100 days of High Costs, Chaos, and Corruption: House Democrats Deploy Tools in Congress to Fight Back

Donald Trump began his assault on our American way of life and the rule of law on day one, and has since unleashed more than 100 days of high costs, chaos, and corruption.  House Republicans have supported all of Trump’s illegal efforts, and refuse to lift a finger to hold him accountable. 

Democrats in Congress are all-hands-on-deck to push back against Trump’s unlawful and incompetent executive actions and protect the freedoms, safety, and livelihoods of everyday Americans. House Democrats have conducted an unprecedented level of oversight activity across over the first 100 days, including actively engaging in litigation by filing eight amicus briefs before Federal district courts and the highest court in the land, launching 17 privileged resolutions of inquiry, conducting more than 10 shadow hearings and briefings across the country, issuing over 300 investigative demands and letters, and much more. That effort is ongoing and will continue to take on new abuses and overreach by President Trump. Several examples of House Democrats’ oversight activity are detailed below. 

High Costs

House Democrats are holding Trump accountable for raising costs for everyday Americans.

Trump Tanked the Economy with Arbitrary and Messy Tariffs

Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats are pushing back by:

• Introducing three privileged resolutions terminating President Trump’s fabricated national emergency declarations justifying tariffs on Canada, Mexico and globally, in accordance with the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
• Keeping the pressure on House Republicans to face the facts and oppose the Trump Tariffs.

Financial Services Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Pressing the Chair and the Inspector General of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Comptroller General of the U.S. Government Accountability Office to immediately investigate insider trading or market manipulation leading up to the President’s suspension of tariffs on April 9, 2025.

Small Business Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Leading 68 House Democrats in calling on the Trump administration to protect small businesses from the fallout of its escalating trade war.

 

The Administration Recklessly Took Away Resources People Rely On  

Education and Workforce Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Forcing a vote on a Resolution demanding transparency about the Department of Health and Human Services slashing programs relied on by disabled and aging Americans.  

Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Demanding that HHS address the consequences of mass firings and how these mass terminations at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health endanger Americans.
• Demanding answers from the Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services regarding the Trump Administration’s reckless purge of workers at the agency.

Financial Services Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Coordinating a campaign in defense of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. 

Small Business Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Demanding answers about the abrupt decision to relocate six Small Business Administration (SBA) regional offices and the adverse effect of terminating SBA’s small workforce on the services it currently provides to small businesses.

 

The Administration Broke Down Critical Consumer Protections  

Energy and Commerce Democrats pushed back by:

• Pressuring Trump to reinstate illegally fired Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioners and blasting Republicans’ silence on Trump's unlawful attempt to fire said FTC Commissioners.

Oversight and Government Reform Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Pressing Trump Administration leaders at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Trade Commission and DOJ to investigate rising prices caused by efforts to gut and defang consumer protection enforcement across the government.

Chaos

House Democrats are cutting through the chaos unleashed by the Trump administration’s dismantling of critical programs and agencies.

Reports indicate Elon Musk’s DOGE Recklessly Rifled Through Data and Systems Across the Government

Education and Workforce Democrats pushed back by:

• Prompting a GAO audit of DOGE intrusions at the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services.

Homeland Security Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Forcing House Republicans to vote on a privileged resolution demanding transparency on the impact of the cyber workforce hiring freeze and security policies related to DOGE access to DHS information.

Judiciary Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Leading multiple committees in demanding answers on unauthorized DOGE access to sensitive government data and classified systems.
• Filing, with Oversight Committee Democrats, a Freedom of Information Act request demanding DOGE stop lying to the American people and start providing clear answers about its operations.  

Oversight and Government Reform Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Forcing consideration of a privileged Resolution of Inquiry to investigate DOGE’s unsanctioned use of government data and artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on American privacy and national security.
• Obtaining disturbing whistleblower information and demanding investigation into DOGE’s disruption of social security operations, collection of Americans’ sensitive data.
• Prompting an OPM Inspector General Assessment about DOGE exposing agency systems to potential cybersecurity threats and privacy violations.

Natural Resources Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Prompting GAO to probe cybersecurity failures at DOGE.

 

Trump and DOGE Forced Mass Terminations of Critical Workers and Dismantling of Critical Programs Across the Government

Education and Workforce Democrats pushed back by:

• Forcing House Republicans to vote on a privileged resolution demanding transparency from the Department of Education about the impact of efforts to dismantle the department.

Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Holding a Shadow Hearing on the consequences of haphazardly dismantling USAID.

Financial Services Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Forcing Republicans to consider a privileged Resolution of Inquiry demanding information related to the Trump-Musk’s Administration’s illegal shutdown of the CFPB.
• Prompting a GAO investigation of unlawful attempts to eliminate the CFPB.
• Prompting the GAO and Department of Housing and Urban Development Acting Inspector General to investigate into whether HUD violated statutory requirements following reports that the Administration plans to shut down local field offices and terminate housing agency staff.

Homeland Security Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Pushing independent watchdog GAO to conduct a full review of DOGE’s activities at DHS and the consequences for national security.
• Forcing House Republicans to vote on a privileged resolution demanding information related to security assessments associated with freezing payments of critical homeland security programs.

