Democrats will not hold the gavels until the 120th Congress convenes on Jan. 3, 2027, but their leaders have already told us what they plan to do with them.
The numbers
As of Nov. 12, the Associated Press had Democrats at 255 House seats, their largest House majority since 2008, and on track for 54 in the Senate. The Alaska and Mississippi Senate races were still being counted. Overriding a veto takes 290 House votes and 67 senators, Reuters noted. Democrats are well short of both, which makes President Trump’s veto pen the most important tool Republicans have left.
The 100-day list
In a Nov. 4 letter to colleagues, Hakeem Jeffries, who is running for speaker, said the new majority’s first 100 days would focus on reversing the Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, restoring SNAP funding, extending the expired Obamacare tax credits, ending the tariffs and stopping the war in Iran, NTD reported. He also promised action on the Supreme Court and a ban on stock trading by members of Congress. “The days of the House functioning like a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump Administration are over,” he wrote.
Most of that list runs straight into a veto.
The investigations
On election night, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who is in line to chair the Finance Committee, posted one word, “Subpoenas.” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said they would “need to plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we’ll be printing,” according to a McGuireWoods summary. Wyden’s agenda also promises a health system that “guarantees health care for all,” which sounds a lot like the government-run model Bernie Sanders has been pushing.
In the House, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., is set to chair Judiciary and has named the Justice Department, pardons, immigration policy and the Trump family among his targets, according to the law firm Jenner & Block. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., expected to chair Oversight, has his four-lane “LAWYER UP” agenda.
Tariffs
Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., expected to chair Ways and Means, blamed “price-hiking tariffs” for costs at the checkout counter. Trade experts told Reuters that Congress has delegated so much tariff authority to the president that the election is unlikely to change his trade agenda much, so expect hearings rather than repeal.
Who is leading
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., announced on Nov. 12 that he will challenge Chuck Schumer for majority leader. “I have the votes to continue serving as Democratic Leader,” Schumer answered on X, Fox News reported.
The records matter here. In 2018, Jeffries tweeted that the more we learned about the 2016 election “the more ILLEGITIMATE it becomes,” and in 2020 he wrote that “History will never accept you as a legitimate President,” as Mediaite documented. In January 2017, Raskin objected to counting Florida’s electoral votes for Trump, the Christian Post reported. These men will now lead the House majority and its Judiciary Committee.
The bottom line
Voters asked for lower costs. What Democratic leaders have mostly announced since is subpoenas, a wider government role in health care and a leadership fight of their own.
Republicans should answer with a clear plan of their own during the lame duck, and the President should make plain which bills he will sign and which he will veto. Using the veto when the branches disagree is exactly what the Constitution provides for.
I want this Congress to work on prices. If it chooses two years of revenge instead, we should say so, calmly and often.