Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Diverse new United States Congress convenes
CHEERING Democrats have returned Nancy Pelosi to the House speaker’s post as the 116th Congress ushered in the most diverse class of politicians in US history.
Ms Pelosi, elected speaker 220192, took the gavel saying US voters “demanded a new dawn” in the November election that swept the Democrats to a House majority and are looking to “the beauty of our Constitution” to provide checks and balances on power.
Ms Pelosi faced 15 dissenting votes from fellow Democrats.
But, for a few hours, smiles and backslapping were the order of the day. The new speaker invited scores of politicians’ children to join her on the dais as she was sworn in, calling the House to order “on behalf of all of America’s children”.
Even President Donald Trump congratulated her during a rare appearance at the White House briefing room, saying her election by House colleagues was “a tremendous, tremendous achievement”.
The president has tangled often with Ms Pelosi and is sure to do so again with Democrats controlling the House, but he said: “I think it’ll be a little bit different than a lot of people are thinking.”
As night fell, the House quickly got to work on the partial government shutdown, which was winding up Day 13 with Mr Trump demanding billions in Mexican border wall fund- ing to bring it to an end. Democrats approved legislation to re-open the government – but without the 5.6 billion US dollars (£4.4 billion), which means it has no chance in the Republican Senate.
The new Congress is like none other. There are more women than ever before, and a new generation of Muslims, Latinos, Native Americans and African-Americans is creating a House more aligned with the population of the United States.