House Democrats 'seek common ground' with Donald Trump, Republicans 

WASHINGTON — House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday said her newly empowered party would “seek common ground” with President Donald Trump and Republicans on infrastructure, prescription drug prices and campaign finance legislation.

But Pelosi and other Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday said that when they control the House next year they will not back down from plans to investigate President Donald Trump and his administration despite his threat to take a “warlike posture” if they do.

“We do not intend to abandon or relinquish our responsibility [under the Constitution] for accountability for oversight,” Pelosi said at a Capitol news conference. “This doesn’t mean we go looking for a fight. But it means that if we see a need to go forward, we will.”

Pelosi, the veteran California Democrat, also said she is confident House members will elect her to reclaim the role of House Speaker, a post she held as the first woman for four years until the end of 2010, even though she faces opposition within her own party.

On the day after an election that gave Republicans gains in their Senate majority but took away their control of the House and a unified government, Trump and Pelosi warily circled each other around the taut conflicts between wishes of bipartisan cooperation and plans for partisan probes.

In the past, when one party holds either the House and the other controls the Senate and White House, Congress has gotten bogged down in gridlock. For now, however, Trump and Pelosi expressed hopes that they could reach bipartisan solutions.

“Last night I had a conversation with President Trump about how we could work together,” Pelosi said. “One of the issues that came up was part of our ‘For the People’ agenda — building infrastructure of America. And I hope we can achieve that.”

Like Trump did in his news conference, Pelosi also spoke of working together to pass legislation to allow the federal government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices.

Pelosi’s third priority, which she called “the good government agenda,” would focus on passing laws to reduce the role of so-called “dark money” in campaigns — funds that donors can now give anonymously to nonprofits to spend during election years.

Democrats will gain control of the key investigative committees next year and the lawmakers in position to take over the chairmanships already have spoken about the need to launch investigations and issue subpoenas.

The incoming Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan), already had a long list of issues he wants to investigate, but on Wednesday he made Trump’s abrupt firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions his top priority.

“Why is the President making this change and who has authority over Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation? We will be holding people accountable,” Nadler tweeted.

Long Island’s two Democratic representatives re-elected on Tuesday — Rep. Tom Suozzi of Glen Cove and Kathleen Rice of Garden City — acknowledged the need for checks and balances, and oversight issues such as whether Trump is making money off his presidency.

But both urged caution.

Suozzi, a vice chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus that seeks bipartisan legislation to get things done, said House Democrats should try at first to work with Trump to see if a deal can be reached and that he sticks with it. If he balks or backtracks, that will send a signal, Suozzi said.

“It is critical that the House does not overreach its investigative authority in the same way that Republicans have in previous years,” Rice said in an email. “As a legislative body, we need to remain laser-focused on introducing and passing meaningful, bipartisan legislation that addresses our nation’s greatest challenges.”

Suozzi also said he would not vote for anyone, including Pelosi, for House Speaker until they endorse the Problem Solvers measures to give more power to members on bringing and amending legislation on the floor.

And Rice, who voted against Pelosi for House minority leader two years ago, said she will not vote for Pelosi for Speaker because “there is a real need for leadership change within our caucus.”