House Republican leaders delivered a presentation to members Tuesday morning slamming the enhanced tax credits for the Affordable Care Act that are due to expire at the end of the year.

It comes as members of both parties and chambers are rushing to develop, and pass, legislation to lower health care costs by Dec. 31, when the Obamacare subsidies will expire and premiums are set to go through the roof.

There are multiple opinions among Republicans about whether the best path forward to keep the price of health care down involves extending the tax credits — possibly with some modifications to appease conservatives — or constructing an entirely new framework, like an overhaul of health savings accounts.

A slide deck shared by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise made clear that House GOP leadership falls in the latter camp. One slide viewed by POLITICO was titled “The Unaffordable Care Act,” and highlighted statistics showing that premiums have increased by 80 percent since the ACA’s passage. It also claimed that more than 50 percent of Obamacare enrollees did not file a single claim this year.

Walking into the meeting, Scalise said in a brief interview that he planned to keep talking with the chairs of three key committees of jurisdiction over health policy — Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and the Workforce.

“A lot of members have called me or texted me during the break about the bills they have, and I’ve been making sure everybody’s directed to the committees and talk to the chairman,” Scalise said. “Ultimately, we’re gonna go through regular order on this.”

But the leadership’s position is making some Republicans nervous — and frustrated. At one point during the meeting, Rep. Nathaniel Moran, a Republican in a deep-red Texas district, challenged GOP leaders on why they were now blasting the enhanced Obamacare tax credits just weeks before their expiration date.

House Republicans, Moran continued, should have been talking about alternatives months ago, according to four people granted anonymity to share a private exchange inside the meeting room.

Republican leaders are also facing intense pressure from vulnerable GOP moderates to extend the expiring premium tax credits.

But other House Republicans were unapologetic Tuesday about their desire to put a conservative imprint on health care policy. Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), the chair of the Republican Study Committee, said after the presentation his party should “absolutely” pursue the party-line budget reconciliation process to pass a GOP health care bill.

“The Democrats are incapable of coming up with a plan that is competitive, transparent and actually reduces costs,” said Pfluger, who has been hosting RSC discussions on policies for a second partisan policy package that can pass with a simple majority in the Senate. “The No. 1 bucket that we are focused on in a reconciliation 2.0 is affordability.”

House GOP leaders have not given a timeline for any health care package, but are planning to unveil at least several bills on the topic before the end of the year, according to three people granted anonymity to describe internal strategy discussions.

As House Republicans huddled in the basement of the Capitol building for the first time since September, White House deputy chief of staff James Blair told reporters at a separate event Tuesday morning that while there’s some interest in a bipartisan discussion on health policy, “Dems have not really demonstrated an interest in having constructive conversations.”

In recent weeks, Blair has been hosting health policy meetings at the White House with providers and representatives from hospitals, along with White House legislative staff, according to one person granted anonymity to share details of the private gatherings. It’s a sign that the administration is taking the political ramifications of the credits’ expirations seriously, with Democrats likely to hammer the GOP on the issue in the 2026 midterms.

Democrats are so far continuing to dig their heels in on a “clean” extension of the subsidies. But many moderate Democrats are willing to negotiate modifications as part of an extension.

The House is on track to rebuke a veteran Illinois lawmaker over a hardball political tactic — a move that has stirred intraparty anger at the fellow Democrat who prompted it.

The formal admonishment targets Rep. Chuy García, who announced his retirement earlier this month only after the candidate qualification period closed — all but assuring his chief of staff would succeed him in the solid blue Chicago district.

What has roiled Democrats is who forced the issue: Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, who introduced the rebuke Wednesday under a fast-track process bypassing House leadership. That she did so as House Democratic leaders moved to focus attention on GOP disarray on health care and the Jeffrey Epstein case has further exacerbated the tensions.

A vote to kill the disapproval resolution backed by House Democratic leaders failed on a 211-206 vote Monday, with Rep. Jared Golden of Maine being the only other Democrat joining Gluesenkamp Perez to proceed with the symbolic measure.

That tees up debate and a final vote as soon as Tuesday. Some Democrats granted anonymity to describe private conversations with colleagues said they expected many more defections on that vote.

“You don’t get your cake and eat it, too,” Gluesenkamp Perez said during a debate that followed the vote. “If you are not going to run, you don’t choose your successor — no matter the work you have done beforehand.”

