Squad Goals: Democrats Must Use Lame-Duck Power to Fight Trump Now

High-profile Democrats have spent the last week trading blame over the party's election failures. But with Republicans projected to narrowly maintain control of the House of Representatives, ushering in a Republican trifecta, progressives warn that Democrats can't afford to get caught up in litigating the results of the election.

During this lame-duck period, the party instead needs to deploy the full force of its coalition to preempt some of the harm that Donald Trump promises to unleash on marginalized communities.

I worry that many of my colleagues and Democrats are going to spend more time trying to analyze or to blame people or trying to unpack the shock of this loss," said Illinois Rep. Delia Ramirez, a Chicago progressive who overwhelmingly defeated her Republican opponent last Tuesday. I'm happy to have conversations of processing and evaluating the outcome of the election. We should have that. But that, to me, in this moment, is secondary to the work that needs to be done through administrative action, through executive action, and through the Senate and appropriations process to extend the most protections for as many people as we can."

The Biden administration has said that its priorities include delivering hurricane victims assistance, confirming remaining judicial nominees, and passing the National Defense Authorization Act. We have 74 days to finish the term, our term. Let's make every day count," said President Joe Biden last Thursday. That's the responsibility we have to the American people."

For progressive members of Congress, however, there is more to be done. Outgoing Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., has urged the White House to lean into its executive powers and draft a series of executive orders to protect government officials from Trump's promised multi-agency staffing purge. On the congressional side, Jayapal has also reportedly pushed lawmakers to focus on funding for the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act, and the bipartisan infrastructure law before Trump resumes office. A lot of things can be undone, but it can take longer to undo them and it will force a priority from them on what they want to focus on," Jayapal told Axios.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is reportedly positioning himself as the face of the anti-Trump movement, though neither he nor Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have spoken at length about their plans for the lame duck. Schumer, who has scheduled two judiciary votes for next week, also responded to Trump's election by urging bipartisanship and not going to the extreme."

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Looking ahead to next year, GOP control over Congress means that Trump will have nearly unchecked power upon his return to office in January. The president-elect will also benefit from a conservative majority in the Supreme Court and an increasingly conservative lower court system. With Democrats' ability to legislate on a national level severely hamstrung, progressives say there are other ways to fight back: holding Trump and his appointee's feet to the fire in committee hearings; strengthening constituent services; working in coalitions to block legislation; and using their pulpit to shine a light on the administration's right-wing agenda, particularly when it comes to immigration.

Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., the first Black woman to represent Pennsylvania in Congress, said she and her allies are prepared to face the next four years. My people survived 400 years of actual bondage, so laying down at the first sign of a Republican trifecta isn't our style, and it's not the most challenging thing that America has faced and survived," Lee told The Intercept. I draw hope from that. I draw wisdom from the movements of the past. I draw encouragement from the successes of the past that we've had in the most depressing and oppressing situations."

Protecting Immigrants

The president-elect's recent high-level appointments of anti-immigrant right-wing figures signal that he is very serious about the mass deportations plan he campaigned on, putting the estimated 11 million undocumented Americans at risk from Day 1. Trump's key personnel include former senior adviser Stephen Miller, who will be Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy; Fox News commentator Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense; South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as head of the Department of Homeland Security; and former acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan, with the amorphous title of border czar."

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One step the Biden administration can take to blunt the impact of Trump's deportation regime is to work to clear the backlog of applications for adjustment of status, a legal process that allows immigrants to obtain permanent residency status, said Ramirez. We need to help as many people as possible adjust status between now and January," she said. I have people who said to me, my appointment is supposed to be in the next few months, but I've been waiting seven years for this appointment. So how can we have some kind of emergency, rapid processing, if you will, to help as many people that are eligible for adjustment to get that adjustment, or to get the interview to determine their adjustment."

