What Democrats can and cannot do with Congress while Trump holds the veto

Democrats will hold the House and, by news projections, the Senate when the new Congress is sworn in this January, but every bill they pass still goes to a president who spent election night posting a photo of a red cap that says "VETO." NBC News projects Democrats will win at least 258 House seats, well past the 218 needed, with an estimate that could still move by a few seats. The party flipped seven Senate seats: Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.

CBS News puts Democrats at control of at least 54 Senate seats, with Alaska and Mississippi still unresolved. In Mississippi, NBC reported Democrat Scott Colom leading Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 28 votes. In Alaska, Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola are locked in a tight contest. These are election-night counts, not certified results.

When does any of this start?

In January, not now. The current Congress, with Republicans in charge of both chambers, keeps its powers until the new one convenes. NPR reported that Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House Democratic leader, is on track to become speaker and would be the first Black person to hold the job.

Can Democrats pass their agenda?

They can pass bills. Becoming law is the problem. Jeffries told supporters in Washington on election night that Democrats will deliver "transformational change" with a focus on affordability, including housing, education, health care and retirement benefits. Trump said he hopes to work with Democrats while stressing he will veto what they send him, NBC reported.

Under Article I of the Constitution, Congress can override a veto only with two-thirds of both chambers. NBC noted that Democrats will fall short of that. NPR noted that Democrats will likely clash with Trump, who keeps the veto, over their affordability proposals. Any Democratic bill that reaches his desk faces that same choice.

Where do they have real power?

Oversight. The majority picks the committee chairs, who set hearing schedules and can issue subpoenas under committee rules, and that is the lever Democrats talked about all night. Rep. Robert Garcia of California, who NBC reported is poised to chair the House Oversight Committee, told Republicans on X to "lawyer up." Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon posted one word: "Subpoenas."

Democrats campaigned on investigating possible corruption among Trump administration officials. Jeffries said in his remarks that Democrats will "bring accountability to those who have visited unprecedented corruption on this country." No hearing or subpoena has been scheduled, and none can be before the new Congress starts.

What about the Senate side?

A Democratic Senate means a different gatekeeper for the president's nominees and a second chamber that can say no to anything the House sends back. Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, posted that Senate Republicans "will not stand idly by" while Democrats try to unwind what the GOP has done, and that they will work with Trump "to stop the worst impulses of Democrat extremism." Thune's majority runs out in January, so that statement describes a minority strategy.

How big a deal is the result historically?

Speaker Mike Johnson, speaking to supporters in Shreveport, Louisiana, said Republicans knew they "would have to defy more than a century of midterm history" to keep the House, and that "it looks like history will be kept tonight." NPR described the result as the end of a Republican-run Washington, fueled by anger over Trump's handling of the economy, the Iran war and the cost of living, and said it accelerates Trump's lame duck status.

What is not settled?

The final House and Senate totals. NBC calls its House number a floor that could tick up or down by a few seats, and the Alaska and Mississippi Senate races are still open. Whether Democrats pursue impeachment, which needs only a House majority to start but two-thirds of the Senate to convict, was not addressed in the reporting reviewed for this story.