House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) will speak with reporters Thursday afternoon as the government shutdown stretched into its ninth day.

Jeffries has doubled down in recent days on Democrats’ demands that expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies be addressed in any continuing resolution. On Wednesday, the lawmaker and Republican Rep. Mike Lawler (N.Y.) traded barbs over the position after the Democratic leader rejected a proposed short-term expansion of the health premiums.

In the wake of the confrontation, Jeffries denounced Lawler’s criticism and called him a “malignant clown.”

His comments also come after the Senate failed for a seventh time to move the needle on a stopgap funding bill to reopen the government.

The press conference is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. EDT.

Watch the live video above.