Don’t worry, cash-strapped Americans, “relief is on the way”, the senator Chuck Schumer promised last week in a press conference celebrating Democrats’ massive midterms win.
asserted
senator → worry → win
Winning candidates promised to cut food and healthcare costs, rein in corporations ripping off consumers and workers, curb billionaire power and make the world’s biggest economy better serve the working class.
asserted
economy → win → class
But the big win is bringing decades-old battles to the fore, about how the US federal government should fund safety nets and check healthcare and food costs.
asserted
government → bring → costs
The “lame duck” period between an election and a new Congress’s swearing-in in early January is often a frenzy of behind-the-scenes battles and public posturing as corporate lobbyists, thinktanks, voter groups and big donors try to influence the agenda.
asserted
lobbyists → try → agenda
This time, it’s all that on steroids.
asserted
it → ’ → steroids
Already, JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor, has issued a 75-page list of 200 policy proposals for Congress’s “day one agenda”; Columbia professor Tim Wu is pushing an “affordability bill”; Texas’s new senator James Talarico is promising universal healthcare for all; there’s an 181-page investigation memo circulating; and moderate Democrats are arguing for more incremental steps.
Meanwhile, Trump’s power to veto bills means anything the president doesn’t like will need a clutch of Republicans to pass, making things more complicated.
asserted
things → issue → Republicans
Expect a mix of affordability bills the president will back, like curbs on private equity and credit card interest rates, and ones he will veto, which Democrats will use for anti-Republican political messaging.
asserted
Democrats → expect → messaging
Most voters want Congress to protect social security, raise wages and lower the costs of basic necessities, healthcare and family care, a recent Equal Rights Advocates Action Fund survey found, echoing many others.
asserted
survey → want → others
“Everyone’s on notice now.
asserted
Everyone → ’ → notice
This is probation and not a mandate,” Carrie Joy Grimes, the founder of WorkMoney, a non-profit that advocates for lower costs and higher wages for US workers, said of Tuesday’s election results.
asserted
that → advocate → results
“People have not suddenly become Democrats.
asserted
People → become → ?
People are very clear that they want something different.”
asserted
they → want → something
Grimes said she’s telling the group’s millions of members: “It’s incumbent on everyday people to take what just happened and keep thumping on both parties.
asserted
what → say → parties
Here’s the concrete areas where Congress is planning to respond:
asserted
Congress → ’ → ?
Grocery and gas costs
Schumer and other Democrats have pledged to end the Iran war, which has pushed up heating oil and other costs, and to end Trump’s tariffs, which cost the average household $1,110 this year.
asserted
which → pledge → 1,110
They should move immediately, insists Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland senator who is exploring a 2028 presidential bid.
asserted
who → move → bid
“Democrats should not advance spending to continue to fund this war” by refusing to vote for a continuing resolution that expires in mid-December, he told the Lever.
asserted
he → advance → Lever
“The Vietnam war ended only when Congress defunded it,” he added.
asserted
he → end → it
The path for ending Trump’s tariffs is unclear; he and his cabinet have ignored links to high costs.
uncertain
he → end → costs
But some congressional Republicans are now criticizing them, making the two-thirds majority needed to pass a bill without Trump a possibility.
asserted
majority → criticize → Trump
Earlier this year, Democrats, including the Vermont senator Peter Welch, introduced a bill to end tariffs on Canadian goods that was blocked by Republicans.
asserted
that → include → Republicans
In the new Congress, it’s headed to the White House, Welch told CBC: “We can’t force the president to sign the legislation we put on his desk, but we can pass it in good faith.”
asserted
we → head → faith
Healthcare
Democrats have promised to immediately roll back the cuts to subsidies in the Affordable Care Act and the work requirements to Medicaid that were part of the $1tn in Medicaid cuts in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
asserted
that → promise → Act
Passing those changes will have to be negotiated with Trump or Republicans, and could come as part of a bigger spending package.
uncertain
Passing → pass → package
Many Democrats, including Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed and South Carolina’s Annie Andrews, ran on pledges to upend an expensive, ineffective healthcare system that leaves millions with crushing medical debt and are pushing universal healthcare.
asserted
that → include → healthcare
New York’s Alexandria Ocasio Cortez will head a House “working group” on healthcare that will figure out what to do next, Jeffries said Wednesday in response to questions.
asserted
Jeffries → head → questions
“We’ll be having conversations as a House Democratic family,” he said.
asserted
he → have → family
On the Senate side, the Help committee (health, education, labor and pensions), chaired by Vermont’s Bernie Sanders, is expected to take a lead role.
asserted
committee → chair → role
He’s already calling for a Medicare for All plan, and immediately for lowering the Medicare age to 55 and adding vision and dental care.
asserted
He → call → care
Expect revivals of the Patients Before Monopolies Act, a bipartisan bill that promises to break up big healthcare conglomerates, and bills to curb private equity’s healthcare acquisitions.
asserted
that → expect → acquisitions
Republican states including Arkansas and Tennessee have already passed laws banning companies from owning pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers.
asserted
states → include → pharmacies
David Joyner, the CEO of CVS Health, said Wednesday that the monopolies bill was a reason the company decided to break up.
asserted
company → say → Health
Affordability
Voters are concerned about the high cost of living, but also about Trump administration corruption and foreign policy chaos, Democrats say.
asserted
Democrats → concern → corruption
They hope to tie that all together.
asserted
They → hope → that
Likely House leader Hakeem Jeffries set up five “affordability working groups” in 2026 on issues including grocery and gas prices and childcare.
asserted
Jeffries → set → prices
He’s asked House members to try to link every investigation they do back to one of these affordability issues.
asserted
they → ask → issues
Already, sitting Congress Democrats sent out “target” letters to oil companies, airlines, tech companies, banks, grocery stores and others asking about their practices that have made life more difficult or expensive for the American consumer.
asserted
life → sit → consumer
They’re making plans to grill CEOs in public hearings about algorithmic pricing, executive compensation and skyrocketing corporate profits, before introducing bills to change corporate behavior.
asserted
They → make → behavior
Democrats will scrutinize “the extent to which corporations engaged with the Trump administration”, said Ronak D Desai, who heads the congressional investigations practice for the global law firm Paul Hastings.
asserted
who → scrutinize → firm
They’ll be looking for evidence that companies helped Trump or his allies in unethical ways, and then seek to tie that to affordability, he said.
asserted
he → look → affordability
…and 10 more, not listed.
The Aporia
