U.S. Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT-3) is a member of the minority in Congress. How is he using his limited power during a rapidly changing era in American politics?
WSHU’s Ebong Udoma spoke with CT Mirror’s Lisa Hagen to discuss her article, “How Jim Himes navigates Congress in ‘unprecedented’ Trump era,” as part of the collaborative podcast Long Story Short. Read Lisa’s story here.
WSHU: Hello, Lisa. A couple of weeks ago, the U.S. struck Venezuela and captured its president without informing Congress prior to the attack. You say that prompted you to investigate how Jim Himes (D-CT-4) is handling his role as the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, considering they were kept in the dark. Tell us a little bit about the role that Jim Himes plays and how he's handling the situation right now.
LH: Yeah, it's a very influential position that he's in as ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, and so typically, he's part of a very small group of people that can be privy to some of the earliest information on really major military action. And so whether it's been a Republican or Democratic administration in more recent years, you know, a lot of the time they haven't been able to give, or haven't wanted to give Congress much of a heads up. Typically, maybe they'll tell Congress, you know, right after something happens. So you know, not all the time are members of Congress getting notified, even seeking congressional approval. But I think what's been interesting for Jim Himes over the last six months was whether it was military strikes in Iran or in Venezuela, he not only did not get a heads up, but never heard from anyone in the administration, either right away or for a couple of days on what happened, and he was finding out just like the rest of the public. So he's kind of been put in this interesting position, given how prominent of a role this is.
WSHU: Now, tell us a little bit about the Gang of Eight. He's a member of the Gang of Eight. What is the Gang of Eight?
LH: The Gang of Eight. It's a, you know, jargony kind of DC term, but it's a group of eight lawmakers. It is the top Senate and House leaders in both parties. So it's Speaker of the House, Senate Majority Leader, Minority Leader, etc, and it's the chairs and ranking members on both the intelligence committees on the Senate and the House side. So Jim Himes had been one of the Gang of Eight since he was elevated to his role as ranking member in 2023, and so again, he gets some of the earliest intelligence and gets briefed by administration officials, you know, usually in cases like this, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense. And so again, these are a group of eight lawmakers that are supposed to directly hear from the administration, either, you know, early or right after, when we were seeing something like a major bombing or strike.
WSHU: So, dealing with the situation the way it is being kept in the dark, how is he trying to navigate that situation to play a role in what happens going forward, considering we're talking about a number of foreign adventures right now?
LH: Yeah, it seems like, you know, it can be fairly difficult, because of the sensitive nature of his role. You know, there's only so much he can share publicly, but it sounds like, you know, he's able to kind of go behind the scenes, go through back channels, and so maybe he's not getting face time or direct contact with some of you know, these major cabinet officials, but he's able to kind of talk to other people, not just the Rubio’s and the Hegseth’s, but he's able to talk to other people who he has working relationships with and, you know, he, I think he has a reputation on both sides of the aisle of being to be able to work on intelligence matters. And so, at least what has been able to be shared with me, it sounds like he's able to kind of talk through some of this and maybe try to insert his opinion and direction, sort of military matters going forward. And so it sounds like he's trying to use whatever sway he has in Congress to do so.
WSHU: There's been a lot of talk about the War Powers Act and Congress taking more control over how decisions are made. There's been some movement in Congress right now. Is Himes involved in any of that?
LH: Yes, he was mentioning that. The House is also going to take up the War Powers Resolution. So the Senate has already passed that, with several Republicans joining Democrats in being able to pass that, reigning in the Trump administration from being able to further engage in military action in Venezuela without getting approval from Congress. And so they're going to make similar efforts in the house. And so, we'll see how that plays out. And you know, this was specifically on military action in Venezuela, but they are probably going to be other efforts in Congress to do similar war powers acts in other countries, given the threats coming out of the Trump administration on that.
WSHU: Now, Lisa, you said, speaking with Himes, you got the sense that he feels that a little bit, there's a glimmer of hope that some of this might be reined in by Congress. What does he base that on?
LH: Honestly, it’s pure politics. It seems like you know, he was talking about the fact that, since there were local and statewide elections happening in several states back in November, including in Connecticut, where Democrats performed really well and, in some cases, maybe even outperformed. He said that kind of kick-started, maybe some Republicans are changing their tune. And again, it's only, we're only seeing pushback in certain forms. And it's, you know, it's not the entire party, but we are seeing a real realignment in certain ways. And whether that's on the War Powers Act, whether that's on expired Affordable Care Act subsidies, and he's saying the fact that we are currently in an election year, in November, there will be major midterm elections, and the balance of power in Congress could change. He's kind of looking at that as seeing small, little shifts in Congress, but again, very small.
WSHU: So, any chance that if Trump vetoes any of the actions of Congress, there'll be the ability to override a Trump veto?
LH: They've tried already on some pretty small bills. They were things that I don't even think passed in roll call votes. They were, you know, done through unanimous consent. These were, you know, pretty innocuous-sounding things that were even being pushed by Republicans, and the President had vetoed them. And so last week, we saw Congress, or the House, trying to override these vetoes. I think some Republicans went with Democrats on that, but they were not able to overcome that. And so we will see if there continue to be vetoes, if Congress will try to reassert its power in certain ways, and override some of those vetoes.
