— Washington The new Congress is slated to convene on Tuesday, marking the beginning of two years of divided government and opposition to President Biden’s agenda from a Republican-controlled House.
The House and Senate will convene on Tuesday at noon to inaugurate the 118th Congress. Democrats will continue to dominate the Senate, while Republicans will hold a slim majority in the House. 82 new members, 47 Republicans and 36 Democrats, will be sworn in for the first time, including several who are making history and one, GOP Rep.-elect George Santos of New York, who is under investigation after admitting to faking portions of his resume.
Before members can take their oaths of office, however, the House must pick a new speaker, and this year’s vote on the House floor will be anything but straightforward.
Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy is aiming for the speaker’s gavel after four years as minority leader. Although he won the nomination in a November closed-door vote by the House GOP conference, it is uncertain whether he has secured the 218 votes necessary to win on Tuesday’s House floor vote.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and previous Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, attend a portrait unveiling event for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Wednesday, December 14, 2022, in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc., sourced from Getty Images
McCarthy has made a number of compromises in an attempt to gain their votes despite objections from some members of the conference’s right flank. McCarthy’s efforts to pacify some of his Republican colleagues appear to have failed, as he continues to face opposition from at least nine House Republicans who believe his assurances fall short.
Nine members and members-elect said in a letter on Sunday, “At this time, it should not come as a surprise that expressions of vague hopes expressed in far too many of the essential items now under dispute are insufficient.” This is especially true for Mr. McCarthy’s bid for speaker, since the times demand for a drastic departure from the status quo, not a continuation of previous and ongoing Republican failures.
McCarthy’s pledges, the organization bemoaned, come “nearly impossibly late to resolve ongoing shortcomings before the start of the 118th Congress.”
The California Republican sent a letter to his re-elected and incoming GOP colleagues over the weekend, in which he notably committed to make it simpler to trigger a vote to remove the speaker from office, reversing his position on the motion to vacate procedure. Under McCarthy’s proposal, any five Republicans can launch a vote to remove the speaker.
A rules package proposed by the incoming House GOP majority — formalizing McCarthy’s compromises — also eliminates proxy voting and remote committee proceedings, eliminates fines for members who don’t wear masks and disregard security screenings outside the House floor, and establishes a select subcommittee on “Weaponization of the Federal Government” to investigate the Biden administration’s assault on the constitutional rights of American citizens.
The 118th Congress inaugurates a new generation of leadership for the House Democrats, with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York as party leader, Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts as Democratic whip, and Rep. Pete Aguilar of California as caucus chairman.
The new batch of soon-to-be politicians features several firsts, including Becca Balint, a Democrat who is the first congresswoman and out gay person to represent Vermont, and Maxwell Frost, a Democrat from Florida who at 25 years old is the first member from Generation Z.
There will be 156 House Republicans in the next Congress who have cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election, including incoming Wisconsin Republican Derrick Van Orden, who attended former President Donald Trump’s rally at the Ellipse on January 6, 2021 and was photographed at the Capitol during the riot.
While the first two years of Mr. Biden’s first term were distinguished by legislative packages delivering on Democrats’ aims and multiple bipartisan victories, the second half of his first term will likely derail his agenda on Capitol Hill due to opposition from the Republican-controlled House.
The White House is also preparing for an onslaught of probes by Republican senators, including inquiries into the financial practices of Mr. Biden’s son Hunter Biden, the origins of the COVID-19 outbreak, and the border policies of the Biden administration.
Anita Dunn, Mr. Biden’s senior assistant, stated on November’s “Face the Nation” that the White House “has and will comply with fair and reasonable oversight” but chastised Republicans for promoting a political agenda.
She stated, “The president will focus on the priorities of the American people.” “And we would hope that the Republicans, who have just suffered a significant defeat in terms of both their expectations and what midterm elections traditionally tend to do, would also listen to the American people and prioritize their concerns.”
In the Senate, where Democrats will have 51 seats and Republicans will have 49, the increased majority makes it simpler for Mr. Biden’s candidates to pass through committees and reach the Senate floor.
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