the first two items than almost anyone. Black Americans are more likely to earn lower incomes and to work jobs without employer coverage, which is why the enhanced subsidies mattered most to them. The Urban Institute projected in 2024 that about 1.1 million Black people would lose marketplace coverage if the credits lapsed, and that three in four of them live in states that never expanded Medicaid. In those states, it found, the uninsured rate for Black and Latino residents would rise by 4.2%, against 2.6% for white residents.
That is the mechanism. The states that refused Medicaid expansion left a coverage gap, and the subsidies were the one thing standing in it. Taking them away widened a disparity that was already there.
The investigations come second
The health vote is only part of the agenda. Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on House Oversight, plans to look at Trump family business dealings, no-bid contracts and ICE use of force. Rep. Jamie Raskin, on Judiciary, will examine the politicization of the DOJ and the FBI. Raskin has called impeachment “a critical tool in the constitutional toolbox,” while acknowledging it takes significant time and energy. Jeffries has said it is neither on nor off the table.
Democrats have promised a great deal before and delivered less. Black voters gave the party nine in 10 of their votes on Tuesday, and many of them are paying the price of a policy Congress can reverse with a single bill. The test of this majority is whether the premium credits actually come back, and whether Senate Republicans and the president allow it. Jeffries should put that vote first and make them say no on the record.
The new Congress is seated in January. Jeffries has said the agenda will start in its first 100 hours.
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