PELOSI RETURNS AS HOUSE SPEAKER WITH DEMOCRATS NEWLY EMPOWERED
NANCY Pelosi was elected speaker of the House of Representatives in a triumphant return to the post on Thursday, pledging to reach across the aisle to Republicans and make transparency “the order of the day ”as Democrats took power.
The california Democrat, the only woman to hold the speakership, won the partisan election with 220 Democratic votes, as 15 members of her party cast their ballots for someone else or voted present. Most Republicans backed Rep. Kevin Mccarthy.
“let us pledge that when we disagree, we respect each other and we respect the truth,” Pelosi said in an address to the House chamber. “We will debate and advance good ideas no matter where they come from.”
President Donald Trump, at an impromptu White House briefing, congratulated Pelosi on her “tremendous achievement” while he also pushed for funds for a border wall.
“Hopefully, we are going to work together and we are going to get lots of things done like infrastructure and so much more,” the president told reporters. “i think it will be a little bit different than lots of people are thinking.”
The House will turn to business with a vote later Thursday on Democrats’ plan to reopen federal departments that have been closed since December 22. But the Trump administration said the president would veto the two measures, and GOP leaders in the senate already have said the chamber won’t act without his support, so the shutdown is likely to drag on.
Pelosi, 78, clinched the speakership after weeks of whittling down opposition from some fellow Democrats seeking a new generation of leadership. The deal to win over holdouts put an expiration date on her tenure: she promised not to stay more than four years in the job.
in her speech, Pelosi ticked off an agenda for the House: an infrastructure plan, more transparency in government, less influence for special interests, gun control and measures to protect minorities. she said Democrats would support laws to “protect our borders” while keeping the Us welcoming for immigrants.
“We have heard from too many families who wonder in this time of globalization and innovation if they have a place in the economy of tomorrow,” Pelosi said. “We must remove all doubt that they do, and say to them individually that we will have an economy that works for you.”
Diverse House
DEMOCRATS won the House majority in November’s election, gaining a net 40 seats, by riding a surge of suburban and female voters’ anger at Trump. Pelosi leads an emboldened and diverse Democratic caucus, which includes rising progressive stars, as well as moderates who captured traditionally conservative districts. Pelosi will have to balance bipartisan compromises on legislation with oversight of a president whose inner circle and business dealings are under scrutiny.
Democrats control the House 235199, with one seat in North carolina not yet decided, giving them authority to launch new investigations of the president and his administration. a record number of women—89 Democrats and 13 Republicans—will hold seats in the chamber. among them are the first two Muslim women elected to congress and two who are the first black representatives from New england.
Pelosi becomes second in line to the presidency, after the vice president. she also served as speaker from 2007 to 2011, and is the first person to return to the position after losing the majority since Democrat sam Rayburn in the 1950s. Government shutdown
one of House Democrats’ first acts on Thursday will be to vote on legislation to end the partial Us government shutdown without adding funds for Trump’s border wall. The plan is to pass two separate bills, one reopening eight departments—which have been closed since December 22— through september 2019 and another temporarily reopening the Department of Homeland security through February 8.
This would allow negotiations over Trump’s request for $5 billion for a border wall to continue while the rest of the government would continue operating. Republicans have rejected this plan, even though it’s based on bills passed in GoPled senate committees, and a White House meeting among Trump and congressional leaders on Wednesday yielded no progress.
Trump suggested another meeting on Friday to restart negotiations after the leadership elections.
Trump previously said he relishes the opportunity to confront Pelosi and sees her as a convenient foil for his 2020 reelection campaign. Pelosi, who touted her legislative acumen as her top qualification for returning to the job, will be the country’s most high-profile Democrat as the party chooses a presidential nominee to oppose the president in 2020.
The Republicans’ strategy of defeating Democrats in November’s election by tying them to Pelosi largely failed. Now she will be more than an image in a campaign ad; as House speaker she needs to create an agenda bold enough to keep progressives animated without alienating swing voters willing to consider alternatives to Trump.
one early skirmish with progressives in her own party occurred later Thursday when the House voted 234-197 to pass part of its package of legislative rules, normally a routine matter. But progressives Ro Khanna of california and alexandria ocasio-cortez of New york said they opposed the package because it contains a “pay as you go ”austerity provision supported by Democratic centrists. only a handful of Democrats wound up voting against the measure.
Much of the tenor for the 116th congress could be set by a report from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. some Democrats in congress, bolstered by outside groups, say there’s already proof that Trump has committed the “high crimes and misdemeanors ”that would justify his removal from office, but most party members are waiting for Mueller’s report.