WASHINGTON — Democrats in Congress gained the power Tuesday night to more forcefully investigate President Trump and rein in his agenda, setting up confrontations that are likely to define the final two years of his presidency.
As party leaders on Wednesday celebrated retaking the House and Senate, they vowed to put Trump and his administration on the defensive with subpoenas and hearings, a role that voters made clear they want them to play. But they also said the top priority would be the issue that carried them to power: making life more affordable.
“We are going to work hard to drive costs down with the president or without him, period,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, who is poised to become Senate majority leader, said at a news conference.
Schumer’s fellow New Yorker and the House Democratic leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, echoed those priorities on CNN: “We ran on affordability, we won decisively on affordability, and now we have a responsibility to govern on affordability.”
With power split between the legislative and executive branches, to what degree Washington avoids gridlock will depend on how Trump wields his veto pen and how the Democrats negotiate with him — and how they follow through on pledges to investigate what they called a corrupt administration.
“Make no mistake, whenever Trump defies the will of the American people or the law, we will launch investigations, take him to court and entangle him in legislative razor wire,” Schumer said. “The days of Trump’s supplicate Senate are over.”
Trump, for his part, congratulated Democrats, but on Fox News said, “They are in control, but they’re really not in control. They can send over 50 different, great bills that they’re all excited about, and I send them back with a nice stamp veto.”
Trump added that he has “friends” in the Democratic Party and is willing to make deals. “I don’t want to be just sitting there for two years vetoing everything,” he said.
Schumer argued that the Democrats’ decisive victories show the president’s weakness and give them legislative leverage, and he warned Republicans against resisting their agenda.
“If they continue to embrace Trump, they are going to be following him right over the cliff, as this election has shown, and it will get even worse for them,” he said.
After four years out of power, House Democrats plan to carry out plans they have spent months mapping out — investigating the Trump family’s business dealings, allegedly corrupt deals by administration officials and suspected abuses by federal immigration agents.
In a sign of what is to come, Rep. Robert Garcia of Long Beach, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, wrote on X: “LAWYER UP.”
Democrats also intend to summon top Cabinet officials to testify on many hot-button issues, such as the war in Iran.
They could also could bring oil, insurance, pharmaceutical and other industries under congressional scrutiny. That oversight tactic could help Democrats push on lowering costs regardless of whether they can get Trump to sign legislation.
The Democrat majorities in both chambers are substantial. In the Senate, where Republicans held a 53-to-47 majority going into Tuesday, Democrats have won 54 seats to Republicans’ 44 as of Wednesday, according to Associated Press projections.
In the House, Republicans entered the election with 218 seats to Democrats 214. Now, Democrats have 232 seats, well past the 218 needed for a majority, and some races remain undecided.
The Senate majority hands Democrats the ability to block his judicial and other nominations — including appointments to the Supreme Court. Democrats do not have the numbers, however, to reach the two-thirds majority needed to override Trump’s veto.
The Democratic victory will also likely kick off a new chapter of the party’s tug-of-war over its identity. A group of insurgent progressives, several of them democratic socialists who defeated establishment-backed candidates in primaries, will join a caucus whose majority includes moderates from Republican-leaning districts.
Holding together a caucus that stretches from democratic socialists to centrists is likely to be the first big major test for Jeffries, who is poised to become speaker. Much of that balancing act could run through California, more than any other state. Its Democrats form the largest bloc in the new majority, and several are in line for powerful posts.
Among them is Garcia, who is in line to lead the oversight committee and vowed last month to investigate possible corruption by the Trump family and administration officials.
The committee, Garcia said, will also “focus on issues around the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and on corporate corruption. But our fourth major investigative area is going to be on the abuses of ICE and DHS.”
Garcia said the committee has flagged more than 1,000 instances of “credible, verifiable abuses by federal immigration agents,” and that scrutinizing those examples will be a key part of the committee’s work in the coming months. He added that he also would like to look into how white nationalist groups have played a role in recruiting federal immigration agents.
As Democrats lay the groundwork for investigations, many in the party are wary of the most aggressive tool available to them: impeachment. Trump, the only president to have been impeached twice, has said it would be “very unfair” if Democrats move to impeach him a third time.
Some Democrats have floated impeachment as an option, but others argue it could distract from their affordability agenda.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, which plays a key role in the impeachment process, told MS NOW in August that Trump is “very eager” for Democrats to impeach him so he can mobilize his political base.
“We’re not going to play into the game,” he said.
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