Dems set House agenda with Trump investigations and new legislation

WASHINGTON — A day after the State of the Union address, House Democrats responded Wednesday by launching a counter-agenda, including a series of investigations into the Trump administration and legislation they hope will send a compelling message to voters ahead of the 2020 election.

Democrats this week will hold nearly half a dozen investigative hearings into Trump administration officials and programs, and convene even more panels to discuss policy issues such as climate change, universal background checks for gun purchases and campaign finance reform — all partisan initiatives.

The rollout of the House Democrats’ agenda was delayed by the 35-day partial government shutdown over President Trump’s demand for money to build a wall along the southern border. That threat hasn’t completely subsided. Lawmakers are trying to craft a deal to avert another shutdown by Feb. 15.

But newly empowered Democrats, particularly members of the energetic freshman class, are ready to get moving.

“He’s not ready for it at all,” fifth-term Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., said of Trump, who spent the first two years of his presidency dealing with a Congress controlled by Republicans. “He calls it presidential harassment. He doesn’t get the basic process (of congressional oversight). So that’s the part that’s scary.”

The Democratic agenda will include three House floor votes on major bills by the end of March, according to tentative plans shared by Democratic sources. The bills include HR 1, a plan to reform the campaign finance system and enact changes to the elections process; HR7, a bill to that would attempt to ensure equal pay for men and women; and HR 8, a bill to require universal background checks before people can buy guns.

All three have been championed by Democrats, but stand little chance of getting support in the GOP-controlled Senate.

That may not matter to Democrats, who hope to use the legislation to make a case to voters ahead of the 2020 election. The investigations, they say, are part of their constitutionally empowered oversight of the executive branch.

OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS House Democratic women, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), middle, are dressed in white for President Trump’s State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.