Although some in the party privately disagreed with García’s decision to retire after only the filing deadline, many House Democrats bristled at Gluesenkamp Perez’s decision to call it up on a day when the party was attempting to project unity at the end of the record government shutdown.

Many also cited García’s own response, saying his decision to retire was based on his health and family needs. His office has forcefully pushed back against any accusations of wrongdoing, blasting out talking points to Capitol Hill offices Monday.

“There was absolutely nothing illegal or unethical,” said Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.). “This is entirely based on an assumption about what one member believes were his intentions, when in fact, he has clearly stated he needed the time to make up his mind, and he was going through a lot of personal difficulties in his life trying to decide if he was going to run again.”

García spoke out on his own behalf Monday night after the vote, saying that “our job comes second to the people waiting at home.”

“When a colleague chooses his family, that shouldn’t be a moment for division — it should be a moment for understanding and unity,” he said. “One day you might be the one making that choice, and you shouldn’t have to debate it on the House floor.”

But many in Democratic circles have spoken up on Gluesenkamp Perez’s behalf for calling out García for essentially hand-picking his successor, including Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey and veteran Chicago political strategist David Axelrod. Purple-district Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.) said Monday she had “a lot of questions about the timing of what he did.”

Even those who defended García registered some distaste for how he engineered his departure from the House.

“I have tremendous sympathy for the family situation that Chuy has. I also think we have a long history [in Illinois] of greasing the skids for successors, which is not a good way for democracy to work,” said Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.). “But I don’t think that this is something that should really warrant the attention of the House.”

“I don’t think it was a long decision,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), whose own retirement has kicked off a hotly contested primary, of García’s deliberations. “I don’t know if it was as short as it appears, either.”

Yet Democratic leaders firmly backed García, who remains popular with his Democratic colleagues. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, of which García and Gluesenkamp Perez are both members, released a statement last week “in solidarity with” García. And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries gave the 69-year-old his full-throated backing in comments to reporters Monday.

“He’s been a progressive champion in disenfranchised communities for decades, including during his time in Congress, and he’s made life better for the American people,” Jeffries said, adding that he believed the disapproval measure would be successfully tabled.

Gluesenkamp Perez, who represents a swing district and belongs to the moderate Blue Dog faction, has a much less cozy relationship with her colleagues. She had a testy confrontation with House Minority Whip Katherine Clark on the House floor after introducing her measure. Clark later told reporters that lawmakers “should be focused on the issue of health care.”

Gluesenkamp Perez has doubled down on her criticism of her fellow Democrats. In a CNN interview Sunday, she said she understood the desire to have a unified message as a party. But, she added, “When you see things like this … it’s not just about having affordable stuff or holding another team accountable, it’s that we want leadership. We want a team that calls a spade a spade.”

It’s not the first time she’s cut against her party. Earlier this year, she unsuccessfully attempted to add congressional ethics standards relating to cognitive ability to an appropriations bill. And she was one of a half-dozen Democrats who voted with Republicans to pass the funding bill ending the government shutdown.

Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.

Capitol Hill Republicans are rapidly falling in line behind a bill that would force the disclosure of Justice Department files concerning Jeffrey Epstein after President Donald Trump signaled Monday he would sign it.

Two prominent House committee chairs said they planned to support the bill compelling the release of materials related to the late convicted sex offender, and GOP leaders are exploring whether to advance the measure under special fast-track rules later this week.

Meanwhile, Trump’s sudden support for the measure — after a monthslong campaign to kill it — has transformed its prospects in the Senate, where it was long assumed Republicans would simply bottle it up. Now a growing number of GOP senators are open to giving the bill a vote, and some are wondering whether it might simply be sent to Trump’s desk by unanimous consent.

It’s a remarkable reversal of fortune for the effort to disgorge the “Epstein files,” prompted by a successful bipartisan effort to circumvent Speaker Mike Johnson and force the legislation to the floor.

Recognizing that House approval of the legislation was all but certain, Trump abandoned his efforts to derail the bill in a social media post Sunday night. Asked in the Oval Office on Monday if he would sign it, Trump said, “Sure I would.”

