Listed below are powers that members of Congress have.
Using them - or not using them - is a choice they make every day.
What Can A Congressional Minority do?
One Person, Acting Alone
Deny Unanimous Consent (Senate)
What: Object to unanimous consent requests on the Senate floor.
Who: One Senator, alone.
Impact: Forces the Senate to follow full procedure instead of shortcuts; delays floor action roughly 20-120 minutes per objection; can be used repeatedly; on average over a dozen opportunities for use per Senate business day.
Can the GOP prevent this? No. Leadership can only work around it by spending time.
Force a Quorum Call (Senate)
What: Suggest the absence of a quorum, forcing a roll call attendance of all Senators
Who: One Senator, alone.
Impact: Temporarily halts Senate business; consumes floor time; can be used repeatedly; if less than 51 Senators are physically present, all business stops until 51 Senators are in attendance.
Can the GOP prevent this? No. Once a Senator initiates a quorum call, it continues until the full roll call is completed or until it is suspended by unanimous consent. If roll call establishes fewer than 51 Senators present, the delay continues until a quorum is met.
Place a Hold on a Nomination (Senate)
What: Place a formal or informal hold on an executive or judicial nominee.
Who: One Senator, alone.
Impact: Delays confirmations days to months; forces the Majority Leader to choose between accepting the delay or consuming floor time.
Can the GOP prevent this?
Partially. The Majority Leader can file cloture, but that costs multiple days of floor time.
Demand Full Reading of Bills or Amendments (Senate)
What: A specific use of denying unanimous consent to force the full reading of legislative text.
Who: One Senator, alone.
Impact: Adds minutes to hours of delay; increases visibility of controversial provisions.
Can the GOP prevent this? No, except by waiting it out.
Conduct a Facility Inspection
(House or Senate)
What: Personally inspect federal facilities (e.g., ICE detention centers, BOP prisons, VA hospitals, DHS contractor sites, etc).
Who: One Senator or one Representative, alone.
Impact: Produces firsthand evidence; supports IG complaints, GAO audits, and litigation.
Can the GOP prevent this? No. The Congressional right to inspect DHS facilities is explicitly written into statute. Members of Congress have long practiced their constitutional authority to inspect all federal facilities, though non-DHS agencies may impose some limits.
Trigger an Inspector General Investigation (House or Senate)
What: Formally request that an Inspector General investigate a matter within the agency’s jurisdiction.
Who: One Senator or one Representative, alone.
Impact: Creates a formal oversight record; triggers evidence preservation and internal review obligations; diverts agency resources toward compliance rather than policy implementation; in some cases leads to public reports, referrals, or further congressional action.
Can the GOP prevent this? No. Inspectors General are statutorily independent and are required to consider congressional requests as part of their dual reporting obligation to the agency and to Congress. While practices vary by OIG and investigations are often not publicly acknowledged while ongoing, congressional requests are typically treated as serious oversight matters and rarely declined in full.
Trigger a Government Accountability Office Audit or Legal Opinion (House or Senate)
What: Request a GAO audit or legal ruling.
Who: One Senator or one Representative, alone.
Impact: Forces agencies to spend weeks to months producing records; establishes authoritative paper trail of harm or potential illegality.
Can the GOP prevent this? No. The GAO, a non-partisan agency, controls the scope & timing of the response, but they must respond to Congressional requests.
Force a Floor Vote on Impeachment (House)
What: Introduce a privileged resolution of impeachment.
Who: One Representative, alone.
Impact: Bypasses the Speaker of the House and committees; forces a recorded floor vote.
Can the GOP prevent this? No. They can vote it down, but cannot block the privileged resolution from forcing the vote.
File Amendments During Budget or Reconciliation Consideration (Senate)
What: Offer amendments during consideration of budget resolutions or reconciliation bills, where Senate rules permit a high volume of amendments and require votes on their disposition.
Who: One Senator, alone.
Impact: Forces repeated recorded votes; consumes floor time through extended “vote-a-rama” sessions; places Senators on the record on specific issues.
Can the GOP prevent this? No. Once the Senate enters budget or reconciliation procedures, amendment votes must be disposed of before moving on.
Exercise Committee Procedural Powers (House or Senate)
What: Use committee rules to offer amendments, make procedural motions, request recorded votes, and move to authorize subpoenas or formal document requests during hearings and markups; in most committees, these tools are available to any member once proceedings are underway.
Who: One Senator or one Representative, alone.
Impact: Forces debate and votes within committee; consumes committee time and staff resources; can delay legislation or nominations; in some cases, results in substantive outcomes such as subpoenas, document production, or expanded investigations.
Can the GOP prevent this? Partially. Chairs control agendas and some committees impose limits, but once proceedings begin, members generally retain procedural rights that require time and formal responses.
A few members acting together
Demand Recorded Votes
(House or Senate)
What: Force roll-call votes instead of voice votes.
Who: Senate: one Senator alone; House: 44 Representatives.
Impact: Slows proceedings; forces Members on the record.
Can the GOP prevent this? No.
Invoke the Rule of Five (Senate) or the Rule of Seven (House)
What: Use 5 U.S.C. § 2954 to compel information from executive agencies.
Who: Any five Senators on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Democrats on that committee: Gary Peters, MI; Maggie Hassan, NH; Richard Blumenthal, CT; John Fetterman, PA; Ruben Gallego, AZ; Andy Kim, NJ; Elissa Slotkin, MI
Any seven Representatives on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Democrats on that committee: Robert Garcia, CA; Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC; Stephen Lynch, MA; Raja Krishnamoorthi, IL; Ro Khanna, CA; Kweisi Mfume, MD; Shontel Brown, OH; Melanie Stansbury, NM; Maxwell Frost, FL;
Suhas Subramanyam, VA; Summer Lee, PA; Greg Casar, TX; Jasmine Crockett, TX; Emily Randall, WA; Yassamin Ansari, AZ; Wesley Bell, MO; Lateefah Simon, CA; Dave Min, CA; James Walkinshaw, VA; Ayanna Pressley, MA; Rashida Tlaib, MI
Impact: Creates a statutory demand for information; forces formal agency response; strengthens potential IG action, GAO audits, or court actions.
Can the GOP prevent this? No. Agencies are legally obligated to comply. Attempts to refuse would be grounds for contempt.
Enforce the Senate Two-Hour Rule on Committees (Senate)
What: Enforce the Senate rule that generally bars committees from meeting more than two hours after the Senate begins its legislative day, or later in the afternoon; this rule is often waived through mutual agreement between the party leaders.
Who: Senate Majority Leader or Senate Minority Leader, acting alone.
Impact: Takes control over committee meeting windows; delays or bottlenecks hearings, markups, and nominations by limiting when committees may meet.
Can the GOP prevent this? No. The restriction is the default rule; it can be lifted only if both the Majority Leader and Minority Leader consent.
Use Congressional Review Act Resolutions to Consume Floor Time (Senate)
What: Force fast-track CRA resolutions, making use of the tool Republicans opened up by overruling the Parliamentarian in May 2025.
Who: 30 Senators.
Impact: Guarantees up to 10 hours of debate plus vote time per resolution; CRA business takes priority over other Senate business; could be used consecutively, without limit.
Can the GOP prevent this? No. They can vote the resolutions down but cannot avoid the debate or reclaim the time.
This is a non-exhaustive list of the powers available to members of Congress.
None require a majority for action.