How Democrats plan to use their majorities to constrain Trump

Senate and House Democrats are gearing up for a multifront war with President Trump over the next two years, vowing to use their new majorities after Tuesday’s landslide wins to unwind as much of Trump’s agenda as possible and cement his status as a lame-duck president.

Ending the war with Iran — which voters blamed for higher gas, diesel and grocery prices — is high atop the list, and Democratic leaders now have new leverage to block funding for the Defense Department and to pressure Trump to bring the conflict to a quick close.

Reversing the Republican cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enacted by Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act and reviving the generous health insurance premium subsidies that lapsed at the start of this year are other top priorities.

They plan to stop what they say is the Trump administration’s overzealous enforcement of immigration laws, which they believe helped push many Hispanic voters to cast ballots for Democrats, and end what they’re calling his “weaponization” of the Justice Department.

And Senate Democrats warn that Trump will need to advance judicial nominees with very different backgrounds and records than the nominees he’s been sending to Capitol Hill over the past 20 months if he wants to add new judges to the federal bench.

Democrats expect to control between 54-56 Senate seats next year and at least 255 seats in the lower chamber, giving them the largest House majority of any party since former President Obama’s landslide victory in the 2008 election.

“First, Americans want Washington to bring down the cost of living,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) told reporters during a press conference Wednesday at the Senate Democratic campaign headquarters.

“Second, Americans want us to clean up corruption in government. They know that Trump is the most corrupt president in American history. No American should have to make trade-offs at the supermarket while Trump is making insider trades on the stock market.

“And third, they want us to check Donald Trump’s chaos at home and abroad,” he continued, alluding to the shooting deaths of two anti-immigration protesters earlier this year. “We’ve seen too many Americans die on our streets and in uniform overseas because of Trump’s erratic judgment. The American people don’t know what the heck we’re fighting for in Iran.

“This war must end,” Schumer declared. “It must end.”

Schumer on Wednesday noted “we have some Republicans who have joined us already on ending the war,” referring to the four GOP senators who have supported a war powers resolution to immediately end the conflict.

And he said Democrats could also exercise “the power of the purse” to restrain Trump’s authority as commander in chief.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), who is poised to become the next Speaker, pledged, “We’re going to get out of the gate fast.”

He said that House Democrats would “have a conversation as a caucus” when lawmakers reconvene in Washington next week for a lame-duck session.

House Democrats plan to bring to the floor bills to revive the expanded health insurance premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which lapsed at the start of 2026, along with legislation to reverse the Medicaid cuts Republicans enacted last year.

“We need to reverse the Medicaid cuts, we need to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, we need to end this reckless and costly war of choice that has skyrocketed gas prices all across the country, and we need to stop the Trump tariffs,” Jeffries announced.

Schumer warned Wednesday that Trump’s judicial nominees will face a very tough road and urged the president to pick nominees with strong credentials and track records that Democrats could support.

“We want judicial nominees like we showed in ’23 and ’24, who obey the law, who have fidelity to the rule of law,” he said, referring to nominees advanced by former President Biden. “Too many of Trump’s nominees did not have that at all.”

Schumer and Jeffries may face a difficult task in unifying their new majorities given that many Democrats are seeking to inflict retribution against Trump by investigating his family’s business dealings and what they believe were efforts by the Justice Department to shield the president from the fallout of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia (Calif.), the incoming House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chair, fired off a warning to the Trump administration Tuesday evening, advising them in a terse statement to “lawyer up.”

And Democrats are looking to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if Trump doesn’t remove him from his post.

House Democrats have already filed articles of impeachment against Hegseth as well as Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Education Secretary Linda McMahon.

Senate Democrats are also threatening investigations into the Trump administration over issues ranging from what they say is the weaponization of the Justice Department, to what they allege is influence peddling within the administration, to the explosive increase in Trump’s net worth since taking office in January 2025.

“Make no mistake, whenever Trump defies the will of the American people or the law, we will launch investigations, take him to court, entangle him in legislative razor wire,” Schumer pledged. “The days of Trump’s supplicant Senate are over.”

But Schumer and Jeffries are worried the new Democratic majorities could become too consumed by partisan investigations and lose sight of the affordability issue that motivated millions of voters to support Democratic candidates, including in deep-red states such as Kansas, South Carolina and Texas.

“There was such rampant corruption there has to be some investigations, but we’re not going to take our eye off the ball. Number one: Reducing costs, ending corruption,” Schumer said.

Both leaders have downplayed moving immediately to impeach Hegseth, giving Trump some space to find a new Pentagon chief without it looking like a capitulation to Democrats.

Trump on Wednesday floated the possibility that Hegseth would make a good Republican senator from Tennessee if he were appointed to fill the remaining term of Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R), who won election to become Tennessee’s next governor.

Trump told reporters that he’s not considering removing Hegseth from his job but observed he would make a “very popular” senator if he replaced Blackburn.

Schumer downplayed the prospect of impeachment proceedings and a Senate trial for Hegseth.

“Everyone will make their own interpretation of [what’s ahead] in terms of Hegseth,” he said.

Jeffries only quipped: “Is Pete Hegseth still around?”

But some Republicans in both chambers also want Hegseth to step down.

Retiring Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) indicated on social media that he plans to push for vote on articles of impeachment against Hegseth in the lame-duck Congress.

And retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told CBS News that Hegseth might have to step down to secure funding for the Defense Department.

“Hegseth has a reckoning,” Tillis said. “He is one of the reasons why we don’t have the funding or guarantee for defense that we need.”

“I think after the election, we need to determine whether or not he’s the best person to bring those needs to Congress. If he wants something done before the end of this Congress, which is only 60 days away,” he warned.