Washington House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was re-elected to lead the chamber when the 117th Congress convened Sunday, with the California Democrat leading her party through a new Congress with the smallest majority in years.
Members cast their votes on the speaker ahead of their curse on Sunday evening, with Pelosi gaining support from 216 Democrats and clearing the 214 threshold to secure Parliament’s top position. The proceedings in the Capitol were marked by the corona pandemic, which led to a change in procedures to ensure that the new Congress could meet safely.
Two Democrats – Jared Golden of Maine and Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania – cast votes for Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New York, respectively. Three members of the Democratic House voted “in attendance”. In particular, Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, and other members of “The Squad” supported Pelosi in her bid to become the speaker. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy won 209 Republican votes.
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In comments following her fourth-term election as speaker, Pelosi said the chamber’s “most urgent priority” will be to defeat the coronavirus pandemic and said Congress should “do more to put” workers at the forefront of the crisis. acknowledge.
“They enable our lives at a national and local level, and will facilitate the distribution of the vaccine. We owe them more,” she said. “Many of our essential workers come from communities of color and low wealth communities that have been devastated and disproportionately affected by the coronavirus. They are there for us and we must be there for them.”
Pelosi said the new congress must “pursue justice” as it addresses the inequalities the pandemic has exposed, and challenged members of the House to deliver on its pledge to bring justice for all.
“In everything we do, let’s be for the people – recognize America’s beautiful diversity so that no one is left out or left behind,” she said. “We do that, guided by the vision of our founders, the sacrifice of our military and their families and the ambitions we all have for the children.”
The new session comes days before lawmakers meet to count electoral college votes and finalize the results of the presidential election. Nearly a dozen GOP senators on Saturday said they were planning object to the results on Wednesday, citing false claims of widespread voter fraud pushed by President Trump and his allies.
Ahead of Sunday’s procedure, the house sergeant-at-arms and the Capitol’s attending physician sent guidelines to new and returning House members, Roll Call said. The traditional quorum call, the swearing-in of new members, and the election of speakers take place in seven groups, significantly extending the day’s events.
The House met at noon, with the election of a new speaker as the first order of business. Jeffries, a Democrat from New York, nominated Pelosi as a speaker, calling her a “resilient leader.” After the elections, the members were sworn in.
“Nancy Pelosi believes it is our sacred mission to continue America’s long, necessary and majestic march towards a more perfect union,” Jeffries said in a speech in the House before the vote began.
Texas representative Chip Roy, a Republican, objected to the placement of the 67 representatives from Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada. In a statementRoy said he did because a number of his colleagues, including fellow members of the House Freedom Caucus, plan to challenge the votes of the Electoral College from those states because of “ their deeply held belief that those states have held elections that plagued were by statewide, systemic fraud and abuse. ”Roy has previously made it clear that he is against this move.
After all, those representatives were elected through exactly the same systems – with the same voting procedures, with the same signature validations, with the same widely applied decisions of executive officers of the judiciary – as were the voters elected for the president of the United States. under the laws of those states, which have become the subject of national controversy, ‘Roy wrote Sunday.
Roy’s objection was voted down 371-2.
As a striking symbol of how the virus complicated the procedure, a special section of the House Chamber was enclosed in plexiglass so that three lawmakers in “quarantine status” could vote. Dr. Brian Monahan, Congress’s attending physician, said the “highest possible precautions have been implemented, including separate, enhanced ventilation in this room and separate storage facilities for members“ using the separate room. ”Members using the room had to be negative. tested for the virus.
The special accommodations also reflected the paper-thin margin in the vote for speaker. Democrats will start the 117th Congress with 222 members, just four above the 218 threshold needed for a majority, while one race in New York is still undecided.
Proxy voting, which allowed members to cast votes while not physically present at the Capitol, lapsed with the end of the last Congress. The new House will have to vote on whether or not to extend the voting by proxy. This means that anyone who is absent on Sunday cannot vote in the speaker elections.
In the Senate, which also met at noon for the start of the 117th Congress, Vice President Mike Pence took the oath of office to pairs of new and re-elected members, each yielding elbow crustaceans.
To say that the 117th Congress is meeting at a challenging time would indeed be an understatement, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell said after members were sworn in. “From political divisions to a deadly pandemic to adversaries around the world, the hurdles ahead and they are serious. But there is also plenty of reason for hope. An optimistic spirit of ability is one of our country’s most distinctive calling cards. since our very beginning, and with safe and effective vaccines being rolled out in our country every day, I’d say 2021 is already looking bright. ”
The Senate begins its new session with narrow-majority Republicans, but whether the GOP retains control will be determined by a few second elections in Georgia on Tuesday.
Ahead of the start of Sunday’s proceedings, Pelosi noted the challenges the new Congress will face in addressing the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic and the ongoing public health crisis, and thanked the Democratic caucus for nominate her to lead the House for another term.
“I am convinced that the election of the speaker today will lead to a united democratic caucus that is ready to face the challenges that lie ahead, and that we are ready to embark on a new course for our country. begin the electoral college meeting on Wednesday, ”she said in a letter to her Democratic colleagues.
The House and Senate will reconvene on January 6 to count the votes of the electoral college and reconfirm the president-elect Joe Biden‘s victory.