Democrats will hold Congress but President Donald Trump still has the power to block their plans. By Michelle Fleury Two business owners, half a country apart, want the same thing for different reasons.

In Texas, Kim Hanks, who owns Tillies, a hotel, restaurant and spa business near Austin, says rising grocery and fuel costs are forcing her to raise wages for her 300 staff.

"It's been such a moving target for us on affordability," she told the BBC World Service.

diana, Danny Reynolds, who runs Stephenson's of Elkhart, a clothing and bridalwear store, simply wants Washington to get its act together. "My hope is that we can just find some consistency, some working together," he said. Democrats say they heard both messages.

"We ran on affordability, we won on affordability, and now it's our job to govern on affordability," said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries on MS Now's Morning Joe.

But here comes the difficult part. Democrats will hold Congress. Donald Trump still has the power to block their plans.

A message that cut through The scale of the win was bigger than most forecasters expected, with at least seven Republican-held Senate seats changing hands.

Behind the result was a striking mood: just 21% of Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country, even though the economy looks healthy on paper.

Voters weren't looking at the statistics. They were looking at their grocery bills, electricity bills and the price at the petrol pump.

In rural Texas, rising costs were even hurting Republicans in their own backyard. Sid Miller, the outgoing Republican agriculture commissioner, told me ranchers are getting $300 to $500 less for each head of cattle, while also facing record fertiliser costs. "They felt betrayed," he said.

This was more than a blue wave. It was a vote about the cost of living. So what can Democrats actually do about it?

The affordability plan Under the banner "Fighting for an Affordable America," Democrats say healthcare is their first priority.

They want to bring back the extra financial help that made health insurance cheaper under the Affordable Care Act and reverse the cuts to Medicaid signed by President Trump in 2025.

Next come tariffs and energy. Democrats want to scrap the president's import taxes, which they say add thousands of dollars a year to the cost of groceries, fertiliser and building materials.

They also want to end the war in Iran, which they link to petrol prices averaging $4.18 a gallon, marking an increase of nearly 40%.

Housing is next. Some Democrats want to build four million new homes over the next decade.

On tax, they want to make billionaires pay more and increase tax credits for families with children. It's a long list. But how much of it can they actually deliver? What can they actually pass? Investor Ken Fisher, founder of Fisher Investments, puts it bluntly: "Congress can't get anything past a presidential veto. President Trump can't get anything he wants." The result, he says, is likely to be two years of relative quiet on the legislative and regulatory front.

In other words, winning in Congress does not give Democrats a free hand. President Trump can still block legislation, and getting around a presidential veto requires a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate.

For voters hoping for lower bills, that may be a disappointing result. They didn't vote for political deadlock.

Take tariffs. Trump is unlikely to abandon a trade policy that is central to his agenda. Democrats will need Republican support if they want to change it.

Bernard Yaros, deputy chief US economist at Oxford Economics, expects the average tariff rate on imports to stay around 10% for the rest of Trump's term. And there's another complication.

Tariffs are bringing in more money for the government. Import taxes accounted for just over 1% of federal revenue in 2024. This year, they account for more than 5%.

That growing contribution to government income, Yaros argues, will make tariffs "tough for a future administration to fully dismantle." Still, there are bargains to be struck.

Where the deals might be President Trump told CNBC he could work with Democrats on "many more things than people understand". Healthcare might be one of them.

Yaros sees the possibility of a big political trade-off: Democrats agree to extend Republican tax cuts in return for restoring health insurance subsidies. But he doesn't expect a deal until late 2027, with the economic benefits arriving in 2028. That's a long time to wait for anyone struggling with bills today. Democrats could also turn up the pressure on businesses.

Henrietta Treyz of consultants Veda Partners says Democrats will question companies that passed on the cost of tariffs to customers.

After the Supreme Court ruling in February, she says, the question will be: "Did you turn around, take that tariff rebate, and then lower prices for consumers?" Companies will also be asked: "What did you get in exchange?" Democrats, she adds, will "pick and choose very carefully."

In the Senate, Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat set to chair the Finance Committee, has summed up his approach in five words: "affordability for us, accountability for them." He says he will use the committee to "reassert congressional authority" over trade policy. Insurers, drugmakers and banks should expect to be called to explain themselves.

And some of the biggest changes may happen closer to home. State governors and regulators have a say in electricity prices, while local authorities decide where new homes can be built.

Democrats have won governorships in Texas, Ohio and Georgia, where the rising cost of electricity for data centres is already a concern.

The part they can't control The hardest test may be something Democrats cannot fix with a new law.

The price of petrol, diesel and fertiliser will depend heavily on what happens in the war with Iran. And forecasters disagree about what comes next.

Oxford Economics warns that with the election over, further escalation "appears more likely," because petrol prices will no longer be as much of a political concern for the president.

And here's the awkward part. If prices come down, Democrats may struggle to claim the credit. If they go up, they may share the blame.

There is an immediate test, too. Government funding runs out after 11 December, and the chances of another shutdown look uncomfortably high. Democrats won the argument. Now they have to show they can make life cheaper.