Some of his closest allies in the House said Monday they were ready to follow the president’s lead.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said in an interview Monday afternoon he will vote for the Epstein bill.

“I think everyone will vote for it,” Jordan said, adding he agreed with Trump that Republicans need “to get this ridiculous thing past us.”

Asked if he expected any changes to the bill authored by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) before it gets a floor vote, Jordan replied: “No.”

House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), whose panel has released thousands of Epstein emails that have heightened scrutiny of Trump’s dealings with the disgraced financier, also said he would vote for the bill. He, too, suggested the vote would not be close.

“I mean, I think everybody’s gonna vote for it,” Comer said in an interview.

“It’s just a show vote, you know? I mean, we’re the ones that have already gotten all the new information from the estate,” he said, touting his own panel’s probe into the matter.

Comer also questioned the practical impact of the legislation: “I think the Department of Justice has turned over what they’re legally allowed to turn over.”

Trump suggested as much in his Sunday night post telling lawmakers to support the bill, with many Republicans skeptical about how much new information the department would release if the bill passes.

GOP leaders have tentatively planned to advance the Epstein bill by first adopting a procedural measure in the Rules Committee Monday night that would incorporate a separate procedural measure from Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). If adopted early Tuesday afternoon, the House would immediately proceed to debate and a final vote on the Epstein bill.

House Republican leaders also discussed the option Monday to put the bill up for a vote Tuesday or Wednesday under so-called suspension of the rules, a fast-track procedure requiring a two-thirds majority vote for passage. No final decision has been made, though, according to three people granted anonymity to describe private leadership deliberations.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune isn’t currently expected to weigh in on whether he will bring up the Epstein measure until after it passes the House, according to a person granted anonymity to disclose internal strategy.

But Trump’s support for passing the Epstein files resolution has changed the dynamic inside the Senate GOP, where top Republicans have previously downplayed the chances of the chamber acting on the House bill, according to two other people granted anonymity to comment on the sensitive matter.

A growing number of GOP senators are open to giving the resolution a vote — pointing to both Trump’s comments and interest from their own constituents in seeing Congress take action on Epstein.

“I don’t have any problems with data coming out. So lots of people ran on this issue in the last election, so I don’t have any problems with us voting on it,” Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) told reporters Monday.

Senate Republicans will not return to Washington until Tuesday evening, when they are expected to discuss next steps. The only way for the resolution to pass the Senate this week would be with buy-in from every senator to either speed up a vote or skip one altogether with a vote by unanimous consent, which would let it clear the chamber without a roll call vote.

Congressional passage — and a Trump signature — would not be the end of the Epstein saga on Capitol Hill, however.

Jordan said he plans to have Attorney General Pam Bondi back before his panel for a rescheduled oversight hearing “as soon as possible.” Questions about the Epstein case are sure to take center stage in any hearing, as they did when Bondi recently appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Lawmakers are also bracing for the possibility that Trump might pardon Epstein’s convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, a possibility Trump has repeatedly declined to rule out .

Comer responded sharply when asked if he’d support a pardon for Maxwell: “No, I do not,” he said. “I’ve already said that.”

President Donald Trump’s call for House Republicans to support releasing Jeffrey Epstein-related documents was a stunning capitulation after a months-long campaign to block the vote.

It was also a specific defeat for Trump at the hands of a despised GOP opponent: Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

“He got tired of me winning,” Massie said of Trump’s U-turn in an interview Monday morning.

Insisting “I DON’T CARE!” in a late-night Truth Social post, Trump was bowing to the inevitable — a broad House Republican mutiny on a vote that was only scheduled because Massie forced it. It was the result of Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) launching a discharge petition aimed at sidestepping senior GOP leaders who desperately wanted to avoid bringing the issue to the House floor.

The campaign to avoid the vote got remarkably ugly in the days before Trump finally conceded, with the president personally attacking Massie for recently remarrying after the sudden death last summer of his wife of more than 30 years. Just hours before Trump’s reversal, one of his top political advisers called him “garbage” in an X post.

That adviser, Chris LaCivita, is carrying out a Trump-ordered effort to unseat Massie from the rural northern Kentucky seat he has held since 2012. Trump recently endorsed a challenger, former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, in the GOP primary.

