Congress comes with a new majority in the House of Representatives – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries

It’s a major event when Congress, the national legislative assembly of the United States, meets each January in Washington, DC

Today the 118th Congress kicks off in the US capital – and with it comes a change of power.

After, after by-elections In the United States, it became clear in November that the Republicans were seizing the majority in the House of Representatives, one of the two chambers.

However, Democrats still have a majority in the other chamber, the Senate.

Both plurals are very rare. In the House of Representatives, the Republicans have 222 representatives while the Democrats have 213.

In the Senate, Democrats 51 and Republicans 49, but Democratic Senator Kirsten Sinema announced before Christmas that she would be an independent and would no longer be one of the Democratic Party’s caucuses.

Leader election

One of the first things that happens in Congress is the election of a new leader, or speaker as they call it in the United States. The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the third most powerful politician in the country after the President and Vice President.

There is great excitement about who will take over the presidency of Congress after Nancy Pelosi.

Kevin McCarthy, the front-runner from California, has pitted a group of ultra-conservative Republicans against him. They think it’s not conservative enough and part of the old and established.

No fewer than five representatives said they did not want him as leader, and you could have as many as four against you if you were to be elected.

There may be several rounds of elections when Congress meets to elect a leader for the day, but McCarthy has no challengers and will likely be elected eventually. Anything else would be a historic defeat. But there are other possible outcomes, such as: The New York Times Type.

12 of those who will now sit in the House of Representatives have no political experience. The average age is 46 years. The percentage of women has decreased compared to the previous Congress, while the percentage of blacks has increased.

A group of younger Democrats from the left were also elected. Maxwell Frost from Florida is the youngest. He is only 25 years old.

Tougher for President Biden

The new majority and shift in power make it a much greater challenge for Joe Biden as president, as he must maneuver through a divided Congress. So far, Biden has had an easier path and Democratic majorities in both chambers.

– The new Congress will be different from what we are used to. It will be the first time Joe Biden has dealt with divided leadership, says CBS political commentator Caitlin Huey Burns.

The party with a majority in both houses of Congress gets all committee chair positions. Thus, the party with the majority decides the agenda. This means, for example, that the investigation into what happened on January 6, 2021 will not continue and that Republicans will launch new investigations, says Huey Burns.

– The Republicans went to the polls to sort out the economy and make financial matters easier for everyone. We will also see a series of committee hearings against Joe Biden, cabinet ministers, and possibly the president’s son, Hunter Biden.

Trump failed

Hilmar Mjelde, an associate professor of political science at the Norwegian University of Applied Sciences, told NTB that President Biden and his team are ready for the new situation.

Biden separates himself. The most important job for the White House now is to protect the president from the now coming Republican attack on the House of Representatives.

He adds:

– The White House knows what’s coming. Mageldy says they’ve been preparing for a long time by hiring a separate defense team.

Despite the new majority in the Chamber of Deputies, the election result was considered the same Donald Trump failed and Republicans.

Democrats have historically had a good by-election, and thus have retained a majority in the Senate.

Storm and investigate

The whole world was shocked then Congress stormed on January 6, 2021. Five people were killed in connection with the break-in. One of them was a policeman.

The break-in continues to receive media attention. review committee directly links Donald Trump to the incident. The commission believes that Trump was part of a criminal conspiracy, and that he bears direct responsibility for these actions.

Investigators in the House of Representatives of Congress interviewed nearly 1,200 people. The committee also reviewed more than a million documents, and called more than 100 witnesses for cross-examination.

See Congress being attacked here: