Hey, Raw America family. Welcome to the Sunday Wrapup. I’m here with my cup of coffee, and today I’m going to explain Democrats’ first moves if they win.
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Yesterday we walked you through the polls. Democrats need a net gain of three seats to take the House and four to take the Senate; both are within reach.
So I spent this week pondering. What do they actually do with it?
Let’s start with what they can’t do. Ordinary legislation needs 60 votes in the Senate, and Democrats won’t have 60.
So let’s set the campaign promises aside. Here are three things a Democratic Congress can do that Donald Trump can’t stop.
Hakeem Jeffries has declared that on Day One, House Democrats will “hold the crooks accountable.” And they’ve been quite specific about who.
First up is Todd Blanche, Trump’s erstwhile personal lawyer and acting attorney general. Robert Garcia, who’d chair the Oversight Committee, told NOTUS he’s ready to subpoena Blanche on Day One over the Epstein files. He also says he wants the testimony on camera.
Garcia also says he’ll work to subpoena JD Vance. Further, he wants to question Susie Wiles, the first lady and Trump himself. And he’s going after Epstein’s bank records and the estate’s files.
Then there’s the money. Jared Kushner appears to be making money on government “service.” His investment fund is backed by Middle Eastern dictators while he works on Middle East policy.
The Trump family’s crypto venture is also in Democrats’ sights. Jamie Raskin, who’d chair Judiciary, is already digging into contracts tied to Donald Trump Jr.’s venture capital firm and Trump’s pardons.
Three other committees are also planning probes. Armed Services will investigate how we got into the Iran war and the illegal boat strikes in the Caribbean. Natural Resources wants to know who’s paying for the ballroom. Homeland Security will have subpoena power over ICE.
House Democrats have also learned from Trump’s first term. When Trump officials ignore subpoenas (and they will), Democrats plan to go straight to federal judges with lawsuits.
“We are not taking no for an answer,” Raskin told CNN.
They’ll also go around the White House entirely. Banks and contractors can’t claim executive privilege. And Democrats have whistleblowers lined up, inside the government and out.
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Nothing reaches Trump’s desk without Speaker Jeffries. No second “Big Beautiful Bill.” No new tax cuts for billionaires. No more Medicaid cuts, or clawing back money Congress already approved.
In a Democratic Senate, nobody gets confirmed without Democratic votes. On Wednesday, Chuck Schumer said that means Trump’s judges, up to and including the Supreme Court.
Samuel Alito says he’s thinking about retirement. It seems likely no new Trump appointee would make it to the Supreme Court.
It also puts the focus on Blanche. He’s still only the acting attorney general. To get the job for real, he’d need the Senate.
Every dollar the government spends has to pass the House. Trump needs Democratic votes to keep the government open and to fund the Pentagon, including his war in Iran.
That’s where real wins come from. Not speeches. Trades. You want your budget? We want the healthcare subsidies back.
Also: budget bills can pass the Senate with 51 votes. It’s how Republicans cut Medicaid.
Thus, Democrats could send Trump a bill restoring Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act subsidies, and make him veto healthcare for millions of people on camera.
A vote to end the Iran war gets the same fast track. Trump would veto that too. But every Republican in Congress would have to pick a side, with 2028 on the horizon.
Leader Jeffries has also identified four things his whole caucus agrees on: reversing Trump’s Medicaid cuts, restoring the ACA subsidies, repealing the tariffs and ending the war in Iran.
An 84-page healthcare memo obtained by Politico identifies wish lists (that won’t be able to pass the filibuster). Abortion rights restored nationwide; hospitals barred from charging more than a doctor’s office for the same service; a long-term care benefit in Social Security.
It’s a good list, but there’s little chance it becomes law in 2027.
Think of it as the 2028 platform. Every bill the House passes is one Republicans have to vote against.
Subpoenas are the real whammy. And the checkbook. After two years of a Congress that did nothing, that’s a lot.
I also want to keep you updated on ICE, even though the news here is bleak.
At least 37 people died in ICE custody in the fiscal year that just ended, according to Bloomberg. That’s the most on record. More than 60,000 people are locked up on any given day, and the watchdog offices that were supposed to supervise them have been gutted.
One of the 37 was Carlos Josue Marchena Marchena. He was 36, from Costa Rica, and he had type 1 diabetes.
His sister and his girlfriend told the Associated Press that as he was moved between facilities in several states, he complained about missed insulin shots and missed meals.
After he arrived at Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana, he was dead in less than a week.
He’s the third person to die at that facility since April. Homeland Security’s own inspector general recently found it fell short of federal standards for medical care.
ICE’s icy response? “Marchena received proper medical care.”
At least 58 people have died in ICE detention during Trump’s second term. Diabetes was a factor in at least six of those deaths.
Insulin isn’t exotic medicine. It’s a shot.
Immigration enforcement is on the Democrats’ list. We’re just 30 days now from the election.
On Friday, a federal court in Texas temporarily blocked the administration from building a border wall across Big Bend. The project managed to unite Democrats and Republicans in opposition.
And workers won in Seattle without walking out in a strike. Boeing’s engineers and technicians rejected the company’s first labor offer in August and voted nearly 90 percent to authorize a strike. On Thursday they approved a contract with a 10 percent raise now and 4 percent more in March.
In Oregon, union employees at all seven public universities got a deal on Monday, just before their strike was set to begin.
Nobody handed them that. They stuck together and the other side blinked.
For two years, the question I’ve heard most is some version of “what would Democrats even do?” Now there’s an answer.
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We’re just 30 days from the midterms. Go find three people and make certain they vote.
Thanks for spending part of your Sunday with me. I hope you enjoy the rest of it!
—John Byrne, Founder, Raw America and Raw Story