Massie has not flinched from the threats. Politically, he has seen the best fundraising of his congressional career, entering October with more than $2 million in his campaign coffers. As for the personal attacks, Massie said Monday he and his wife were laughing them off.

“She said, ‘I told you we should have invited him to the wedding!’” Massie said.

Massie’s efforts around Epstein have been no laughing matter for the White House, with top aides and legislative affairs staff furiously scrambling late last week to head off the completion of the discharge petition.

That included pulling Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) into the White House Situation Room in the final hours to try to persuade her to remove her name from the petition she had signed alongside GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Nancy Mace of South Carolina, a survivor of sexual assault. All three have cast their support for the petition as an effort to protect women.

The effort failed. The three female House Republicans held firm, and the petition notched its final and 218th signature Wednesday moments after Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) was sworn in following her September special election win.Despite a final barrage of attacks from the president over the weekend — which included Trump calling his once-close ally Greene a “traitor” and threatening a GOP primary against her — backers of the Massie-Khanna discharge effort knew they had the president beat.

There were emerging signs that it was Massie, not Trump, who had his fingers closer to the pulse of the MAGA base.

Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), a top Trump ally in the House, posted online he would be “voting NO on the Epstein Hoax” as he sought to rally Republicans to “stand by” the president’s side. Nehls received an immediate barrage of online pushback, suggesting a position against full transparency on Epstein would not be sustainable.

Massie, in conjunction with the three GOP women who signed the discharge petition, have sought to put Epstein’s victims front and center amid the battle. They invited several to Capitol Hill in September to keep the fight in the public eye as members returned from the summer recess. They are tentatively scheduled to appear together again Tuesday ahead of the final House vote.

“This shouldn’t have been a battle, and unfortunately, it has been one,” Greene said as she left a meeting with Epstein victims in September.

Yet for months, senior White House officials labored to convince rank-and-file Republicans to keep their names off Massie’s discharge effort. That, according to five people granted anonymity to discuss private conversations, included warnings that any effort to support an Epstein vote would be viewed as a direct and personal move against the president.

Trump has denied wrongdoing in relation to the Epstein allegations, and no evidence has suggested that Trump took part in Epstein’s trafficking operation. The president also has maintained that he and Epstein had a falling out years ago.

“President Trump has been consistently calling for transparency related to the Epstein files,” said Abigail Jackson, a deputy White House press secretary, in a statement. “The Democrats knew about Epstein and his victims for years and did nothing to help them until they thought they could weaponize the files against the President.”

In an effort to undercut Massie’s effort, GOP leaders and the Justice Department worked to release 30,000 pages of DOJ documents in early September, right after Massie could begin gathering signatures on his petition. But lawmakers quickly realized most of the materials had been previously released.

Around that time, the White House’s key legislative affairs liaison to the House, Jeff Freeland, was on the Hill, seeking to head off Massie right after lawmakers returned from recess.

“Jeff introduced himself to me outside of the Capitol, and he said I was moving too fast for him,” Massie said in the interview. “I told him I made a mistake by getting 12 sponsors [on the Epstein bill], because I had given him his whip list to block the most likely signers” of the discharge petition.

Over the past week, it became clear to House GOP leaders that they would no longer be able to keep the Epstein measure off the House floor. Shortly after Grijalva signed, Speaker Mike Johnson announced he would expedite the vote, holding it this week rather than next month as required under the discharge petition. Still, with Trump opposing the effort, he maintained Massie’s legislation was reckless and “moot” now that the House Oversight Committee was heading up its own probe.

Last week, Johnson tried calling one of the three GOP women who had signed on to Massie’s discharge petition. The member looked down at her phone and let the call go to voicemail, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter who declined to identify the specific lawmaker.

Trump’s Sunday night edict was directed only at House Republicans, according to Trump officials. The president could order the release of the entire Epstein document trove at any time, vote or no vote. So far, he’s declined to do so.

Senate GOP leaders have not committed to holding a vote on the Epstein bill if the House passes it as expected this week. While Republicans still widely assume the measure will die in the other chamber, it will be hard to argue to GOP senators that they should take the political heat while their House counterparts get to take a consequence-free vote.

Massie has been working with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who authored a Senate version of the bill, to bring the matter to a head across the Rotunda. Senate Democrats are already exploring options to force a vote in the coming weeks.

