Senior congressional Democrats have been studying a 181-page dossier that identifies hundreds of executives and companies for them to investigate after they take control of the House and Senate next year.
The document, drafted by the think tank Groundwork Collaborative and reviewed by The Washington Sun, argues that the party should respond to the results of the election by aggressively probing large corporations, including the biggest tech giants, artificial intelligence labs, natural gas firms, private prisons and nursing home operators, among dozens of others.
House Democrats on the Judiciary and Oversight committees have been reviewing the document, according to multiple sources familiar with the lawmakers’ private strategizing. The roadmap is the opening salvo in a broader struggle within the party over how aggressively to wield the investigatory powers that come with having the majority.
Some Democrats have suggested the party narrowly focus on President Donald Trump’s scandals, such as his renovations of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and dismantling of the Kennedy Center. The Groundwork document — spearheaded by former staffers for Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) — argues for a more expansive approach that would broaden Democratic investigations well beyond the president and focus on a wide range of corporate behavior that the group blames for the cost-of-living crisis.
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The document envisions a constant stream of high-profile confrontations next year in which executives of health care, tech and energy firms are hauled before cameras for congressional hearings, often to be pressed to resign or pay restitution to consumers.
“Trump’s Qatari jet, his ballroom, the Reflecting Pool renovations — those take a lot of Beltway energy that is not interesting or motivating to anybody but hard-core Democrats who already hate Trump,” said Alex Jacquez, senior vice president at Groundwork, pointing to polling that shows broad bipartisan support for investigating corporate price gouging. “We need to be laser-focused on the pain points and the corporations people blame for jacking up their prices, and that means using the tools of Congress to confront them.”
But whether Democrats will go along with this strategy remains unclear. Moderate Democrats have argued that the Biden administration’s aggressive crackdown on corporations drove potential allies into the Republican camp and helped contribute to Trump’s reelection in 2024. A similar agenda in the run-up to the 2028 presidential election risks alienating many Americans and squandering the advantage on the economy Democrats have finally seized after Trump’s tariffs and war on Iran, said Ben Ritz, vice president of the Progressive Policy Institute, a centrist think tank.
“The Biden administration really put out this vibe of being anti-business by pursuing ideological hobby horses instead of growth and getting the cost of living down,” Ritz said. “There will be real legitimate instances to crack down on corporate abuses, but it needs to be focused. It can’t be a message of, ‘Corporate America is the source of all your problems,’ because most people rely on these firms for paychecks and products that make their lives better.”
Others, such as Jim Kessler, executive vice president for policy at Third Way, another centrist think tank, say embracing too many targets would confuse voters, arguing that Democrats’ narrow focus on Obamacare during last year’s government shutdown was effective.
“Big targets. Fewer targets. Go deep. Don’t shoot with buckshot. This needs to be understandable to people,” Kessler said.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, told The Washington Sun that his staff has been reviewing potential investigative opportunities but also downplayed the extent to which Democrats plan to attack businesses.
“We’re not targeting particular corporations,” Raskin said. “We’re targeting systems and networks of corruption, and to the extent corporations are involved, they are subject to the oversight project of Congress and our subpoena authority like everyone else.”
But there is momentum in the party to look at corporate America broadly, even when Trump is not involved. Those who have evaluated the Groundwork dossier include Warren, the heads of the House Democratic caucus, party leadership, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a half-dozen chiefs of staff for incoming senators.
Progressives will have many allies in key positions. Sanders will be the head of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Warren is likely to lead the Senate Banking Committee. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), a fierce critic of fossil fuel giants, is likely to lead the Judiciary Committee. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), expected to retake control of the Finance Committee, will likely press on companies that paid little or no taxes.
Groundwork envisions Democrats holding a series of high-profile hearings to highlight instances of companies accused of malfeasance. The document proposes a hearing that would put landlord executives under oath about junk fees. It proposes a hearing with the chief executives of the online sports gambling companies about how the industry uses artificial intelligence to encourage compulsive gambling. It calls for demanding investigations into whether major credit card companies help retailers charge higher prices to big spenders and forcing big grocery chains to disclose how they use consumer data.
Democrats’ impeachment hearings in Trump’s first term improved the president’s political standing, said Lindsay Owens, Groundwork’s executive director. Investigations targeting the president should be sure to tie into families’ high costs, she said.
“The American people are clear that corporate greed is behind rising prices, and they want to see it held to account,” Owens said. “We’re talking resignations of major CEOs, hauling people in, material restitution. Economic populism is ascendant.”
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