February 25, 2026

Chairman Aguilar: Unlike Donald Trump, Democrats are laser-focused on lowering costs and improving the lives of hardworking American families.

LEESBURG, VA — Today, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar and Vice Chair Ted Lieu opened the 2026 Issues Conference alongside Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene and Assistant Leader Joe Neguse. You can watch the full press conference here and read the full transcript below. 

CHAIRMAN AGUILAR: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Lansdowne. Vice Chair Lieu and I are thrilled to be with Leader Jeffries, Whip Clark, DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene and Assistant Leader Joe Neguse to welcome you to the House Democrats' Issues Conference. I especially appreciate being here after Trump's long, rambling and wholly untruthful State of the Union address. But despite the late night, I don't think we could have a better time to have our conference, where Democrats will contrast the lies that we heard with our hopeful vision for the country. Unlike Donald Trump, Democrats are laser-focused on lowering costs and improving the lives of hardworking American families. That's why this year's theme is ‘Fighting for an Affordable America.’ While Republicans have used the majority to give billionaires tax breaks, our caucus is working tirelessly to bring solutions to drive down costs.

We'll spend the next few days meeting with labor leaders, policy experts, elected officials and most importantly, each other, to examine the Republican affordability crisis and put forward our own solutions. Because the truth is that under Donald Trump, the State of the Union is incredibly weak. He has launched the United States into a full-blown affordability crisis with his chaotic tariffs, a health care crisis, the Big Ugly Law and a global crisis as he turns on our allies and threatens war with Venezuela and Iran. It's no secret that Americans are worse off today than they were a year ago. But don't take our word for it: a recent CNN poll said that 70 percent of Americans say Trump isn't paying attention to their priorities. But instead of listening to the people that elected him, he's doubling down on his unpopular, harmful and costly policies. Democrats have already used the few tools that we have in the minority to try to undo some of his damage, including releasing the Epstein files, restoring federal worker bargaining rights and extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits. If this is what we can do in the minority, just think what we can do in the majority. Donald Trump's address showed why it's critical that Democrats take back the House and make Hakeem Jeffries the next Speaker—and the work that we do this week will help make that a reality. Vice Chair Ted Lieu.

VICE CHAIR LIEU: Thank you, Chairman Aguilar. It is an honor to work with Chairman Aguilar in putting on this Issues Conference. We have a cost-of-living emergency in America. The affordability crisis is crushing the hopes and dreams of the American people. And what was Donald Trump's response? He mocked Americans and the term affordability. He was mocking people who are experiencing monthly bills that are far too high or grocery prices that are increasing. The American people were drowning in debt, and Donald Trump didn't want to talk about it. Democrats are going to talk about it this entire Issues Conference. We are laser-focused on the affordability crisis and how to tackle it. In the parts of his speech that Donald Trump did talk about prices, he just flat-out lied. Inflation is actually not going down. The last inflation report showed that core CPI accelerated from December to January. Another inflation report on PCE, which is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, showed that it increased above expectations to 3 percent. So Donald Trump is lying, and the American people can either believe what Donald Trump says, or they can believe the monthly bills—but they cannot believe both. The person who is going to lead this Caucus in tackling the affordability crisis is Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and I'm so honored to have him come up, because under Leader Jeffries, we have become the most effective minority party in U.S. history. We have passed three discharge petitions off the House floor—unheard of—stopped multiple stupid Republican rules, forced bipartisan congressional subpoenas, and Leader Jeffries is going to continue leading us until we win this November. Leader Jeffries.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you, Chairman Aguilar and thank you, Vice Chair Lieu, for your leadership and for bringing us together at the 2026 Issues Conference. We gather, of course, in the immediate aftermath of the so-called State of the Union address that took place last night. That was a disgraceful performance. Donald Trump hit a new low. He didn't communicate anything meaningful to the American people. There was no substance in that speech, but a lot of snake oil. No vision for the future of the country, but a lot of vitriol. There were no policy prescriptions designed to make life better for everyday Americans, but it was full of partisanship. The State of the Union speech by Donald Trump was a disgrace. And now that we're on the other side of it, it's going to be a sprint to November 3rd. House Democrats are on the verge of a takeover. The break’s over for these MAGA extremists. It's over because the American people know that Donald Trump and House Republicans have failed the American people. They’ve failed on the economy, they’ve failed on health care, they’ve failed on immigration enforcement and they’ve failed to make life better for everyday Americans. Breaking every single promise that they made, including, most significantly, that they were going to lower costs on day one. Costs haven't gone down. As Vice Chair Lieu explained, costs have gone up, out of control. Far too many people struggling here in America to live paycheck to paycheck cannot thrive and can barely survive.

So we're here at this Issues Conference to talk amongst each other and with outside stakeholders and experts about a bold, meaningful, transformational path forward to address the Republican affordability crisis here in America and make life better for working-class Americans, for middle-class Americans, and for everyday Americans, who we’re committed to fighting for each and every day. To drive down the high cost of living, to fix our broken health care system and to deliver an immigration enforcement approach that is fair, just and meaningful. That doesn't target, violently, American citizens or law-abiding immigrant families, but targets violent felons who are here unlawfully. We believe that the best is yet to come in this country, but it won't be delivered by Donald Trump and Republican sycophants in the House and in the Senate. It will come when Democrats take back control of the House, laying a foundation to end this national nightmare in the United States of America and continue our country's march toward a more perfect union. It's now my great honor to yield to my friend, my partner, my classmate and the Whip on the Democratic side of the House, who’s doing an extraordinary job. From the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Honorable Katherine Clark.