Massie said last week that the Epstein drama reflects how Republicans are starting to take stock of a post-Trump political world.

“They need to look past 2028 and wonder if they want this on their record for the rest of their political career,” he said.

“Right now, it’s OK to cover up for pedophiles, because the president will take up for you if you’re in the red districts — that’s the deal,” Massie told reporters last week. “But that deal only works as long as he’s popular or president. … If they’re thinking about the right thing to do, that’s pretty obvious: You vote for it.”

President Donald Trump is suddenly reversing his monthslong campaign to bottle up a bipartisan effort to disclose federal records dealing with Jeffrey Epstein — just as scores of House Republicans prepare to defy his demands concerning the late convicted sex offender.

“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax,” he wrote Sunday night on Truth Social, adding, “I DON’T CARE! All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT” discussing economic issues.

The U-turn came after months of drama inside the House GOP over a bill that would compel the Justice Department to release its entire Epstein file. An effort by Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson to prevent a floor vote on the measureimploded last week amid an intense White House push to try to keep Republicans in line. The vote is now expected Tuesday.

At the end of last week, Johnson and senior House leaders appeared powerless to stopperhaps as many as 100 Republicans from breaking ranks and voting with Democrats to release the files. The situation worsened over the weekend, as Trump lashed out in deeply personal terms at Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who is leading the effort to force a House vote on Epstein, and publicly spurned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a one-time close ally who has recently broken with Trump on Epstein and other matters.

Even before that, some members closest to House GOP leadership were mulling whether to support Massie’s effort.

Those include lawmakers like Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who as Rules Committee chair is among the most trusted members of Johnson’s inner circle. She declined to say in an interview last week whether she would support Massie’s measure. But she suggested she favored it coming to a vote, which GOP leaders expect to happen Tuesday.

“I’m a big full disclosure person,” Foxx said. “I have nothing to hide, and I assume nobody else does, either.”

Rep. Blake Moore of Utah, the Republican conference vice chair, said in an interview last week he normally doesn’t discuss how he will vote. Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, the House GOP policy chair, acknowledged “a lot of consternation” inside the party about what to do.

Asked about his own vote, Hern said, “We’ll make that decision at game time.”

The internal GOP strife underscores how politically toxic Trump’s association with Epstein has become, especially after Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released an email Wednesday in which Epstein suggested thatTrump “knew about the girls.”

Evidence has not linked Trump to wrongdoing in the Epstein case, and the president has maintained that he and the disgraced financier had a falling out years ago.

Trump appeared trained on keeping the defections to a minimum as recently as Friday, when he sent multiple Truth Social posts where he accused Democrats of pushing an “Epstein Hoax … in order to deflect from all of their bad policies and losses” and ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi toinvestigate Democrats’ connections to Epstein. The posts, according to three Republicans granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, were part of an effort to limit mass GOP defections on this week’s vote.

“Some Weak Republicans have fallen into their clutches because they are soft and foolish,” he wrote, telling them, “don’t waste your time with Trump. I have a Country to run!”

Trump normally enjoys an iron grip over the House, where Republicans are rarely anything but subservient to the president. He’s seen hints of pushback recently onkey nominees and his demand toeliminate the Senate filibuster.

But he’s lost all control over the chamber when it comes to the Epstein matter, and Hill Republicans have grown increasingly wary of Trump’s fixation on the issue, according to five other people granted anonymity to describe internal GOP conversations.

One senior Republican marveled at Trump’s “erratic” and unsettling effort last week to kill the bipartisan end-around led by Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). That included pulling Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) into the White House Situation Room to try to remove her name from the discharge petition she had signed alongside GOP Reps. Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

The effort failed, and Trump administration officials privately warned that Mace’s defiance is likely to cost her an endorsement in the South Carolina governor’s race. One of her Republican opponents in that campaign, Rep. Ralph Norman, suggested he may not vote for the bill in an interview last week: “Oh, I don’t know. We’ll see.”

A major source of Trump’s obsession over the House vote is Massie, who has opposed a raft of major GOP legislation, including spending bills and the megabill that passed this summer. Trump is nowintent on ousting Massie in next year’s primary, but the Kentucky Republican has now managed to outmaneuver the president despite Trump and Johnson trying to hold him off for months.

Massie said in an interview that the Epstein vote will reflect how Republicans are starting to take stock of a post-Trump world.

