MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
After big wins in midterm elections, Democrats say they are clear-eyed about their mandate come January.
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HAKEEM JEFFRIES: We're going to fight to make sure that we make this country affordable for every single American.
KELLY: That's Hakeem Jeffries, the presumptive next speaker of the House. Now, again, Democrats won control of both houses of Congress this week, but they will face Republican roadblocks in the Senate plus the threat of presidential vetoes. So how much can they actually do to deliver on their campaign promises? NPR congressional correspondent Barbara Sprunt is here to take that question. Hey, Barbara.
BARBARA SPRUNT, BYLINE: Hi.
KELLY: OK, so Democrats won big, really big, but not big enough to override a veto from the president. Is there a risk that voters will be disappointed by what Democrats can actually achieve on, say, cost of living and affordability?
SPRUNT: Well, there is a risk. But I think it comes down to communication. You know, I've talked to Democrats who say they need to make sure that they don't overpromise and underdeliver and that they have to be upfront about their own limitations here. I was talking to Matt Bennett about this. He's the co-founder of Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank.
MATT BENNETT: What Democrats were really promising was, return us to power. We will put a check on Trump for two years and then when we get to the White House in 2028, we can actually make your lives better. And it isn't clear to me that voters heard the entire message. They might have just heard the last part. And so there could be some real disappointment.
SPRUNT: But this is a needle to thread, you know, because Democrats want to show that they're taking action, that they're not just waiting around for two years.
KELLY: That they don't want to wait around - I got it. But have they laid out any detail about how they're going to get around Republican roadblocks?
SPRUNT: Well, Democrats control the agenda, which means they get to decide what they bring up for a vote. And people may recall, last year, there was an effort to release the Epstein files. Republican leadership tried to prevent it from getting to the floor. But after some maneuvering, it did get to the floor, and Republicans voted nearly unanimously alongside Democrats to release the files. So Democrats will be in a position to force Republicans to go on the record, often on measures that have a lot of public support. And there also could be areas for real bipartisanship, I think. You know, this has happened before. I think back to 2007, after Democrats won control of Congress. They passed a minimum wage increase, and it was a Republican president, George Bush, who signed it into law.
KELLY: Yeah. Barbara, let me ask about one area where - speaking of bipartisanship - there seems to be bipartisan agreement among voters. The gas prices are too high. Can a Democratic-controlled Congress do much about that?
SPRUNT: This is a tough one for lawmakers because they don't have a direct path towards lowering fuel prices beyond trying to end the war in Iran. And they can try to do that in a few ways. They can try to force Trump's hand with a war powers resolution. You know, historically, presidents of both parties have largely ignored those. An alternative would be using must-pass legislation like funding for the government and appropriations bill and adding a provision to explicitly stop funds from being used in the war. That, of course, could be vetoed by the president.
KELLY: Right. That's the nub of this - right? - that whatever they do, whatever they send his way, the president's going to have his veto pen ready.
SPRUNT: That's right. I mean, but he is a wild card. You know, he has said that he will veto everything. He's also said that he could see himself cutting deals with Democrats. So Democrats say, despite all of the mixed signals that he's sending, it's important to send the bills to his desk. Here's New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on Morning Edition yesterday.
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KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: If we have a bill that is bipartisan to restore health care for the people who lost their Medicaid or to improve access to affordable medicines and other things, like, I dare him to veto that. I dare him to stand in front of the American people and say, you don't deserve access to healthcare.
KELLY: She's saying this is a tool in their toolbox.
SPRUNT: This is a tool, and they plan to use it. If the president vetoes legislation that's popular with the public, it's news cycle after news cycle of Trump vetoes bill to lower healthcare costs, or what have you. You know, it places the blame for stuff not getting done squarely on his shoulders.
KELLY: NPR's Barbara Sprunt. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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