Congress
Democrats are ready to run Congress — and investigate all things Trump
Democrats are on track to win complete control of Congress, setting the stage for an unrelenting oversight platform in the next Congress that will zero in on both the Trump administration and the special interests that Republicans were reluctant to scrutinize over the last two years.
According to interviews with more than a dozen lawmakers, aides and attorneys, Democrats plan to use their new subpoena power and agenda-setting authority to target possible corruption among members of President Donald Trump’s family, Elon Musk’s leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency and the Department of Homeland Security’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.
They could demand testimony from the chief executives of Big Tech on social media addiction, the dangers of artificial intelligence and the negative impacts data centers are having on local communities. They could haul in the heads of leading oil companies to answer for allegations the industry waged a decadeslong climate misinformation campaign to continue reaping massive profits.
And these are just a few items on the to-do list.
“I’d expect some pretty epic battles between the administration and Congress, as well as private sector targets that are prepared to fight back against Congress,” said Aaron Cutler, a partner at Hogan Lovells Cadwalader and former aide to former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
Many major Washington law firms, expecting a favorable night for Democrats, have already started hiring experienced lawyers to help their clients navigate new congressional scrutiny, Cutler added.
“LAWYER UP,” Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, posted on social media Tuesday as the party’s House majority was coming into focus.
The risk, however, is that Democrats’ vast investigative ambitions backfire, sucking up oxygen that might otherwise be spent trying to legislate. Though Trump is unlikely to sign many, if any, bills Democrats send to his desk that aren’t considered “must-pass,” Democrats will still be under pressure to show they can do something, even if it’s just laying the groundwork for a legislative agenda the party can enact if they also retake the White House in 2028.
“I think we would put the priority on things that have had an impact on cost of living for the American people — so any kind of corruption with the administration that has raised costs,” said Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who, as a member of the House, led impeachment proceedings against the president in the first Trump administration.
Schiff suggested one such potential line of inquiry could be into Amazon.
“If federal contracting decisions are made not because a vendor has the best product or is offering it for the best price, but because, in the case of Amazon, it was willing to pay $40 million for a crappy movie about Melania [Trump], is that resulting in Amazon getting an advantage in cloud computing contracts or other defense contracts — that’s the kind of thing that costs taxpayers money, costs consumers more money, and there have been so many business payoffs of one sort or another,” said Schiff, referring to the first lady.
Over in the House, Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wants to look into surveillance pricing, in which AI tools track a customer’s online habits to determine how much they should be paying for basic goods like groceries — and potentially driving up costs for everyone in the process. It’s an issue that energizes progressives, like Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar of Texas, as well as Republicans: Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri held a hearing on the issue in August.
Democrats are likewise expected to build on their oversight of data centers, including operators’ commitments to cover the full energy costs associated with their infrastructure, according to several senior committee Democrats and Democratic congressional aides.
They say they will also try to expose ways in which the administration’s actions could be contributing to high energy prices and more pollution, from the Iran war to the cancellation and slow-walking of renewable energy projects. Inquiries into prescription drug pricing could also lead to policy recommendations aimed at lowering health care costs.
But Democrats also could be heading towards a clash with some members intent on pursuing a more partisan, take-no-prisoners approach toward their oversight duties.
For instance, Garcia and Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committees, have made clear they consider the Jeffrey Epstein investigation unfinished business. Raskin, a week before the midterms, released a staff report detailing sexual assault allegations against Trump by five separate women in a possible preview of the lines of inquiry Democrats could pursue.
The possibility that Democrats could undertake politically divisive impeachment proceedings against any number of Cabinet officials also looms large. Some Democrats are eager to oust the president himself, with Raskin saying over the summer he would not rule that out — even though the party is certain to remain well short of the two-thirds needed to convict in the Senate.
“I want to go straight to the top: Donald Trump,” Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said in an interview regarding impeachment. “And then everybody who was complicit in allowing him to do what he’s done, or working in concert with him on illegal things.”
One person in Trump’s orbit likely to absorb much of Democrats’ scrutiny is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is already the subject of a House impeachment effort.
Hegseth and the Defense Department could face even more scrutiny next year if Rep. Adam Smith, the Washington Democrat in line to be the next chair of the House Armed Services Committee, decides to revive a subcommittee dedicated solely to Pentagon oversight issues.
Smith will need to balance a need to reach bipartisan compromise on an annual defense policy package with the whole list of Pentagon controversies his members want to pursue. That includes a full accounting of the cost and impact of the Iran war, politicization of the military and Hegseth’s own performance.
“To be candid, Donald Trump should have already fired this guy,” Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, said in an interview. “I think this Iran war has been disastrous. It’s a major part of contributing to the cost of living emergency. American people are mad about it.”
On the House Ways and Means Committee, Democrats want to put forward new proposals to expand the popular child tax credit and beef up breaks for child-care expenses, and potentially work with Republicans on tax issues relating to retirees. The Senate Finance Committee could take up an idea floated over the summer by the likely incoming Senate Democratic Leader, Chuck Schumer, to quadruple a tax on stock buybacks by corporations.
But Democratic taxwriters are just as likely to spend next year scrutinizing the controversial decision to excuse Trump from IRS audits as part of a broader settlement between the president and the Justice Department, as well as the tax agency’s collaboration with Homeland Security to crack down on illegal immigration. They’ve also signaled plans to look into the tech industry’s use of corporate tax breaks, including whether Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s should be allowed to claim a research subsidy in conjunction with his company’s data center construction.
Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who are expected to return as chairs of House Ways and Means and Senate Finance, could face renewed calls to seize Trump’s still-hidden tax returns — a demand both men contended with during the first Trump administration.
The Senate’s primary oversight panel, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, could center on DHS’s execution of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda.
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), who is in line to chair Homeland Security next year, has spent the past year building a team to help her use her position to “investigate and hold President Trump and his Administration accountable for its widespread corruption and wrongdoing,” said a person granted anonymity to describe her private planning. Members of that team have experience working in the White House, DHS and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Hassan’s staff, the person said, will deploy resources to focus on “egregious” wrongdoing where there is “clear disapproval from the majority of Americans.”
Ari Hawkins, Andres Picon, Alfred Ng, Brian Faler, Connor O’Brien, Gabby Miller and Owen Dahlkamp contributed to this report.