Yesterday, Connecticut’s Senior U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D) told reporters that affordability and accountability are at the front of his mind as he returns to a Congress that, on January 3, will be led by Democrats in both chambers for the first time since 2023.
“My priorities going back are affordability and accountability,” said Blumenthal. “Affordability in meeting the costs that are crushing everyday American families — the cost of housing, the cost of healthcare, the cost of food, fuel, fertilizer — and accountability; The corruption that is enabling and enhancing self-enrichment, which in turn is increasing those costs.”
Blumenthal said the two are directly related because “corruption has consequences.” While the election results for two Senate and 19 House seats are still pending, Democrats have so far flipped the Senate from a Republican majority of 53-47 to a Democratic majority of 55-44, and flipped the Republican’s 218-214 majority in the House, to a Democratic majority of 254-162. Blumenthal said this “blue tornado” largely reflects “deep and angry dissatisfaction about the costs that are crushing average Americans” and “about the corruption that is leading to unaffordability of life in America.” He questioned what Republicans in Congress will take away from the midterms, challenging them to break from Donald Trump and work bipartisanly to address Americans’ concerns.
“I hope we can work together,” Blumenthal said. “The question is whether Republicans are willing to break with Donald Trump; whether the Republican Party remains the Trump cult.”
Blumenthal seemingly balanced optimism about working with Republicans in Congress to address Americans’ concerns with the possibility of holding Trump administration members accountable.
“I’m going to be heading the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which will be the major investigative tool of the Senate,” said Blumenthal. “I’m looking forward to collaborating with Republicans if they wish to join us.”
With Democrats soon to hold the majority, they are also soon to gain subpoena powers, the authority to demand testimony and documents be presented before Congress. Blumenthal said these powers will further the Subcommittee’s investigations into Elon Musk’s alleged interference in Ukraine’s use of Starlink, the President’s alleged sale of pardons, and “the pay-to-play schemes of big corporations that have donated to the East Wing Ballroom.” Blumenthal acknowledged that while these investigations may provide the U.S. House grounds for impeachment, he believed Congress should focus primarily on “impeaching and holding accountable people around Trump,” naming U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche as examples.
“My investigative authority will focus on the corruption around Trump, not just Trump himself,” said Blumenthal. “I think the votes may be there to impeach Hegseth. Right now, I have some questions about whether there are votes to impeach the president, and I think impeachment could be, potentially, a blind alley; futile and frustrating, and also a diversion from the focus that we really need, which is on affordability and accountability.”
Only a few hours after Blumenthal’s press conference, Kentucky Representative Tom Massie (R), a vocal critic of Trump who will be leaving Congress after losing his primary to the Trump-backed Ed Gallrein (R), filed eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth. A House vote on bringing the articles forward could happen as soon as this week.
Reducing rising housing costs, re-extending the Affordable Care Act’s subsidies, and reining in AI and big tech companies were all issues that Blumenthal hoped Republicans might join Democrats in tackling. Naming Elon Musk specifically, Blumenthal said that “reining in” big tech CEOs for their behavior and “monopolistic power” furthers both of his priorities of accountability and affordability.
“The billionaires who now control institutions have to be reined in, particularly big tech,” said Blumenthal. “That’s a way to enforce accountability, but also affordability. Make costs lower for everything from utilities to cable to food to fertilizer. They are all linked together and connected.”
He said he would “fight” to pass the Kids Online Safety Act, a bill he and then-Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn (R), who was just elected as Tennessee’s newest governor, introduced to the Senate in May. The bill aims to impose stricter controls on children’s use of and interaction with social media platforms. 45 state attorneys general, including Connecticut’s Attorney General William Tong, have written a letter supporting the bill’s passage. Blumenthal also cited the Major Richard Star Act, which would allow combat-injured veterans to retain their full retirement pay alongside their full VA disability compensation payments, as a priority
Blumenthal also supported immediately putting forth another War Powers Resolution to stop the current war with Iran, which has killed at least 23 American service members and injured at least 865, and has thus far cost taxpayers an estimated $47.1 billion. Democrats in Congress have tried to pass such a resolution 14 times, but have succeeded only in passing a symbolic continuing resolution in June, which did not have the legal force to halt the conflict.
“It is illegal, costly, insane,” said Blumenthal. “The war has to be stopped through diplomacy. Bombing is not going to do it, and we need to recognize that the War Powers Resolution provides an option going forward right away, now, not waiting for the next session.”
Blumenthal criticized the war, claiming that it has been used by the President, his inner circle, and oil executives for personal enrichment, and advocated for the introduction of a “windfall profits tax that puts money back in people’s pockets from the oil companies.” A recent analysis by The New York Times determined that U.S. oil and gas companies earned $130 billion in combined profit from April to September 2026, compared to $47 billion over the same period last year, largely due to the surge in oil prices caused by limited supply in comparison to the stagnant production costs borne by American firms, which have been insulated from the conflict at home.
“A windfall profits tax that I am helping to lead would mean rebates to consumers from the double and triple profits that the oil companies are making right now,” said Blumenthal. “They are profiting from an illegal, insane war, and consumers deserve money back in their pockets. But they’re not going to get it from a president who owns stock in the oil companies. Literally, more than $80 million in stock, up from just a million dollars a year ago.”
Blumenthal also shared disappointment with Trump’s appointment of Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s deportation and immigration policies, as Chief of Staff, a move also criticized by other Republicans.
“Stephen Miller’s appointment is deeply discouraging because it indicates that Trump is more interested in confrontation than collaboration,” said Blumenthal. “He is an extremist on immigration, who will more likely exacerbate our differences than bring us together.”
While opposing the abolition of ICE outright, Blumenthal said the agency should be abolished in “its present form,” and advocated to “reform ICE so thoroughly to revamp it, and make sure that it reflects American values.”
“We need different recruiting, different training, different leadership,” said Blumenthal. “There has to be some enforcement of immigration laws, but ICE has proved a complete failure, as has the Department of Homeland Security. It begins at the top: the quotas for arrests, the flaws and failures in recruiting and training. The policies have failed, and hopefully Republicans will join in this effort.”
Blumenthal expected longtime Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer (NY) to retain his leadership of the Senate Democrats, but said, “We need to have a conversation about leadership going forward because we need new energy and ideas.”
“I don’t think there is anyone right now who wants the job,” said Blumenthal. “It is a very, very tough job, and my focus is going to be on action that meets the needs of everyday Americans. So I think we need to have a conversation about leadership, but it should not delay our acting to meet those needs of everyday Americans.”
Blumenthal remained skeptical of Congressional Republicans’ willingness to work with Democrats, but hopeful. He called the next 60 days a “test” on “whether they are hearing and heeding the results of this election.”
“I know what I hope, and it’s better than what I expect,” said Blumenthal. “I hope we can work together. That’s what the American people want.”
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