Democrats won big in the midterm elections, securing majorities in the House and the Senate. Now, party leaders are laying out what they plan to do with that power when the new Congress kicks off in January.
“Relief is on the way,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer declared on Wednesday. “We are going to work hard to drive costs down with the president or without him, period.”
The reality is that Democrats will face barriers as they pursue their priorities. President Donald Trump has the power to veto bills that he doesn’t like, and 60 votes are needed to advance most legislation in the Senate, requiring at least some bipartisan support.
Many of the priorities Democrats laid out on Wednesday are likely to face resistance from Trump. They include restoring enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act enrollees, reversing Medicaid spending cuts, undoing tariffs, and ending the war with Iran.
Schumer suggested that Democrats could withhold defense funding as leverage.
“The Founding Fathers had the power of the purse as one of the ways of deterring a president who does war without the consent of the American people,” Schumer said.
Democrats are also pledging to ramp up Congressional oversight into the president and his allies.
In a statement on Wednesday, Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, who is poised to become chair of the House Oversight Committee, vowed to focus on “the Trump Crime Family, corporate corruption, DHS and ICE abuses, and the cover-up of the Epstein files.”
“Lawyer up,” Garcia wrote in a social media post directed at the White House.
Democrats have mixed views on whether to pursue another impeachment against Trump, who was acquitted by the Senate twice during his first term.
“Are we taking it off the table? No way are we taking it off the table, but are we obsessed with it the way Donald Trump is? No, not at all,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, who is positioned to become the next chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told CNN on Wednesday.
Raskin said impeachment is “not a panacea” and should be weighed against other priorities, given Congress’ limited time and resources.
“If they make the next two years about retribution and lawfare and partisan games, every American will suffer by that,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson warned on Tuesday.
As Democrats enter a new chapter on Capitol Hill, the party will welcome newly-elected members from across the ideological spectrum, from centrists who flipped deep-red states to progressives who campaigned on major changes like “Medicare for All” and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Asked whether Democrats will be able to reconcile those differences to deliver on the range of promises that candidates made this election cycle, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said, “I know people want to make a big deal about the small differences in this party, but those are rather small and minor compared to the big issues that unite Democrats, and will actually help form an agenda that will pass in this newfound majority.”
