Jeffries to take to the steps

Plus: House Dems launch public housing caucus, U.S. sides with Russia on third anniversary of Ukraine invasion, more.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) speaks at a press conference on February 13, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol. Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! RIP Roberta Flack. Watch one of my favorite performances of “Killing Me Softly” with Flack and the Fugees. Then keep reading for what’s worth knowing from the Hill before you clock out—straight from my notebook to your inbox.

1. See them on the steps

— House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) called on his members to join leadership on the East Capitol Steps tomorrow at noon to uplift the stories of folks who would be impacted by the proposed cuts in the Republican budget blueprint.

— The event comes ahead of a vote for which Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is still trying to lock down enough support to pass.

— Johnson will likely have to hope the number of Democratic absences outnumber GOP defections to push the measure through on a party line. We’ll see.

— Read more: Jeffries’ letter to members

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2. “We are public housing”

— A group of House Democrats this afternoon launched the Congressional Public Housing Caucus to advocate for the expansion of affordable public housing across the country in the midst of escalating housing costs.

— Each of the caucus’s members once grew up in public housing. They intend to bring their experiences to the legislative debate and break the stigma they say is used to attack public housing.

— “Low-income doesn’t mean low-value and it doesn’t mean low potential,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), founder and co-chair of the Public Housing Caucus and ranking member of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance. “We are public housing.”

— By the numbers: In other housing news, President Trump won nine of the 10 states with the greatest net migration in 2023, while blue states such as California, New York, Illinois and New Jersey lost residents. If the trend continues, it could bode well for Republicans’ prospects to gain more congressional seats and Electoral College votes after the next census. Read the full list.

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3. And then there were six

— On the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine, the United States voted against a United Nations resolution condemning Russia’s invasion.

— The six other G7 members—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom—supported the measure in the latest indication of the Moscow-friendly isolationist policy President Trump plans to pursue during his second term.

— Instead of our allies, the U.S. was among the likes of some of the most anti-democratic countries in its opposition, including Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea and Syria.

— Read more: Hakeem Jeffries’ statement marking the anniversary, my report on day one of the war.

— Watch it: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) accuses Trump of siding with President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

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4. Looking ahead: Birthright citizenship battle

— The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution will hold a hearing tomorrow on the Citizenship Clause, the Fourteenth Amendment provision guaranteeing U.S. citizenship to anyone born or naturalized here.

— The clause is central to President Trump’s executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants—an order blocked by four federal judges as likely unconstitutional.

— Subcommittee Democrats are still refining their GOP attack strategy. But I’m told a key concern is how an unlawful citizenship ban could compound economic instability amid rising unemployment from the Elon Musk-led federal downsizing and Trump’s tariff-driven cost increases.

— Bookmark it: Live stream of the hearing.

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