President Donald Trump laid out his priorities in a pep talk for House Republicans as they began the second session of the 119th Congress. “You got to win the midterms or I’ll get impeached.” He offered no legislative agenda, which seemed fine with the GOP leadership.
The closest he came was telling them “you gotta be a little flexible” on some issues to avoid votes that might split the party’s base and help the opposition. If Democrats retake the House, he warned, “they’ll find a reason to impeach me.”
In other words, it’s all about me, and the reason you should win reelection is to protect me.
What Democrats should be doing
I’m sure Democrats already have drafts of articles of impeachment. That would be a mistake. Recent experiences have shown impeachment is a toothless threat that is doomed in the Senate because there’s no chance of a two-thirds verdict. And it could backfire by uniting an increasingly divided GOP. Impeachment has become the equivalent of censure, which would be a more fitting move and needs only simple majorities in both chambers to pass.
What Trump should worry about is that a Democratic majority in either chamber – polls suggest it is more likely in the House – next year will take its constitutional oversight responsibility seriously.
You couldn’t tell it by watching congressional Republicans in 2025, but the US Constitution created a system of checks and balances among three equal branches of government, in which each is required to make sure the laws are faithfully executed.
Trump disagrees. He told The New York Times that the only check on him is “my own morality.”
A Democratic Congress can be expected to take its constitutional responsibility more seriously than today’s GOP leadership. Though it is tempting to overlook problems when one party controls both branches, that is when it is most needed. So far, the 119th Congress gets a failing grade.
If Democrats win a majority of either chamber in November and expect to keep it and elect a Democratic president in 2028, they will have to use their oversight authority responsibly and avoid abusing it for partisan gain.
What Republicans should examine
There is much that Republicans should be investigating today. Here’s a sampling:
- Halting unfettered illegal immigration has broad public support, but not the administration’s heavy and brutal roundups.
- The true impact and legality of the president’s tariff wars on consumer prices.
- Retribution firings.
- Investigating and prosecuting the president’s perceived enemies.
- Administration regression on auto emission standards, alternative energy sources, and whether there is such a thing as clean coal.
- The impact of lowered vaccine standards, firing of scientists, defunding research, questionable nutrition recommendations, quackery.
- Protection of natural resources, parks, wildlife.
- Self-enrichment and conflicts of interest among top officials.
- The dismissal of essential workers who serve veterans, taxpayers, scientific research.
- Using the power of government to take revenge and punish opponents.
- The role of special interests in rule-making.
Quality control in government
Congress's constitutional responsibility is to oversee the other two co-equal branches of government. Administrations might see oversight as meddlesome intrusion. It should be viewed instead in a business context as an essential form of quality control. Make sure the shareholders’ money is spent responsibly and the product is safe, not shoddy or dangerous. Failure to meet those responsibilities makes one complicit and corrupt.
A first step should be restoring independent inspectors-general. They are the first line of defense in fighting waste, fraud, and abuse. Trump’s removal of so many looks like a massive cover-up.
Responsible oversight can help prevent abuses, protect taxpayers’ money and safety, and help an administration and Congress succeed. It is not, as Trump calls it, presidential harassment.
Trump is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address on February 24. That’s when presidents traditionally set out their agenda, but he sees the legislative branch as irrelevant. He prefers governing by executive orders and tight control of once-independent agencies, and the GOP congressional leadership seems okay with that.
It is one thing to be loyal to your party’s leader, but it violates your oath to forget you are part of an equal, not subservient, branch of government and have constitutional authority and responsibility to make sure laws are faithfully executed.
Historically, it is common to lack enthusiasm for oversight when the chamber is controlled by the party in the White House. But lately, that has gone from lax and negligent to aiding and abetting the worst kind of corruption.
Republicans who took oversight enthusiastically when Democrats were in the White House have lost interest. One of the most tenacious investigators has been Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley, the oldest (91) and most senior member of the Senate. Under Trump, he has gone from bulldog to lapdog, obsessing over Hillary Clinton’s email server but unfazed by Trump’s weaponization of the government.
The test for Republicans should be: “If Joe Biden were doing the same thing, what would I do?”
Trump, like many presidents, resents Congress meddling in government. But that’s no problem for him because, as he reportedly told associates, “I’m the speaker and the president.”
The man with the title, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, may be the most obsequious in history. He’s been called Trump’s bobblehead because of how he stands nodding behind the president when he speaks.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, a member of the GOP House leadership, called Johnson a habitual liar. Former representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said, “He is literally 100% under direct orders from the White House.” Many of her former colleagues are “furious” but silent because “they’re cowards.” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) said, “We get the majority and then become petrified of losing it.”
Johnson sent House members home for nearly eight weeks to avoid voting on release of the Epstein files because they might embarrass Trump – instead of attending to the nation’s pressing business and fulfilling Congress’s constitutional role. That tells you everything you need to know about his leadership and the rank and file of the Republican caucus.
Republicans today have their narrowest majority since 1930 when Herbert Hoover was president, and you know where that led.
The writer is a Washington-based journalist, consultant, lobbyist, and former legislative director at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.