“They need to look past 2028 and wonder if they want this on their record for the rest of their political career,” he said.

“Right now, it’s okay to cover up for pedophiles because the president will take up for you if you’re in the red districts — that’s the deal,” Massie later told reporters. “But that deal only works as long as he’s popular or president. … If they’re thinking about the right thing to do, that’s pretty obvious: You vote for it.”

That is reflected in the broad swath of House Republicans who said last week they were ready to back Massie, ranging from conservative hard-liners to moderate dealmakers to endangered swing-seat targets, including Rep. Tom Barrett of Michigan and Reps. Rob Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania.

“If it’s on the floor, I’ll be voting for it,” Mackenzie said.

On the right flank, Reps. Eli Crane of Arizona, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Eric Burlison of Missouri and Tim Burchett of Tennessee said they planned to support the measure. (Burchett sought to pass it on a voice vote last week, but Democrats insisted on a recorded vote.)

More centrist-leaning Reps. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, Kevin Kiley of California and Don Bacon of Nebraska said they would vote for the bill. Bacon, who is retiring, suggested the last-minute pressure campaign from the White House was ill-advised.

“The train has already left the station, so we should move on,” he said.

Johnson, arguing Republicans have been “for maximum transparency of the Epstein files from the very beginning,” made clear last week he would not vote for the bill himself. He has argued thatthe bill would not do enough to protect Epstein’s victims, a claim Massie and Khanna reject.

He and Trump still had good reason to try and avoid a total GOP jailbreak: A big vote could increase pressure on the Senate to take up the bill and send it to the president’s desk, forcing an embarrassing veto that would prolong the controversy.

Senate GOP leaders have not committed to holding a vote, and Republicans widely expect the measure to die in the chamber. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who authored a Senate version of the bill, is coordinating with Massie, and Democrats have some options to force the issue, including seeking to force a vote by unanimous consent or to amend unrelated legislation.

Some key GOP blocs remained split on the matter, including the hard-line House Freedom Caucus and the Republican Study Committee, composed of 189 conservatives. But the legislation is likely to get universal Democratic support in addition to considerable GOP backing, Khanna said before Trump reversed course.

“While there might be pressure from the White House, there is even more pressure from the public,” he said. “People are sick of our system protecting the Epstein class.”

Nicholas Wu and Hailey Fuchs contributed to this report.

Rep. Ro Khanna is buckling down on criticisms of Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, throwing his support behind bolder Democrats as he calls for a change in Democratic leadership.

The California Democrat told host Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that though Schumer was “terrific” under former President Joe Biden, the New York lawmaker no longer inspires confidence in Democratic voters.

“The question is what is the future of Democratic leadership. Who is going to be effective? And most Democrats around the country just don’t think that person is Chuck Schumer,” Khanna said.

“I mean, he doesn’t inspire confidence. He’s not bold. He’s out of touch with the grassroots. He’s someone who cheer-led us into the war in Iraq. He doesn’t have the moral clarity on Gaza. He couldn’t say [Zohran] Mamdani’s name. And this was the final straw, where he was not strong on fighting for health care.”

Following the Senate’s vote to advance a variation on the House-passed stopgap last week — which passed only with the help of seven Democrats and one independent who caucuses with the party — Khanna accused Schumer of being ineffective and called for his removal.

On Sunday, Khanna praised some leading Senate Democrats, calling Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) a “top leader” and Sens. Cory Booker (N.J.) and Brian Schatz (Hawaii) “dynamic” as well as saying he “appreciates” the ideology of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).

Some Democrats have rushed to Schumer’s defense.

In a separate interview with Welker on Sunday, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) — who voted for the resolution — said Schumer has been an “effective leader.”

Kaine also revealed he told Schumer ahead of the vote that he didn’t need a “permission slip” from the minority leader.

“Being the minority leader is tough,” said Kaine. “We don’t control what’s on the floor. And you know if you’re dealing with senators … it’s not exactly like senators just get in line and follow the leader.”

“I don’t tell Ro Khanna or AOC or anybody else who you should pick as your House leader because I got a full-time job being a senator,” Kaine added. “I don’t need to freelance opinions about House leadership. They should focus on their own leadership and let senators do what we need to do to keep this country moving forward.”