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While Democrats are preparing to wage war against President Trump if they win control of the House next year, they can also get to where they can cooperate.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Democrats could vigorously investigate the Trump administration, but with their policy priorities align.
"We worked with George Bush," she said. "I disagreed with him on the war in Iraq vehemently. But we worked with him on many other subjects, passed the biggest energy bill in the history of the country, passed many pieces of legislation. "
The White House is also sensing a political benefit in finding areas of agreement and reaching out to key stakeholders. Shahira Knight, the White House's director of legislative affairs, recently had a private sit-down with Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.), Who would be the Democrats' point person on infrastructure legislation in the year 2019.
DeFazio explained his three-pronged infrastructure proposal, and while Knight did not give direct feedback on his plan, DeFazio said, she is relaying an encouraging tone from Trump on potential infrastructure efforts next year.
"She's convinced the president wants to do something real and realizes it's going to require real money," DeFazio said. "This guy, he was a developer. He understands. . . what happens when you build things. You are going to work, you provide jobs. "
[The reality: Many don’t plan to vote in November]
The tension between investigating Trump 's administration and the law of the law should be kept in mind.
Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have made clear that much of their efforts would have been dedicated to conducting oversight of law enforcement agencies and arguing that they had little scrutiny for ethical rules and taxing dollars.
To that end, Democratic aides in recent days have sought advice from Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), Who led the party's last full-fledged effort after Democrats took over the House in 2006. And Democrats are reviewing letters they have been made to know that they have gone out of their way to do their research.
"What we are doing is oversight, which is the responsibility of the Congress of the United States, which has been overseen by the agencies of government," said Pelosi at Monday's event.
Behind Pelosi is a group of chairmen-in-waiting members of the House of Representatives.
"I think every ranking member, their staffs are looking at this," said Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Who is poised to become chairman of the Natural Resources Committee Democrats win control of the House. "If there's a new majority. . . we can not waste time. We have to hit the ground running from Day One. "
Still, Democrats are aware that if they win the House with a significant mandate from voters, they risk overreaching if they engulf the administration with a number of probes – a message echoed by veterans of congressional oversight efforts.
A dozen years ago, Waxman made his oversight targets of waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars within the George W. Bush administration and conducted extensive investigations in Iraq. He stressed that congressional probes should be "approached in a straightforward, honest way" and that the investigative powers "should not be abused."
"Any investigation that looks like it's just a political witch hunt or partisan purposes will not be credible," said Waxman, who retired from Congress in 2015. "If subpoenas are issued wildly and it's not clear what they're getting at, I think the Democrats would be open to attacks from President Trump. "
Waxman, along with Phil Schiliro and Phil Barnett, both form top House Oversight Committee aides, have been informally advising House Democrats on how they should approach Trump administration.
Schiliro noted that he began working on investigations under Waxman in the early 1980s – except for when Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) Led the committee between 1997 and 2003 and issued more than 1,000 subpoenas – about only 10 subpoenas were used.
"There's a reason for that," Schiliro said. "Subpoenas are a powerful, intrusive mechanism, and they should only be used as a last resort."
Democrats would also face the question of whether to try to impeach Trump – something that could also look like an overreach to voters. Trump has been warning that Democrats will try to remove him from office if they have sixteen control of Congress. Pelosi has tried to downplay the idea, while some of the more liberal members in his caucus continue to tout the possibility.
If Democrats win the majority, an immediate priority will be staffing up quickly. Democrats on the Oversight Committee, which has the broadest investigative jurisdiction, will gain power.
House Democrats have received resumes from the perspective of senior staff members, with many interested in oversight responsibilities.
Allies of the White House have been concerned about the administration of avalanche of investigations.
The White House Counsel 's Office, which would be a part of congressional inquiries, is in a transitional period with counsel Donald McGahn leaving the administration. White House Counsel Pat Cipollone joins the staff.
Trump has downplayed the threat posed by the looming potential clash between his administration and Democratic-controlled House.
"I think I'll handle it," Trump said in an Associated Press interview last week when asked how he would deal with Democratic investigations, referencing ongoing Russia probes. "I'm handling already. We have a witch hunt now going on, and there is no collusion. Everyone knows it. "
The list of potential investigators targets for Democrats is already long.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), The top Democrat on the Armed Services House, would have broad latitude to investigate matters involving the military, including the administration's policies on civilian casualties during conflict and plans to house migrant children on military bases.
The House Veterans' Affairs Committee would be sure to probe the alleged "VA shadow" involving three members of Trump's private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., Who have reportedly been steering major veteran policy from outside the agency. Grijalva wants to look into conflict-of-interest issues at the Natural Resources Committee.
The House Homeland Security Committee, where Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss) is the lead Democrat, would probably oversight of the administration's immigration and border security policies, election security and the government's response to Hurricane Maria, according to another Democratic aid.
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), Who would be in line with the Oversight Committee, has made a number of points in his study. that have been established, and that it is necessary to make such determinations, and to consider them as such.
"If I become chairman," Cummings said in a statement to The Washington Post. "I see my role as defending the truth. This is not normal. Hopefully Democrats can steer us back to some normalcy. " Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who was confirmed this month after grueling and controversial proceedings were also ruled Democratic target.
Pelosi has reportedly filed a document under the Freedom of Information Act for the FBI's report to Kavanaugh and related records. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (DN.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, has also discussed his plans to launch a probe into the FBI's investigation into Kavanaugh, as well as accusations that Kavanaugh was not forthcoming to the Senate in his case. hours of testimony.
While in the minority, Democrats have already developed a way to streamline coordination among key committees on the oversight of the Trump administration – an apparatus that one Democratic official said will "enable us to hit the ground running on Day One" if the party takes back power .
Trump's tax returns are already posing complications.
Democrats expect the Trump administration to deny any request from Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.), Who is in line to take over the powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, to obtain Trump's Tax Returns from the Internal Revenue Service. House Democrats then would have decided to make a decision for the return – a far-from-settled decision that could launch a months-long legal fight.
What to do with the returns is also far from simple. One option would be for Democrats to ask for the Joint Committee on Taxation to audit them. If Democrats want to release them publicly, that would require a closed-door committee vote.
"We are still trying to wrap our head around this process," another senior House Democratic aide said.
Mike DeBonis contributed to this report.
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