Natural Resources Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Investigating DOGE chaos at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
• Releasing leaked DOGE plans to shutter facilities all over the country.
• Coordinating opposition to layoffs at the US Forest Service amid the growing wildfire crisis.
• Holding Shadow Hearing on program cuts, firings, facility closures, and science scrubbing at NOAA and how they threaten public safety and increase costs from agriculture to aviation.

Oversight and Government Reform Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Forcing consideration of a privileged Resolution of Inquiry to investigate the unprecedented attacks on federal workers and the administration’s efforts to embed political loyalists willing to turn a blind eye to corruption and grift.

Science Space and Technology Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Exposing “degraded operations” at the National Weather Service due to severe workforce shortages caused by Trump and Musk cuts.
• Exposing the Trump administration’s plan to eliminate the EPA’s scientific research arm.
• Pushing for a Department of Energy Acting Inspector General investigation into all financial assistance and contracts including any cancelled awards and contracts.
• Issuing a Staff Report and providing it to the National Science Foundation rebutting erroneous Republican claims regarding NSF grants.

Trump’s administration has launched a campaign to deny and undermine science

Energy and Commerce Democrats pushed back by:

• Investigating HHS’s hiring of an anti-vaccine scientist.
• Pushing the Republican majority to demand a hearing with HHS Secretary Kennedy on the measles outbreak.

Science Space and Technology Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Taking to the House Floor with collected stories of fired federal scientists and the consequences the mass termination of this workforce has had on our national science enterprise.

Corruption

House Democrats are fighting back as Trump and members of his administration violate the constitution to accumulate wealth and power

Trump Illegally Wiped-Out Independent Watch Dogs

Every House Democratic Ranking Member immediately rebuked Trump’s unlawful attempt to purge independent government watchdogs.

Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Calling out House Republicans for failing to stand up to administration for wrongly terminating Inspectors General
• Pushing for a Hearing on Trump’s unlawful termination of Inspectors General

Natural Resources Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Blasting “Trump’s Friday Night Massacre of more than a dozen inspectors general.”
• Pushing for a hearing to get to the bottom of Trump’s unprecedented and illegal late-night firing of inspectors general.
• Pressing committee Republicans to back an investigation into the purging of inspectors general at Department of Interior, Department of Commerce, and Department of Agriculture.

The Trump administration is rife with corruption and conflicts of interest

Oversight and Government Reform Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Urging Republicans to immediately investigate Trump’s numerous conflicts of interest and stand by the principles of the Presidential Ethics Reform Act—a bill aimed at combatting presidential conflicts of interest.
• Forcing consideration of a privileged Resolution of Inquiry into Elon Musk’s extensive conflicts of interest.
• Launching five investigations into Elon Musk’s rampant conflicts of interests in one week, focused on his conflicts at the White House, NASA, U.S. Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Transportation.
• Chronicled 100 Trump Administration conflicts over 100 days.

Science Space and Technology Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Pressing NASA, Department of Energy, NOAA, and science agencies to address Musk’s conflicts of interest and DOGE access to critical data. 

Trump Administration Officials Recklessly Compromised Classified Information About Imminent U.S. Military Operations

Homeland Security Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Calling out National Security officials’ recklessness and incompetence over Signal Gate.
• Investigating DHS Secretary Kristy Noem’s use of the unsecured Signal application for classified matters.

Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Introducing a privileged Resolution of Inquiry to compel the White House to provide answers on the reckless use of the Signal messaging app by top Trump administration officials to discuss classified military operations.
• Calling on Defense Secretary to resign following revelations that he shared classified U.S. military plans in a Signal group chat.

Oversight and Government Reform Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Collaborating with Armed Services, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committee Democrats to demand answers to reports that Trump National Security team leaked military plans.
• Pressuring committee Republicans to schedule a hearing about reckless unauthorized disclosure of classified information.
• Launching an investigation into Trump Administration officials sharing war plans in an insecure group chat.
• Forcing consideration of a privileged Resolution of Inquiry to investigate the illegal use of unsanctioned communications services and platforms for national security duties.
• Forcing consideration of a privileged a Resolution of Inquiry to investigate whether Musk and DOGE affiliates actually have security clearances.

Trump Abused War Time Authority and Violated Due Process

Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Demanding details on the deal made with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to accept and detain deportees from the United States.

Judiciary Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Demanding answers and accountability from DHS and ICE regarding these unconstitutional detentions.

The Administration Launched an All-Out Assault on Fundamental Civil Rights

Education and Workforce Democrats pushed back by:

• Holding a shadow hearing with Civil Rights leaders on How to Fight the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Americans.

Financial Services Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Demanding answers regarding actions taken by the Trump Administration to gut enforcement of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and other housing-related civil rights laws.

Small Business Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Rebuking wildly inaccurate attacks hurled at small government contractors and the Small Business Administration’s programs designed to recruit and retain them in the federal marketplace.

Trump Weaponized Government Agencies to Attack People Exercising First Amendment Protected Rights

Energy and Commerce Democrats pushed back by:

• Launching an investigation into FCC Chairman Carr’s repeated attacks on the First Amendment.

Judiciary Committee Democrats pushed back by:

• Conducting a shadow hearing on the Trump Administration’s attacks on the rule of law through actions such as firing or pressuring Justice Department attorneys, imposing sanctions on law firms representing political opponents, and pardoning individuals involved in the January 6 Capitol riot.