The Illinois representative acknowledged that the courts are a significant impediment to protecting immigrant communities, citing a Biden executive order to protect mixed-status families that was struck down by federal courts a few days ago. We understand the courts are ruling in Trump's favor left and right," said Ramirez.

But now isn't the time to debate whether every policy will stand up to scrutiny under the courts; it's the time to act, she added. In this moment, I am far more interested in doing everything we can in our power than spending seven weeks asking if it's unconstitutional to protect children and their families from deportation, if it's unconstitutional to create some kind of pathway to green card status for Dreamers," Ramirez said. I think that this is a moment for President Biden and his administration, and for Democrats, to show our boldness and courage and sense of urgency to do everything we possibly can while we're able to, in the places we can, to help and protect people as much as we can before Donald Trump becomes president."

Looking for Openings

The work doesn't fundamentally change once Trump enters office, said Lee, who handily won reelection in a Pennsylvania district that includes Alleghany County and parts of Westmoreland County, which went for Kamala Harris and Trump respectively. The things that I care about, that I work on, representing my district and marginalized populations, that doesn't change whether it's Trump or Biden or whoever it may be," she said. We have an obligation to do our best to make this system work for the most and largest amount of people, to do our best to change the material conditions of people who, for so long, feel like that is just not how government has worked for them, and that's true under Trump, and it's true under Democratic control."

The best strategy for Democrats under a Trump administration will be to bide their time and strike when the opportunity presents itself, said Linda Fowler, a government professor at Dartmouth University. It's time to kind of keep your powder dry, I think, if you're a progressive, and look for openings where you can, but you can't really control what those openings are going to be and when they're going to occur," she said.

One of the ways Democrats managed to have an impact during the last Trump administration was by seizing on high-profile committee hearings to grill administration officials. Democrats did a really good job of derailing some of the wackier hearings that the Republicans scheduled by asking hard questions, by refusing to let conspiracy theories and nonsense go unchallenged, and they really were excellent," said Fowler.

In 2019, for example, Rep. Ilhan Omar D-Minn., grilled Trump's special envoy for Venezuela, Elliot Abrams, over his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair. Mr. Abrams, in 1991 you pleaded guilty to two counts of withholding information from Congress regarding the Iran-Contra affair," said Omar during a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing that went viral. I fail to understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony you give today to be truthful."

Many of those hearings, including the Abrams questioning, took place during the second two years of the Trump term, when Democrats controlled the House and consequently set the committee hearings and overall agenda. That's unlikely to be the case come January, but that doesn't mean they won't look for openings, said Lee, who sits on the House Oversight Committee. We would have a very different oversight role if we have Jamie Raskin as chair instead of a ranking member," said Lee. We will need to be there ready to conduct oversight and accountability."

Thinking outside of Washington will be important, said Ramirez. This is a time where members of Congress have to be really, really connected to their constituents, and everything we have, in fact, power to do for our constituents, from constituency services, from verified statuses or appointments for their Medicare, or for their citizenship, or if it's like helping them navigate the health care system or helping them get their passport, whatever those constituency services are, for veterans, for people experiencing homelessness. We should really be doubling down on those things," she said.

Looking to organizers for solutions will also be key, she added. This is the moment when we have to be listening to the organizations that are on the ground, that have the trusting relationships and constituents, but that also have been preparing for this day for quite a while," said Ramirez. They have the answers."

She pointed to the immigrants rights group United We Dream as an example of the type of group that can offer specific, concrete ways that we could be leading. This is not the time to think that we have all the answers. Clearly, we don't." Ramirez added, We should be really leaning in on the community organizations and experts that actually understand the people and understand the policy."

Politicians who are prematurely exclaiming defeat in the face of a GOP trifecta aren't in it to serve the people," Ramirez added. I refuse to stand here and think that there's not things you can be doing, there's not things you should be fighting for."

The post Squad Goals: Democrats Must Use Lame-Duck Power to Fight Trump Now appeared first on The Intercept.