'Get Lost': Hakeem Jefferies to Republicans supporting Donald Trump's Iran agenda

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) severely criticized Republicans for supporting President Donald Trump's war in Iran, claiming the GOP intends to slash Medicare and Medicaid funding to continue financing the conflict. The outcry follows a series of controversial comments from the President, who suggested during a media interaction that the federal government could no longer afford the rising costs of childcare, Medicare, and Medicaid because it must prioritize its massive military operations.

"Republicans are threatening to cut Medicare and Medicaid. To pay for Donald Trump's reckless war of choice in the Middle East. Get lost," Jefferies wrote in a post on X. He, along with several other Democrats, denounced the President's proposal to shift the financial burden of these essential services onto individual states. President Trump had suggested that states should bear the cost of the services, and the federal government could aid them by lowering its taxes. "We could lower our taxes a little bit for them, but it's not possible for us to take care of daycare. Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things. They can do it on a state basis, we can't do it on a federal...we have to take care of one thing: military protection," Trump had said.

Earlier, Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen also criticized the President's statement, saying, "Trump is right, we can either pay for 'daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these things,' or we can pay for more war. Every dollar we spend on this illegal war of choice is a dollar that could have helped improve life right here at home. He's telling us what he cares about more." Questions have also been raised over the massive expenses borne by the federal government for the Iran war. 

Multiple outlets have reported that the U.S. has between $30 billion and $50 billion over the last 40 days. Trump has also proposed to increase the country's defence spending to a historic $1.5 trillion, another move that has invited criticism from Democratic lawmakers. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) took to X to highlight the 40% increase and compared it with Trump's unwillingness to fund social service programs. 

Earlier, the Pentagon had requested an additional $200 billion to sustain its war efforts, which drew the flak of several Democratic lawmakers. Massachusetts Representative Jake Auchincloss claimed that Congress was not an ATM for a "failed President" as he criticized the request. "This is a tactic of failed presidencies for time immemorial, which is they make a mistake and then try to blame Congress, or blame others for not bailing them out of it. It's not Congress's job to be an ATM for a failed President," he said.