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Democrats won big in the midterm elections, but with President Trump still in the White House, the next Congress is unlikely to see much major legislation signed into law.
Instead, expect to see a lot more oversight. With public corruption and failing leadership as two of the top issues concerning voters, congressional Democrats have an ambitious agenda of investigations planned for their return to power in the House and Senate.
Their new majorities mean that they will have at their disposal the full investigatory powers of the Congress, which include the ability to subpoena records for review and compel individuals to testify before lawmakers.
Rep. Robert Garcia, the California Democrat who is expected to become chair of the House Oversight committee, put it bluntly in a statement: "LAWYER UP."
The Democratic Party has a long list of investigative targets. According to conversations with Democratic House and Senate committee staffers, here are some areas the party is likely to prioritize in its oversight work.
Jeffrey Epstein
Among Democrats' primary targets: the administration's handling of — and connections to — the scandals of late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Bipartisan congressional action forced the Trump administration to release extensive documents tied to federal investigations of Epstein's crimes and other alleged offenses, though Democrats maintain that many of the records were improperly redacted or withheld from the public. They also say that the Justice Department has worked to shield Trump from damaging allegations — claims that the department's leadership has denied.
In the new Congress, lawmakers are expected to probe ties between Epstein and other powerful figures, including the president himself, which they say is part of an effort to secure accountability for victims of Epstein's crimes.
In connection with an October report, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said, "Donald Trump says he knew Jeffrey Epstein 'just like everybody in Palm Beach knew him.' Not exactly."
"Evidence involving 11 women tells a completely different and far more damning story about their relationship and the abuse of young women and girls that took place in their network," Raskin said.
The president, for his part, has long denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein and has maintained that their relationship ended before the disgraced financier was indicted for soliciting prostitution in 2016.
Public corruption
Democrats also plan to continue their own investigations into what they describe as efforts by administration officials to advance the financial interests of the president, his family, themselves and close allies.
In particular, Democrats highlight the president's continued business interests, including Truth Social, a number of cryptocurrency projects and overseas projects involving his sons and powerful foreign investors.
Garcia on the House Oversight Committee, has gone further, linking the high cost of living to politicians on both sides of the aisle acting in their own self-interest rather than the interest of the American public.
"Millions of dollars in dark money are flowing throughout our political system. Some members of Congress may be trading stocks based on information the public doesn't have. The revolving door between the government and lobbying for large corporations keeps spinning," he wrote last month in an MS Now opinion piece. "Americans are dealing with a cost-of-living crisis, and these abuses of power are making it worse. All the while, the wealthiest people in our country are richer than ever."
Immigration
Trump returned to office promising a stricter approach to immigration in the United States. But public support for his deportation agenda has cratered in the wake of a number of high-profile incidents involving federal immigration enforcement personnel, including the killing of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota this year.
While in the minority, Democrats have publicly documented hundreds of incidents of alleged abuse and misconduct by immigration agents and will continue that work in the new term. They are expected to hold hearings on incidents of violence, which have largely gone without congressional oversight in the first two years of the president's second term.
Democrats held a field hearing in Austin, Texas, in October on shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said following the hearing that "ICE is a lawless, rogue agency that is causing generational trauma in communities across the country. House Democrats today are doing the oversight work that Republicans refuse to do — and we will continue to do everything possible to protect our communities from Trump's mass deportation agenda."
Public health
In June, Democrats released a report documenting how they believe that the Trump administration has undermined public health infrastructure and U.S. scientific research into chronic and deadly diseases. That work will continue in the new year, with a particular focus on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Executive power
Trump's muscular use of executive power has been unrestrained by the Republican congressional majority. That is expected to change.
Committee staffers indicate that the president's pet projects — remodeling the White House's East Wing, building a monumental arch, renovating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, shuttering the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, paving the White House's Rose Garden, among others — will face robust congressional oversight.
The projects are entwined in a larger constitutional fight over the appropriations process: Congress has the sole authority to decide how taxpayer dollars are spent, and the White House has repeatedly disregarded its declarations and rescinded billions of dollars in congressionally approved spending.
Iran war
Constitutional authorities delegated to Congress will also take center stage in Democrats' U.S.-Iran war oversight. The legislature has the sole authority to declare war, and presidents are required to seek authorization for the use of military force, something that has not happened for any of the Trump administration's military campaigns this term. Democrats also plan to press Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, on the war's cost to the American public.
Even before the Democrats take control, a House impeachment vote on Hegseth could come during the lame-duck session.
More war powers votes — efforts to force the president to end the conflict, some of which have attracted limited bipartisan support — are also expected. While previous war powers votes have passed, the votes are largely symbolic and do not carry the weight of law.
Elon Musk
Technology titan Elon Musk has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Republican politics but has lately drawn the ire of Democrats after interruptions to his satellite internet service provider stymied Ukraine's military operations against Russia.
"We will ensure that the 120th Congress will closely scrutinize federal funding awarded to Mr. Musk's businesses, including whether these companies meet their contractual obligations, and whether adequate safeguards exist against political interference, arbitrary service restrictions, and misuse of federal resources," a group of Silicon Valley House Democrats wrote in a letter to the White House in October.
There could also be investigations into the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency effort that decimated the government workforce in the first year of Trump's second term but failed to deliver on the promised trillion dollars in cost savings. It has remained a focus of House Oversight Committee Democrats during their time in the minority.
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