President Donald Trump's White House has spent months preparing for the outcome it is publicly campaigning against — a Democratic takeover of Congress in Tuesday's midterm elections — drawing up plans to keep advancing major parts of his agenda through executive power alone while bracing for investigations, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing a White House official and two people familiar with the plans, all speaking on condition of anonymity.
Senior officials including deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and budget director Russell Vought have been working with the White House Counsel's Office since April to identify executive actions Trump could pursue without congressional approval, the three people said. White House counsel Will Scharf and his team are examining what Trump can legally do on his own, where he could push the limits of his authority, and how to defend those decisions in court. Federal agencies have submitted proposals and legal reviews of actions the administration could take unilaterally, and Trump himself has been briefed and has taken part in the discussions. Asked how comfortable Trump would be governing through executive authority under a Democratic Congress, one of the people answered: "very comfortable."
Among the actions under consideration, the White House official said, are new tariffs on imports of critical minerals and wind turbines, tighter rules on visas for international students and temporary foreign workers, and measures aimed at lowering housing and construction costs. Vought, whose Office of Management and Budget oversees federal spending, is examining which priorities can move forward using money Congress has already appropriated, and wants to change federal grant rules to give political appointees more say over which government programs receive taxpayer money — potentially giving the White House more influence over federal spending without seeking congressional approval.
The White House pushed back on the prospect of Republican losses and accused the media of promoting a false narrative. Spokeswoman Lauren Bis said the administration and commonsense Republicans will keep securing the borders, restoring law and order and putting more money back in the pockets of hard-working Americans. No Democrat is quoted responding in the report; Reuters has previously reported that senior House Democrats and committee aides have discussed using hearings, subpoenas and document requests to examine whether Trump has used presidential power to benefit himself, allies or donors.
The stakes on Tuesday are exact. Democrats need a net gain of four seats in the House, and to take the Senate as well, to overturn Republicans' narrow 218–214 and 53–47 majorities. Opinion polls favour Democrats to win the House, while the Senate remains too close to call. For the past month Trump has held rallies across the country trying to preserve Republican control, even as his aides privately prepare for a very different political landscape in 2027.
Trump has already tested the reach of presidential power since returning to office in January 2025, using executive authority to impose sweeping tariffs, intensify immigration enforcement, shrink the federal workforce and pursue foreign-policy goals including the war against Iran, all without Congress' approval or new laws. The major exception was his package of tax and spending cuts, passed by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law in July 2025. He has repeatedly invoked national emergencies to expand his ability to act without new legislation; Congress can vote to end those emergencies, but Trump could veto that, and overriding him would take two-thirds majorities in both chambers. "President Trump in the last two years has basically ignored Congress and tried to do as much as possible through executive orders and executive power," said Nathan Gonzales, editor at Inside Elections. "I think he will only continue if there are Democratic majorities."
A Democratic Congress would still create real obstacles. Control of the Senate would let Democrats block Trump's judicial and executive-branch nominees, including any Supreme Court pick — "I would anticipate they will be very reluctant to approve any of the president's appointments," said Andrew Busch, a public policy professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Democrats could refuse to pass Trump-backed legislation, though Trump could veto theirs, and they are unlikely to have the House votes to override him. Courts could block executive actions that exceed his legal authority — which is why the White House plans to seek Justice Department opinions on what Trump can do without Congress and how to defend those actions if challenged.
One challenge cannot be sidestepped through executive action: investigations. Trump aides have been preparing for that prospect for months, all three people said. White House lawyers have been briefing political appointees and agency leaders on how to handle congressional inquiries, document requests and subpoenas, advising officials to be careful about what they put in writing. They also sought a Justice Department opinion that could allow Trump to invoke executive privilege to shield communications with private advisers from congressional scrutiny.
For ordinary Americans, what is being prepared matters whichever way Tuesday goes. The plans on the table reach into household budgets directly: tariffs that shape prices, visa rules that shape workplaces, housing measures aimed at the cost of building and buying, and grant rules deciding which local programs get federal money. If Democrats win, those fights move from the House floor to the courts, with the White House arguing the president already holds the authority to act — and voters who backed his agenda still seeing it carried forward while Congress argues over investigations.
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