The 119th Congress kicks off Friday as lawmakers return to Washington with an extended January to-do checklist and a packed first day.
Affirmation hearings for President-elect Trump’s Cupboard nominees are set to get rolling within the coming weeks, and Trump himself can be inaugurated in lower than three weeks.
However first, Home Republicans have some enterprise to take care of: selecting a Speaker.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is in line to steer the Home as soon as once more, however the path to get there may be difficult as hard-line conservatives have thrown up roadblocks and he has nearly no room for error.
Right here’s a fast have a look at what to anticipate on Congress’s first day of labor in 2025.
Electing a Speaker
Speaker of the Home Mike Johnson (R-La.) talks briefly to reporters simply earlier than a vote on an interim spending invoice to forestall a authorities shutdown after President-elect Trump abruptly rejected a bipartisan plan on the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 19, 2024. The vote didn’t go. (Greg Nash)
The primary vote of the 12 months in both chamber will happen within the Home, and that can be to pick out a brand new Speaker. It’s scheduled to happen at midday EST.
Put merely, no enterprise within the Home can happen with out choosing a Speaker. Members can’t be sworn in, and so they can’t be paid. A guidelines package deal can’t be adopted, nor can committees be seated.
This grew to become all of the extra evident after the a number of battles surrounding the Speakership over the previous two years. It took 15 ballots over 5 days for Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to win the gavel — a interval throughout which no enterprise was performed.
Equally, the Home got here to a standstill for about three weeks after McCarthy was faraway from the highest spot, with the chamber unable to contemplate laws, amongst different issues, throughout that stretch till Republicans elected Johnson.
At this level, it’s unclear whether or not Johnson can get the requisite 218 votes wanted to carry the gavel. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has insisted he’ll vote for somebody aside from Johnson, that means the Speaker can’t lose another votes from Republicans. There are anticipated to be 219 Republicans and 215 Democrats, with one emptiness.
Trump has thrown his weight behind the Speaker and stated that he’ll foyer conservatives individually “if necessary.”
Notably, it’s in Trump’s curiosity to get the Speaker race over and accomplished with.
Why? As a result of come Monday, a joint session of Congress will convene to certify the outcomes of the presidential election, and and not using a Speaker that can’t happen.
Swearing in members, adopting a guidelines package deal
Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) offers a speech following his election to Speaker within the Home Chamber on Oct. 25, 2023. (Greg Nash)
Home members can be sworn in en masse on the Home flooring, however that may’t happen till after the Speaker is elected.
All informed, there can be 65 new members being sworn into workplace.
After that, lawmakers might want to go a package deal of guidelines that will govern the operations of the Home. This is able to enable the formation of committees and for payments to be debated and regarded on the ground, amongst different issues.
There are additionally some notable adjustments included within the 119th Congress’s guidelines package deal. The headliner is that the brink to set off a movement to vacate the Speaker is elevated from a single member to 9 members, giving Johnson extra respiratory room if he is ready to safe the gavel.
Moreover, there are a pair of identify alterations for committees and language that will greenlight panels to create digital voting guidelines.
What’s the Senate schedule appear like?
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) addresses reporters after the weekly coverage luncheon, July 9, 2024. (Greg Nash)
The Senate may even kick off the 119th Congress, although with out a lot of the fanfare taking place within the Home.
The higher chamber will formally adjourn the 118th Congress sine die within the morning, earlier than shortly turning round at midday and opening the brand new Congress.
Headlining the day is the swearing in of members. That can formally happen with Vice President Harris on the Senate flooring and be accomplished as a bunch.
That can be adopted by particular person swearing-in ceremonies for members alongside their households contained in the Previous Senate Chamber. The vp may even conduct these.
The Senate may undertake an organizing decision as early as Friday that can lay out committee allocations and set up different procedures for the chamber within the subsequent two years.
In contrast to within the Home, Senate management elections are dealt with away from the ground; these are all settled, with Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) set to tackle the position of majority chief.
The one change that can go into impact on the ground, nonetheless, is for Senate professional tempore, which is often held by the senior-most member of the bulk social gathering. That can occur through a easy decision.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) will as soon as once more helm that position, having accomplished so from 2019 till 2021. He has been within the Senate since 1981.
When will affirmation hearings begin for Trump’s Cupboard choices?
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump’s nominee to be Protection secretary, is seen on the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 5, 2024. (J. Scott Applewhite, Related Press file)
The larger query on the Senate facet is when Trump’s choices to fill out his Cupboard will seem at hearings because the chamber tries to tee up affirmation votes shortly after the president-elect takes the oath of workplace Jan. 20.
These are anticipated to begin the week of Jan. 13, with hearings to be notified per week prematurely.
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s alternative to steer the Pentagon, is anticipated to seem earlier than the Senate Armed Companies Committee beginning Jan. 14.
