Democrat-led House ends one-party rule

WASHINGTON: A new Democraticcontrolled House of Representatives, with a record number of women and one of the most diverse, was sworn in on Thursday as the partial shutdown of the US federal government entered the 13th day. A third of the Republican-controlled Senate was also sworn in.

Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat who made history as the first woman speaker of the House in 2007, is set to repeat the achievement, with her election only a formality. President Donald Trump and congressional leaders failed to break the stalemate over the funding of a wall along the Mexico border. Trump told the Democrats he “would be foolish” if he agreed to a plan proposed by them to reopen the government by fully funding all the affected federal agencies but not the department of homeland security, which mans the border.

Democrats plan to introduce their plan as two separate legislative measures for a vote in the House after the swearing in, and it will pass. But the Senate is not going along, as its Republican leadership said it will not table any bill that Trump will not sign.

The House, which has four Indian Americans as in the last one, will be making history. It has a record 127 women, 106 Democrats 21 Republicans, holding nearly 24% of all seats. In the Senate, 25 women will serve, 17 Democrats and eight Republicans.

In a first, the House will have two Native American women and two Muslim women too.