Speaker Nancy Pelosi faced a narrowed majority on Sunday when the House convened for the 117th Congress, while senators await the results of a Jan. 5 runoff to determine who will control the gavel in the upper chamber.
House Democrats, with 222 seats under their control, are poised Sunday afternoon to elect Pelosi once again as speaker, but the vote will be close: Several lawmakers are expected to be absent due to coronavirus diagnoses, and there are two vacancies.
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The California Democrat can lose only a handful of votes, or she’ll risk failing to secure the outright majority on the House floor needed to become speaker for a fourth term. Only one Democrat so far announced opposition.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, said she will vote “present.”
“I’m not voting for the speaker,” Slotkin said Sunday.
Across the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, remains in control of the chamber until at least Jan. 5, when a rare double runoff in Georgia will determine the winners of two Senate seats. If Democrats win both seats, they will have the majority with 50 Senate seats plus the tie-breaking vote of incoming Vice President Kamala Harris.
Lawmakers in the House and Senate took the oath of office masked and in groups as Congress continues to battle the spread of the coronavirus in the Capitol. While more people were assembled in the House and Senate than in recent months, the halls were absent the crowds that typically show up on opening day.
“To say the 117th Congress convenes at a challenging time would indeed be an understatement,” McConnell said while opening the Senate floor. “From political division to a deadly pandemic to adversaries around the world, the hurdles before us are many, and they are serious. But there is also plenty of reason for hope. An optimistic, forward-looking, can-do spirit has been one of our country’s most distinctive calling cards since our very earliest days. And with safe and effective vaccines rolling out across our nation every day, I’d say 2021 looks bright already.”
Pelosi sent a message to Democrats on Sunday morning ahead of a noon quorum call on the House floor, citing the deadly pandemic and sounding assured that she’ll be reelected speaker when House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, nominates her.
“I am enormously grateful for the trust that members have placed in me,” Pelosi said. “I am confident that the speaker’s election today will show a united Democratic Caucus ready to meet the challenges ahead, and that we are prepared to set our country on a new course, starting with the Electoral College meeting on Wednesday.”
Pelosi will take the gavel with a slim majority after losing more than a dozen seats in the Nov. 3 election. The smaller Democratic caucus will make it more difficult for Democrats to pass an agenda either too far to the Left or too moderate to win over the most liberal lawmakers.
Democrats have indicated they’ll take up more coronavirus aid and infrastructure and legislation to expand Obamacare, all while working with the Biden administration.
“In the coming weeks, the House will work closely with the new Biden-Harris administration to keep Americans safe and protect them from the economic impacts of COVID-19,” Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said.
Hoyer added, “We will lay the groundwork for our economy to build back better from this pandemic and address the serious disparities that continue to hold many back from achieving the American Dream. In the 117th Congress, the House will keep working hard to ensure that the American people can again have faith in our democratic institutions and know that their voices are being heard in Washington. We will fulfill our responsibility to provide this nation with government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
