Washington set for major showdown
Democrats aim to turn the screw on Trump as they take control of House
Democrats have taken control of the US House of Representatives, ushering in two years of divided government during which Donald Trump will be remorselessly investigated for evidence of wrongdoing, while struggling to achieve his policies.
As the 116th US Congress convenes today, Nancy Pelosi was expected to be sworn in as the Democratic Speaker of the House, and her allies will take control of the lower chamber’s committees. Those committees will launch a litany of inquiries into the President, his family, and his businesses, including demanding Trump’s tax returns.
As the United States entered what promised to be a period of bitter political division in its legislature, Mitt Romney, a senior member of the Republican Party, said the President had “not risen to the mantle of the office”, had displayed a “glaring shortfall” of character and accused him of “abandoning allies”.
Democrats won control of the House in the midterm elections in November, while Republicans retained the Senate.
The first task of the new Congress will be to end a government shutdown that began before Christmas, caused by an impasse over funding for Trump’s proposed border wall. Hundreds of thousands of public workers have been sent home unpaid. Democrat leaders, who have vowed not to authorise funding for the wall, met with Trump at the White House yesterday but no progress was made. Another meeting was planned for tomorrow.
Trump has said he will maintain the shutdown as “long as it takes” to get wall funding”. Hakeem Jeffries, chairman of the Democratic caucus, said Democrats would refuse to “waste millions in taxpayer dollars on a medieval border wall”.
Meanwhile, Kirstjen Nielsen, Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary, warned “fake families” were entering the US.
The Democrat legislative agenda will prioritise reducing prescription drug prices, an infrastructure bill and campaign finance reform.
It will also include banning members of Congress from serving on corporate boards. They also intend to relax a century-old ban on wearing hats on the floor of the chamber, which will allow Ilhan Omar, a new Muslim-American Congresswoman from Minnesota, to wear a headscarf.
Democrats said they would, in their first week, table a resolution to defend the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, and denied suggestions the Government could grind to a halt as investigations related to Trump, and alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election were pursued by committees.
One retiring Republican said Trump “doesn’t know what’s about to hit him. They’re going to subpoena everybody and their dog”.
The Democrats will also face an internal struggle as a large, mostly youthful, influx of new members of Congress pressures the leadership for more action on issues including climate change.