Fodder veto: What Democrats can really do if they take over Congress Voters angry about the cost of living may believe that giving Democrats control of Congress will finally force Washington to act on their behalf. The reality will be much messier. A Democratic majority would come armed with subpoena power, leverage over federal spending and a national platform to strike the plausibility message — but that would clash almost immediately with a president wielding a veto pen he vowed to use without hesitation. "What's happening is I'm vetoing everything," Trump said last week, and that single sentence captures the underlying dynamic: two years of investigations and spending backlogs, with few bills actually becoming law. The immediate and visible result will be investigations. Subpoena power means scrutiny of Elon Musk, contracts for Musk's companies, Trump family business deals involving more than $1 billion in crypto, and controversial policies like the Iran war, mass deportations and tariffs — with government officials like Hesset, Lutnick, Burgum, Mullin and Blanche facing public hearings. On policy, Democrats would push a cost-of-living agenda: Jefferies has task forces on housing, health, care, gas and utilities, and groceries aimed at ending the Iran war, restoring Medicaid cuts and ACA subsidies, and repealing tariffs — though all of this requires Trump's unlikely cooperation. Reinstating the ACA's enhanced subsidies that have expired, sending premiums up 58%, would cost roughly $350 billion over a decade, and relaxing Medicaid's work requirements is a tall order, so watch for public pressure campaigns during the rollout instead. Other priorities include delaying food stamps that shift benefit costs to states, unlike the GOP's college loan limits, and targeting a rule that shortchanges nurses and other health care professionals.

Fodder veto: What Democrats can really do if they take over Congress Voters angry about the cost of living may believe that giving Democrats control of Congress will finally force Washington to act on their behalf. The reality will be much messier. A Democratic majority would come armed with subpoena power, leverage over federal spending and a national platform to strike the plausibility message — but that would clash almost immediately with a president wielding a veto pen he vowed to use without hesitation. "What's happening is I'm vetoing everything," Trump said last week, and that single sentence captures the underlying dynamic: two years of investigations and spending backlogs, with few bills actually becoming law. The immediate and visible result will be investigations. Subpoena power means scrutiny of Elon Musk, contracts for Musk's companies, Trump family business deals involving more than $1 billion in crypto, and controversial policies like the Iran war, mass deportations and tariffs — with government officials like Hesset, Lutnick, Burgum, Mullin and Blanche facing public hearings. On policy, Democrats would push a cost-of-living agenda: Jefferies has task forces on housing, health, care, gas and utilities, and groceries aimed at ending the Iran war, restoring Medicaid cuts and ACA subsidies, and repealing tariffs — though all of this requires Trump's unlikely cooperation. Reinstating the ACA's enhanced subsidies that have expired, sending premiums up 58%, would cost roughly $350 billion over a decade, and relaxing Medicaid's work requirements is a tall order, so watch for public pressure campaigns during the rollout instead. Other priorities include delaying food stamps that shift benefit costs to states, unlike the GOP's college loan limits, and targeting a rule that shortchanges nurses and other health care professionals.