Democrats won majorities in the US Senate and House of Representatives, the result of a massive backlash against Republicans and Donald Trump's policies. With Democrats gaining majorities in both wings, the last two years of Trump's presidency will be markedly different from the first half. So what can Democrats actually do with the power they have in Congress?
WHAT CAN DEMOCRATS DO IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES?
After consecutive victories in Republican-strong constituencies across the country, Democrats have surpassed the 218-seat threshold needed to gain a majority. Thus, Hakeem Jeffries is expected to become the House majority leader. Republicans, on the other hand, will lose the opportunity to pass legislation from this wing without the support of Democrats.
A Democratic majority would allow them to launch investigations into the Trump administration, demand documents and testimony, and subject top officials to ongoing scrutiny by Congress.
Democrats may also face pressure from their own voter base to impeach Trump for a third time.
WHAT CAN THEY DO IN THE SENATE?
Senate; It confirms cabinet members, ambassadors, and federal judges, including Supreme Court nominees.
Democrats gaining a majority in the Senate would allow them to block or delay numerous Trump appointments and force the White House to negotiate on legislation.
WHAT ISSUES WILL DEMOCRATS INITIATE AN INVESTIGATION?
In the analysis published in the Guardian, the most important investigations that the Democrats could initiate were listed. Here are some of the investigations expected to come to the fore:
Family businesses: Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, put Trump family corruption allegations at the top of his priority list. Congressman Jamie Raskin requested information about the business activities of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and his son Donald Trump Jr.
Epstein and the emails: Thanks to the joint efforts of Congressmen Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, the Justice Department was forced to release millions of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein last year. However, the ministry did not publish the documents within the legally specified time. He then disclosed only about 3.5 million of his 6 million pages; He stated that the remaining documents were duplicates. The heavy censorship of some episodes and the apparently inadvertent disclosure of victims' names in others drew bipartisan reaction.
The Ministry of Justice is also facing a lawsuit filed by journalist Katie Phang over these issues. Even when Republicans were in the majority in Congress, the Oversight Committee, chaired by Republican James Comer, was one of the rare areas where the two parties acted together from time to time. Committee members generally acted unanimously in subpoenaing uncooperative witnesses to testify and charging those who did not comply with court orders with contempt of Congress. This cooperation is expected to continue in the New Democrat Congress.
Pentagon and war: Colorado representative Jason Crow, who serves on the Armed Services and Intelligence committees and co-chairs the House Anti-Corruption Caucus, said he would start his investigation from the Pentagon. Crow cited reports that funds were transferred from the defense budget to companies linked to the Trump family.
Impeachment process: Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, said that this time they did not exclude any options for impeaching Trump. Current Republican House majority leader Steve Scalise predicts that Democrats will attempt impeachment from day one.
WHAT DID THE DEMOCRATS DO THE LAST TIME THEY WON THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES?
In 2018, in the middle of Trump's first term, Democrats took the majority from Republicans in the House of Representatives with a sweeping Democratic wave.
House committees soon launched dozens of investigations into Trump's business activities, his handling of the Russia investigations and possible conflicts of interest.
A little more than a year after the 2018 midterm elections, after months of calls for impeachment from the Democratic left, the House of Representatives voted largely along party lines to impeach Trump.
Democrats accused Trump of running a scheme to rig the upcoming presidential election. Allegedly, Trump tried to pressure Ukraine to produce negative information about Joe Biden, and then blocked the auditing authority of Congress.
Trump was later acquitted of both articles of impeachment in the Republican-controlled Senate.
In 2021, Trump was impeached for the second time, accused of inciting the attack on the US Capitol on January 6. However, he was acquitted again after the trial in the Senate.