WHIP CLARK: Thank you so much, Mr. Leader. Thanks to our phenomenal leadership team, and especially to Chairman Aguilar and Vice Chair Lieu for bringing us together once again. And thanks to all of you for joining us this week. What a timely press conference and Issues Conference after the meltdown that we watched last night. Democrats are showing the American people that they deserve better. A better economy, better schools, better health care, a better and more affordable future. Just look at the past year, Donald Trump promised to lower costs on day one. Instead, the average American family has paid $1,700 more due to tariffs. In my district at home, that's $2,200. He declared last night that we are in a golden age, and that is certainly true if your last name is Trump. But for folks at home, prices are up, rent is up, layoffs are up, wage growth is down and we're seeing women pushed out of the job market because they can't find affordable childcare. None of this is an accident. It is a policy choice. Republicans have chosen to break their promises to regular families. They've chosen to keep their promises to a handful of billionaires. They've chosen to enrich the few at the expense of the many, and the American people have taken note.

Democrats are offering a different choice. We are offering solutions that we will be discussing and expanding on in the next few days. We're looking at an agenda that can cut childcare costs to $15 a day, an agenda that cuts premiums with a permanent Health Care Tax Credit, an agenda that cuts housing costs and builds new affordable homes, an agenda that cuts utility bills by making corporate users pay their fair share and that agenda that empowers Americans to win bigger paychecks with a union. Americans are voting for Democrats because we are fighting for them—fighting for their health care, to drive down the price of groceries and to stamp out corruption and self-enrichment. That's our focus, and that is why we are going to win next year. We are so fortunate to have our Chairwoman of the DCCC, Suzan DelBene, at the helm. She is a true leader who has been recruiting and supporting our candidates and incumbents around the country and building that big blue wave. Thank you, Suzan. Podium is yours.

DCCC CHAIR DELBENE: Good afternoon, everyone. It is great to be here in Leesburg with our leadership team and our Democratic Caucus this week. You've heard it before, and you're going to hear it over and over going forward: affordability is the number one issue facing families all across the country. Donald Trump and House Republicans promised to lower prices on day one, and that has been a big broken promise. 400 days into Trump's second term, groceries are up, electric bills are more expensive and health care costs are unaffordable, and this is a direct result of Trump's reckless tariffs and their Big Ugly Bill. And American families feel it. They sit down at the kitchen table to pay their bills, only to see their paycheck not going as far as it used to. And despite what the President tried to say in a State of the Union speech, you cannot gaslight the American people. America is more expensive because of Trump and Republican policies, and that's because they really only care about the wealthy and the well-connected. They made the largest cut to Medicaid in America's history so the ultra-rich could pay less in taxes. They allowed health care costs to skyrocket and millions to lose coverage, so that the largest corporations don't have to pay their fair share. And this is the defining contrast of the midterms.

While Republicans broke their promise to lower costs, Democrats are focused on lowering costs for hard-working families just trying to get by. We only need to net three seats to make Leader Jeffries, Speaker Jeffries, and finally put a check on this out-of-control administration. The good news is we have the candidates, the message and the public support to win back the majority. The DCCC recently expanded our battlefield to 44 districts where we have strong opportunities to take seats. Additionally, earlier this week, we rolled out our first round of red-to-blue candidates—12 top-tier candidates in highly competitive races that we know can win in November. We have a message that's focused on the issues that Americans want to see addressed in Washington D.C., not on building gilded ballrooms and renaming performance venues. The American people are with us. In poll after poll, you're seeing voters sour on Republicans, especially on Republicans’ handling of the economy and the country. And Democrats are in the strongest position yet to retake the majority this fall, and come next year, we will have the gavels. Thank you all for joining us today, and now I'm honored to turn it over to my colleague, our Assistant Leader and the gentleman from Colorado, Joe Neguse.

ASSISTANT LEADER NEGUSE: First and foremost, thank you all for being here, and thank you to our Chairwoman at the DCCC, who is doing an incredible job. Herculean work that has been tasked to her to lead us into the majority and end the chaos that has engulfed Washington, D.C. for the better part of the last 14 months. The word disgraceful was used to describe President Trump's presentation last night and I couldn't agree more with that characterization. And while I don't want to belabor it, I think it bears repeating. Many of you, the reporters here, have covered State of the Union performances and deliveries and speeches for some time, and it is worth considering the sad state of affairs in Washington, D.C., where President Trump debases the Constitution in such offensive and disgraceful ways, as we saw last night. There was a time in our country where we didn't have presidents of either party who would engage in the kind of invective that President Trump engaged in yesterday. I suspect that most Americans felt the same outrage that we all did regarding President Trump's performance last night. I will say the contrast could not be clearer between his disgraceful presentation, lecturing the American public, telling the American public to ignore what they see with their own eyes, and the thoughtful and compelling presentation made by our former colleague, now the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Abigail Spanberger, whom did a terrific job making the case to the American people very squarely about who President Trump works for and who he does not work for. And one needs no explanation in Colorado, I can tell you that. The farmers whom I represent, who are experiencing the highest rate of bankruptcy in decades, know that President Trump isn't working for them. The ranchers in western Colorado who are struggling by virtue of this President's reckless trade policies, they understand that this president doesn't work for them. The families who are struggling to make ends meet to afford virtually anything—car, insurance, groceries, going to the restaurant with their kids—everything is more expensive in Donald Trump's America, and they know why. Because this President is not working for them. He is working for himself, his donors, and the sycophantic supporters that he has surrounded himself with. The voters are going to have a very simple choice to make come this November between competing visions for the country. And I am confident that they will choose the vision that's been outlined by the leadership here, the vision articulated by Governor Spanberger, a vision that ultimately centers them in making life better and making life better and more affordable for the American people. And of course, someone who will lead us, as he has done throughout the last several years and during the course of this Issues Conference, on answering these fundamental questions about affordability, is the gentleman, my good friend from Redlands, Chairman Aguilar.

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