Democrats’ decisive midterm victories have put incoming committee chairs in position to launch investigations into the second Trump administration. But subpoenas and hearings mean little if the records they seek have disappeared, been destroyed, or remain trapped behind agencies determined to obstruct scrutiny.

Potential targets include abuses of power by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a culture of self enrichment described as unprecedented in modern American history. After two years of nearly unchecked executive power, aggressive oversight is warranted, but oversight requires evidence.

Records may have vanished into encrypted apps that automatically delete communications, while agencies may keep weaponizing classification authority. That leaves lawmakers facing a transparency system weakened precisely when the public needs it most.

Across federal agencies, political appointees who have regularly stonewalled inquiries have little incentive to start cooperating. Agencies could refuse committee requests, ignore Freedom of Information Act requests involving investigations, and continue removing public information from government websites.

The situation is worsened by the administration’s purging of career inspectors general and their replacement with political loyalists. According to the article, those replacements have so far been unwilling to investigate waste, abuse, and possible destruction of evidence.

Inside the White House, the secrecy campaign could become even more brazen. The Justice Department is advancing its theory that the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional and that the president can withhold, destroy, or sell records that belong to the public.

Those records include President Donald Trump’s working papers and communications involving senior appointees such as Stephen Miller. They also document collisions between private interests and government policy, making them central to examining how Trump and his family enriched themselves while he was in office.

The Freedom of the Press Foundation and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington are challenging the Justice Department’s effort in court. If the department succeeds, Trump could again take presidential papers to Mar-a-Lago after his term rather than surrendering them to the National Archives and Records Administration for eventual public inspection.

Congress therefore cannot treat each scandal as an isolated case while the broader transparency system crumbles. Following former President Richard Nixon’s abuses, lawmakers did more than stage hearings and send subpoenas, creating the statutory framework that supports modern oversight.

That work included codifying the Presidential Records Act, strengthening the Freedom of Information Act, and creating the inspector general framework. The next Congress should follow that example by reinforcing transparency laws against current threats.

Presidential veto power does not make such reforms hopeless. The 1974 FOIA amendments became law after Congress overrode former President Gerald Ford’s veto, and the more recent Epstein Files Transparency Act passed the House by a 427 to 1 vote.

Congress should begin by guaranteeing funding for FOIA offices, many of which have suffered from understaffing, inadequate resources, political interference, and the Trump administration’s restructuring of the federal government. Lawmakers should also require more proactive disclosures, penalize willful obstruction, and extend FOIA to private prison and detention facilities.

Reform must also reach financial disclosure and presidential institutions. Modernizing the Ethics in Government Act could require searchable disclosures in real time from executive branch officials and their families, with specific attention to digital assets and cryptocurrency.

Congress should address the murky ties between private presidential foundations and publicly run presidential libraries. Passage of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Presidential Library Anti-Corruption Act would prevent donations from operating as personal and untraceable slush funds after Trump accepted a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar, among other questionable donations.

The National Archives and Records Administration also needs greater power and resources. Congress should double its budget, protect professional archivists from political purges, and give the archivist of the United States authority to declassify records held by other agencies.

Finally, lawmakers should confront secret law, overclassification, and weak protections for whistleblowers. They can mandate disclosure of Office of Legal Counsel opinions, establish strict classification standards, penalize willful abuse, and pass Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s Daniel Ellsberg Press Freedom and Whistleblower Protection Act.

Midterm voters slowed the country’s slide toward autocracy and kleptocracy, but individual investigations will not be enough. Without durable transparency infrastructure, the evidence needed for accountability can disappear, leaving the same door open for the next would be authoritarian.

Lauren Harper is the Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation. She previously worked for the National Security Archive, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.