House Democratic leader engages in row with Republicans over shutdown
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Tensions erupted on Capitol Hill on Wednesday when two members of the House of Representatives got into a screaming fight on the eighth day of the 2025 government shutdown.
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., clashed with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., outside the latter’s news conference over a bipartisan compromise on enhanced ObamaCare subsidies, a crucial point in the fight for federal funding.
He also taunted Jeffries about whether he would support democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York – to which Jeffries did not respond.
“First of all, I’m not responding to you. You’re not even responding to yourself,” Jeffries responded.
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Rep. Mike Lawler faces House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on the eighth day of the government shutdown, October 8, 2025. (Elizabeth Elkind/Fox News Digital)
The heated exchange began when Lawler challenged Jeffries to sign bipartisan legislation extending COVID-19 pandemic-era improvements to ObamaCare subsidies for another year.
Those subsidies are set to expire at the end of 2025 without action from Congress, and Democrats have demanded the issue be resolved before agreeing on a federal funding bill to end the shutdown.
“We have a one-year extension, why don’t you sign up now?” asked Lawler.
Jeffries responded angrily: “Did you get permission from your boss? Did your boss, Donald Trump, give you permission?
“He’s not my boss,” Lawler responded.
The two men exchanged views for nearly five minutes, each accusing the other’s party of derailing the government.
“You’re embarrassing,” Jeffries said, before confronting him for voting in favor of President Donald Trump’s massive bill, the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“I voted for a tax cut bill that gave Americans the biggest tax cut in history – including, by the way, the average New Yorker getting a $4,000 tax cut. Are you against that?” asked Lawler.
Representative Mike Lawler leaves after a House Republican Conference meeting March 4, 2025 in Washington, DC (Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images)
Jeffries responded: “You’re embarrassing yourself. The biggest Medicaid cut in American history – you voted for it. »
The House Democratic leader pointed his finger at Lawler’s chest, telling him: “You’re not going to talk to me, or speak for me, because you don’t want to hear what I have to say. So why don’t you keep your mouth shut?”
“Oh, is that how we talk?” Lawler retorted.
They continued to debate the merits of the Republicans’ bill, even as Lawler repeatedly tried to ask Jeffries whether he would sign the temporary ObamaCare expansion.
Jeffries then shifted the conversation to accuse House Republicans of staying in their districts during the government shutdown — something Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., urged them to do in order to keep the focus on D.C. over Senate Democrats refusing the GOP funding bill.
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“You wanted the Republicans to be here, I’m here,” Lawler said. “And by the way, you can pass an extension (of the Affordable Care Act) right now. Sign this bill.”
Jeffries asked, “Mike, is your boss, Donald Trump, behind this?”
He argued that it would take more Republicans than those who signed the bill to pass it in the House, as the fight descended into name-calling.
“Are you a math challenge, brother?” » asked Jeffries.
Lawler replied: “No, I think so. You have 215 Democrats.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer walk to speak to members of the media after a meeting at the White House on September 29, 2025. (Annabelle Gordon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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The brawl took place hours after Johnson confronted two Democratic senators outside his office who were demanding that the Republican leader swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz.
Senate Democrats rejected the GOP-led funding bill for a sixth time Wednesday, virtually guaranteeing the shutdown would extend to a ninth day.
The House passed a bill to extend federal funding levels for fiscal 2025 until Nov. 21 to give lawmakers more time to create a longer-term deal for fiscal 2026 spending.
But Democrats, furious at being left out of negotiations over federal funding, have widely said they would reject any deal that don’t understand an extension of expiring ObamaCare subsidies.
