By Alexandra Alper and Michelle Price
WASHINGTON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - US Senate Democrats plan to launch investigations into an array of issues, ranging from private equity’s impact on living costs to data center taxation and fears about AI, if they retake the chamber in next week's midterm elections, a key Democratic Senate aide said on Thursday.
Betting markets suggest there is more than a 50% chance that Democrats make a clean sweep of both houses of Congress when voters head to the polls on Tuesday,
amid discontent over rising costs under Republican President Donald Trump.
A Senate win would hand leadership of the powerful Senate Finance Committee to current ranking member Ron Wyden, who, along with other Senate Democrats, is prioritizing corruption and affordability congressional probes.
"Private equity is a big focus of a lot of the Senate members, the way financial structures in private equity might affect healthcare costs, housing, and other essentials like that," said Daniel Goshorn, chief investigative counsel on the Finance Committee for the Democratic side, speaking at an event at Mayer Brown law firm. "Taxation of data centers and responding to the public outcry" around artificial intelligence will also be a focus, he added.
Thirty-five of the 100 Senate seats and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are being contested next Tuesday. Nonpartisan analysts generally favor Democrats' chances of capturing a majority in the House, with the contest for the Senate seen as very close.
Trump's public approval rating has fallen to a near-record low, with Americans increasingly sour on the high cost of living and the Iran war, but he remains an animating force in the party and has campaigned hard to increase Republican turnout.
The cost of living will not be the only focus of Democratic investigations, Goshorn said. Disgraced financier and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and the Trump administration's use of pardons will be the exception to the rule that "everything must be cost of living," Goshorn added.
Reuters reported this month that Trump has pardoned scores of US public officials charged with or convicted of crimes related to corruption, with a vast majority of recipients being Republicans or vocal proponents of his MAGA movement.
Trump's ties to Epstein have long been a focus of Democratic lawmakers.
Banks may also receive requests for information if the Trump administration does not cooperate as expected, Goshorn said. "Financial institutions are going to be identified as repositories of information that may help Congress achieve its oversight goals without going through the front door," he said.
(Reporting by Alexandra Alper and Michelle Price; Editing by Jamie Freed)
