On paper, Republicans have everything in Washington: A trifecta of the White House and both homes of Congress, supported by a conservative Supreme Court. President-elect Donald Trump has actually guaranteed a blitzkrieg of executive actions and legislation after he takes workplace Jan. 20.
As the brand-new Congress assembles on Friday, concerns hover over the GOP’s capability to govern efficiently the House of Representatives, which it manages by the thinnest of margins.
Why We Wrote This
The Republican Party manages Congress, yet its narrow bulk makes reelecting House Speaker Mike Johnson harder– and exposes cracks within the GOP.
The celebration’s very first agenda is to choose a House speaker, with present Speaker Mike Johnson the only stated prospect. He requires a bulk of the capacity, in which Republicans hold 219 seats to 215 for Democrats.
Mr. Johnson’s path appeared to clear when Mr. Trump today backed him as the next speaker. While just Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky openly opposes Mr. Johnson’s candidateship, others stay on the fence and might stay away or vote versus.
“In the end, whatever in Congress boils down to numbers, and they [Republicans] have no wriggle space at all,” states Julia Azari, a politics teacher at Marquette University.
On paper, Republicans have all of it in Washington: A trifecta of the White House and both homes of Congress, supported by a conservative Supreme Court. President-elect Donald Trump has actually assured a blitzkrieg of executive actions and legislation after he takes workplace Jan. 20.
As the brand-new Congress assembles on Friday, concerns hover over the GOP’s capability to govern successfully the House of Representatives, which it manages by the thinnest of margins. The disorderly passage of a year-end financing costs by the outbound Congress, into which Mr. Trump and his advisors placed themselves, might be a sneak peek of a rough 2 years ahead.
The celebration’s very first agenda is to choose a House speaker, with present Speaker Mike Johnson the only stated prospect. He requires a bulk of the capacity, in which Republicans hold 219 seats to 215 for Democrats after the resignation of Florida’s Matt Gaetz, who was under examination by the chamber’s principles committee.
Why We Wrote This
The Republican Party manages Congress, yet its narrow bulk makes reelecting House Speaker Mike Johnson harder– and exposes cracks within the GOP.
On Monday, Mr. Johnson’s path appeared to clear when Mr. Trump composed on Truth Social that Mr. Johnson “has my Complete & & Total Endorsement” as the next speaker. While just Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky openly opposes Mr. Johnson’s candidateship, others stay on the fence and might stay away or vote versus. (Democrats are anticipated to vote en masse versus a GOP speaker.)
The unpredictability over the speakership exhibits the GOP’s more comprehensive obstacle in your home where razor-thin margins, factional feuding, and ideological rifts have actually currently caused dysfunction and drift in the last Congress,
