Democrats Target Five Big Priorities for Their 2027 To-Do List

Democrats like their odds of retaking the House this November after four years of GOP control, but if they succeed, they’ll have a harder task than winning: finding legislation they can realistically advance under President Donald Trump.

“Even though there’s going to be a Republican president, you can still negotiate,” said Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the powerful tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.

Bloomberg Government spoke with some of Democrats’ top political and policy leaders about what their top priorities would be in the House majority next year. Here are five big areas they emphasized in their responses:

Lowering the Cost of Living

Many Democrats attributed their underperformance in 2024 elections to a lack of emphasis on economic issues, specifically the high cost of housing, groceries, and other essentials. They’ve landed on “affordability” as their main buzzword ahead of this year’s midterms. But turning that message into legislation would be difficult if Democrats win the House while Republicans retain the White House and possibly the Senate.

“Donald Trump and Republicans promised to lower the high cost of living on day one,” said Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who’s poised to become speaker if his party retakes the chamber. “But costs in the United States of America haven’t gone down. Costs have gone up.”

Neal, whose tax panel will certainly play a role in Democrats’ economic policy if they win, said one of his priorities is renewing the Affordable Care Act tax credits that expired at the end of 2025 due to Republican opposition. Democrats fought against the expiration, which they said would dramatically increase healthcare costs for working families.

Neal also said repairing Social Security would be top of mind for his committee. “It would be reflective of the years that I was the chairman,” said Neal, who led Ways and Means from 2019 to 2023.

House Ways and Means Tax subcommittee ranking member Rep. Mike Thompson, accompanied by House Ways and Means ranking member Richard Neal and Rep. Terri Sewell, speaks about affordability on Dec. 18, 2025.

Photographer: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Fighting Corruption

Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (Calif.) said his party’s leaders are already brainstorming how to address the cost of healthcare, goods, child care, elder care, and housing. But he also said a top priority of a Democrat-controlled House would be “to stamp out the culture of corruption” in government—pointing to common Democratic concerns about Trump’s stock trading, crypto involvement, and investigations of his perceived political enemies.

If Democrats control the House, they’ll have a chance to hold official hearings and subpoena Trump officials to press them on perceived corruption. Democrats have already been able to join with a handful of renegade Republicans this Congress to force the release of files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Republican leaders have trumpeted the White House’s transparency and accused past Democratic administrations of withholding information related to Epstein’s sex crimes. While House Republicans have held oversight hearings in the past two years, Democrats think they’ve looked the other way at allegations of corruption by Trump.

“We need the rules that apply to Congress, that apply to the administration, that apply to the judiciary,” said Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), who leads the centrist New Democrat Coalition. “These are offices of trust. People should have that trust.”

Ensuring Voting Rights

Democrats have been vocally opposed to red states’ mid-decade redistricting and a recent Supreme Court decision that threatens to wipe out Black political representation in the deep South. If they take control of the House, multiple Democrats said they want to pass legislation to secure the right to vote across the country.

The country is “seeing a savage attack on the basic right to vote and on democracy,” said House Judiciary Chairman Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).

Blocking Trump’s Immigration Policy

Few issues have divided Democrats and the Trump administration more deeply than immigration policy over the past two years.

The killings of US citizens Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by immigration agents in Minneapolis led to a drawn-out Department of Homeland Security shutdown as Democrats refused to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Those agencies just received three years of funding through a party-line GOP reconciliation bill, meaning Democrats won’t be in control of their money if they win the House. They still want to focus on it though.

“We still have an ICE operation that’s completely out of control, and a trampling of people’s constitutional rights and freedoms,” Raskin said.

Read more: ICE Budget Drama Reignites Tug of War on Detention Center Access

Ranking member Jamie Raskin speaks at a House Judiciary Committee hearing while displaying photos of Minnesota resident Alex Pretti, who was killed during a confrontation with ICE.

Photographer: Heather Diehl/Getty Images

Fixing Congress

It’s become almost a cliche for the incoming majority party, whether Republican or Democratic, to promise to run Congress better.

Lawmakers have long funded the government largely through continuing resolutions and omnibus spending packages, rather than individual appropriations bills for each area of government.

“We want to make sure that we’re getting the Appropriations Committee back on track and not going down the road of continuing resolutions and reconciliation bills,” said Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). She and other Democrats have accused Republicans of making the appropriations process overly partisan.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the powerful Rules Committee that dictates how and when legislation comes to the House floor, said his panel would allow for more amendment debate and votes on legislation. This, too, is a common promise from both parties.

“We will be way more open than they are,” McGovern said.

Read more: House Democrat Plans Rules Makeover if His Party Retakes Control