n Proposition 50, California Democratic Party leaders have asked voters to approve a new map for California’s Congressional districts to “fight fire with fire,” in response to Texas Republicans’ drawing a new map for their state’s Congressional districts. Their announced purpose is to turn the House Democratic to check President Trump.
However, there is nothing they can do without a 2/3 majority in each house. Any bill they pass to constrain President Trump will be vetoed by him, and it takes 2/3 of both houses to overturn a veto. A Democratic House could stop Pres. Trump’s legislation from passing. But the Senate can already do that, since 60 votes are needed to break a Democratic filibuster, and Republicans have only 53 Senators. Watch what happens at the end of this month, as the resolution to keep the government open gets filibustered, and you will see what power the Democrats already have.
It’s true that the Democratic Senators couldn’t filibuster a budget reconciliation bill, but the “Big Beautiful Bill” has already been passed. It got that name because President Trump crowded everything he wanted from Congress into that one bill. If President Trump has other new ideas, unless they’re fiscally related, the Senate filibuster will stop them. If they are fiscally related, he’ll include them in next year’s budget reconciliation, which will go through before the redistricting has any effect. As a result, there is nothing a Democratic majority in the House can do to stop President Trump’s bills that the Democratic Senators cannot already do by filibuster, and there is nothing a Democratic House majority can do to pass their own laws if President Trump disapproves.
What a House Democratic majority can do is hold hearings. And they will–tons of them. They won’t get to subpoena any documents or any Trump Administration officials, however. If a Trump official is held in contempt of Congress, no enforcement will happen. President Obama showed us that. His Attorney General, Eric Holder, was held in contempt for withholding documents on the “Fast and Furious” scandal. The Justice Deparment decides whether or not to prosecute for contempt of Congress. No one prosecuted Attorney General Holder. The stonewall was successful. The shoe is on the other foot now, and the result will be the same. Attorney General Bondi will not prosecute any Trump Administration officials who are held in contempt of Congress.
The price Californians are asked to pay in Prop. 50, in addition to the $200 million cost of a special election, especially affects those of us with views that are occasionally in the minority on national policies that affect Californians. There should be a place for minority views among California House Members. There are currently 43 Democrats and 9 Republicans representing California in Congress. Proposition 50 will change that to 48 Democrats and 4 Republicans. That’s 92.3% Democrats, representing a state that’s 45.3% Democratic. Suppose we were considering the State Legislature instead of the US House, and Proposition 50 proposed 80 state-wide at-large Assembly districts and 40 state-wide at-large State Senate districts. The result would be 120 Democrats, and no one else, in the State Legislature. If 0% minority views is unacceptable, isn’t 7.7% almost as bad?
Many issues vital to California come before Congress. Water policy is one, immigration is another. Californians have differing views on those important subjects, and we live with the consequences of what the Congress enacts. Congressmembers from other states can more easily ignore the views of just four out of 52 Members as outliers than they would nine. And when California’s interests require a bipartisan approach, there is a better chance of a moderate Republican who can strike a deal among nine than among four.
California should send to Congress members representing a full spectrum of California citizens’ views, minority as well as majority. Proposition 50 almost completely silences minority California viewpoints in Congress until January, 2033 – with no chance of changing any legislative outcomes.
The assertion that without a 2/3 majority in each house, Democratic Party control of the House confers no power on the Democrats is false. Control of the House by one party gives that party vast power to stop every single bill that Trump or MAGA Republicans in congress want to pass. All the party in control of the House has to do is either vote against any MAGA bill, or refuse to bring it to the floor for any vote at all. That is 100% power over all legislation. Veto power has nothing to do with it.
The same facts and reasoning applies to fiscal bills that can be passed via budget reconciliation. If the Democrats control the House and they oppose a MAGA bill within the scope of budget reconciliation, that bill will not pass. End of analysis. It is literally that simple.
The House Rules Committee can be heavily weighted toward the majority party, typically 9-4. That committee functions as the “speaker’s committee” and determines which legislation reaches the floor. The majority leader exercises a large say in shaping the chamber’s overall agenda and in determining when, whether, how, or in what order legislation is taken up. Republicans in congress can do nothing to touch that.
So why even mention veto power when it is irrelevant? Presumably, the author wants the House to stay in control of both chambers of congress.
The author’s assertion that “Proposition 50 almost completely silences minority California viewpoints in Congress until January, 2033 – with no chance of changing any legislative outcomes”, is misleading. If Democrats take control of the House after the 2026 mid-term elections they will have full control over all House legislation in 2027 and 2028. That is the bottom line. How the Proposition 50 vote will turn out represents what the majority of Californians want. One person, one vote. What is wrong with that?
It is true that Democrats cannot do anything about next year’s budget reconciliation bill. But without gaining control of the House and/or Senate in the 2026 mid-term elections, Democrats cannot do much to stop the rise of MAGA’s ongoing kleptocratic dictatorship.