Democrats want to curb Trump’s power with House majority. This is their greatest tool

House Democrats are eyeing their power over federal spending as one of their strongest tools to push back against President Trump’s agenda if they win back the majority in November.

A Democratic takeover would put Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) in line to chair the powerful House Appropriations Committee, giving Democrats greater sway over the annual spending bills that fund federal agencies and programs.

They could use the process to try to rein in President Trump’s spending priorities, attach restrictions to agency funding and scrutinize how the administration is using taxpayer dollars.

The strategy could put Democrats on a collision course with the White House and congressional Republicans, particularly if they win a razor-thin House majority. Any spending legislation would still need enough Senate support to overcome the filibuster and eventually Trump’s signature, limiting how far Democrats could go without Republican buy-in.

Still, the appropriations process would give Democrats an opening to force the administration to the negotiating table.

Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, told The Hill she plans to hold more public hearings to scrutinize the redirection of some funding from national parks toward projects in Washington, as well as staffing cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency that she said have raised concerns about the agency’s ability to conduct research, enforce environmental laws and regulate toxic chemicals.

She added that her subcommittee has oversight of arts-related agencies, which she argued have “certainly been under assault.”

“For instance, the Kennedy Center, where the president took over the board, has really made major changes there, including attempting to put his name on the building, but also a total lack of transparency about funding and the use of congressionally allocated funds,” Pingree said.

“So I can see, you know, I can see lots of opportunities for committee hearings, for more investigations, and you know areas where we’ll want to make sure that the money goes where it was intended to: the Forest Service, the national parks, how expensive the Department of Interior. I think we’ll have our work cut out for us,” she added.

Another area Democrats will be focused on is defense funding, especially as the war with Iran has cost the U.S. billions of dollars. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, argued that Congress needs to “get back to parity between nondefense and defense spending.”

“Defense spending has ballooned. It’s ballooned at the expense of what happens in all the other appropriation bills, which believe it or not are important to the defense bill. If we don’t have good K-12 public education, that’s a problem because that’s who our military goes out and recruits and asks to join our army. If we don’t have good roads, bridges, and transportation, that’s a problem with us getting what we order to and from supplies to the bases to the shipyards,” McCollum said.

She also said she’s going to be working “real hard” to hold “this administration accountable for the Iran war.” McCollum argued that there needs to be a full accounting of how much the war has cost the government and “how much damage has been done.”

“Even with munitions, when we would ask for classified information on munitions, we were slow or sometimes didn’t get any information at all. So making sure that our troops also have the medical care and benefits that they need and they deserve. We’re at a war, and right now we’re not even paying out death … benefits to the soldiers who have lost their life in this war. So there’s going to be a lot of accountability,” she said.

Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Science, Justice, and Related Agencies, said her focus will be on examining cuts to branches under the Department of Justice (DOJ), including the Public Integrity Section and the Civil Rights Division.

She also criticized what she described as a misuse of resources and staffing, arguing that intelligence analysts who once focused on national security and public safety are now examining voting records.

“We want to put our agencies back on track,” Meng said.

And Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, said there needs to be stronger oversight and guardrails on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has faced increased scrutiny from Democrats following the deaths of several U.S. citizens and immigrants at the hands of immigration officers. These guardrails include improved training, body cameras and de-escalation measures, he said.

On top of that, Cuellar argued that money allocated through reconciliation legislation, namely the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Congress passed last year, as well as the skinny bill funding ICE and Border Patrol, should be subject to congressional oversight.

For Trump, this is all a headache, particularly as he has repeatedly tested the limits of executive authority and sought to exert greater control over federal spending, challenging Congress’s constitutional power of the purse.

“I think the Appropriations Committee is going to play a very, very important role in making sure that you know the role of the executive branch follows the traditional role of the executive branch,” Cuellar said.

DeLauro said in a statement that Democrats’ top priority “will be bringing down the cost of living for working people across this country.”

“That means preventing the Trump administration and OMB [Office of Management and Budget] Director Russ Vought from unilaterally, and often illegally, withholding funding that Congress has appropriated. Gutting housing programs, canceling energy efficiency projects, withholding nutrition assistance—all of these increase costs for American families. We have been able to make progress in reasserting Congress’s power of the purse while in the minority, and I intend to build on that progress substantially in the majority,” she said.

Several House Democrats have also made clear they want to move beyond passing temporary stopgap measures, also known as continuing resolutions (CR), and instead just pass all 12 annual appropriations bills.

“I think the question is timing, obviously, and it’s a grueling process that must be completed. There’s just no way around it. Absolutely, I think building consensus is also very important,” said Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), who sits on the Appropriations Committee.

Congress approved a stop-gap funding measure to keep the government operating through Dec. 11, setting up a major funding fight for the lame-duck session. If Democrats win back the House, the lame-duck session could offer an early test of how the appropriations process will function under the new political dynamic, as Democrats look to advance their spending priorities ahead of taking control of the chamber in January.

“It’s just a Republican House that has, you know, proven its inability to govern, and so I think that once after the election, I don’t think there’s going to be a whole lot of problems. You put a bunch of appropriators in a room, we could come out with a strong deal. So I hope we’re not going to see the same sorts of challenges. Obviously, CRs have become a little bit of a matter of fact, but certainly we can’t accept the year-long CRs that we saw earlier,” said Rep. Josh Harder (D-Calif.), who sits on the House Appropriations Committee.

Still, some Democrats are optimistic that they can work across the aisle with Republicans to advance spending bills on a bipartisan basis.

“I think the Appropriations Committee is less partisan than other committees I’ve been on. … I think there is sort of a growing sense of a desire to take back the power of the purse from the Trump administration and OMB in particular,” Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) said. “I think that’s the kind of thing that actually pushes Democrats and Republicans on the committee together.”