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The 117th Congress has departed aft November’s midterm elections wherever Republicans won power of the House. On Tuesday, members of the caller 118th Congress swoop in.
Before lawmakers tin get down to the nitty-gritty of governing, Congress has immoderate housekeeping to do. Most significantly, the House needs a caller speaker and the dust has yet to settle with who volition go the look of the chamber.
Most of the enactment this week volition beryllium successful the House. The Senate lone convenes connected Jan. 3 for the archetypal time and is disconnected until Jan. 23.
McCarthy looks to the speakership
With Republicans reclaiming power of the House, the enclosure needs a caller speaker. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy is the favourite to wield the speaker’s gavel.
The California Republican has garnered enactment among the immense bulk of the House GOP conference, but a fewer detractors person been the root of headaches for McCarthy and his allies.
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The midterm elections gave Republicans a acold narrower bulk than they would person liked. McCarthy needs 218 votes to go talker and Republicans lone person 222 seats, meaning the prospective talker tin lone spend to suffer 4 votes.
If McCarthy fails to gain 218 votes, he’s not retired of the race. The talker ballot could resistance connected to aggregate ballots.
GOP investigations
Not lone volition determination beryllium a caller speaker, but Republicans volition besides summation power of the House’s assorted committees, wherever the House GOP is astir apt to workout its power done investigations.
The investigative docket for the GOP is packed: Hunter Biden’s fiscal dealings, the confederate border, COVID-19, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and more.
Reps. James Comer of Kentucky and Jim Jordan of Ohio are acceptable to beryllium the conference’s biggest powerfulness players erstwhile it comes to investigations. Comer volition seat the House Oversight Committee and Jordan the House Judiciary Committee.
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Bipartisanship successful a caller committee focused connected China
Earlier successful December, McCarthy announced that Republicans volition beryllium establishing a caller prime committee connected China with Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher, a erstwhile Marine and quality officer, astatine the helm arsenic chairman.
“The Chinese Communist Party is the top geopolitical menace of our lifetime.” McCarthy said successful a statement.
Growing contention with China has drawn bipartisan interest from Democrats and Republicans, and Gallagher has a past of moving with Democrats connected argumentation aimed astatine expanding competitiveness with China.
Greene and Gosar backmost connected committees
If McCarthy becomes speaker, he’s already promised to reconstruct committee assignments to Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar.
Greene, 1 of the House’s astir blimpish lawmakers, was stripped of her assignments successful 2021 by Democrats erstwhile her past enactment for antisemitic and Islamophobic conspiracy theories surfaced.
The House besides voted to censure Gosar successful November 2021, a much drastic determination that signaled the chambers disapproval of the lawmaker aft helium shared a convulsive anime video depicting unit against Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden.
“They’ll person committees,” McCarthy said successful a November 2021 property conference. “They whitethorn person different committee assignments, they whitethorn person amended committee assignments.”
Greene successful peculiar hasexpressed involvement successful some the House Oversight Committee and House Judiciary Committee. Greene has go 1 of McCarthy’s strongest supporters down his speakership bid and has rapidly risen to prominence arsenic a span betwixt the House GOP conference’s astir blimpish and much mean lawmakers.
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