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U.S. NEWS Friday 4 January 2019
PELOSI swore in newly elected sen- Brad Sherman introduced
Continued from Front ators, but Senate Republi- articles of impeachment
The president has tangled cans under Majority Leader against Trump, though
often with Pelosi and is sure Mitch McConnell had no for now the measures are
to do so again with Demo- plans to consider the House largely symbolic.
crats controlling the House, bills unless Trump agreed to Republicans face their own
but he said, "I think it'll be a sign them into law. That en- internal battles as they de-
little bit different than a lot sured the shutdown would cide how closely to tie their
of people are thinking." continue, clouding the first political fortunes to Trump.
As night fell, the House days of the new session. House GOP leader Kevin
quickly got to work on the McConnell said that Re- McCarthy's name was put
partial government shut- publicans have shown the into nomination for speaker
down, which was winding Senate is "fertile soil for big, by his party's caucus chair,
up Day 13 with Trump de- bipartisan accomplish- Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyo-
manding billions in Mexi- ments," but that the ques- ming, the daughter of the
can border wall funding to tion is whether House Dem- former vice president. He The sign at the office suite of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of
Calif., is installed on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 3,
bring it to an end. Before ocrats will engage in "good faced six "no" votes from his 2019, during the opening session of the 116th Congress.
midnight on Congress' first governance or political now-shrunken GOP minor- Associated Press
day, Democrats planned performance art." ity.
to approve legislation to It's a time of stark national As McCarthy passed the Trump, whose own bid for home and turbulence
re-open the government political division that some gavel to Pelosi he said vot- 2020 already is underway, abroad" that lawmakers
— but without the $5.6 bil- analysts say is on par with ers wonder if Congress is faces potential challenges "become the architects of
lion in wall money, which the Civil War era. Battle "still capable" of solving from the ranks of Senate a kindlier nation."
means it has no chance in lines are drawn not just problems, and said this pe- Democrats under Chuck Overnight, Democratic
the Republican Senate. between Democrats and riod of divided government Schumer. Rep-elect Ilhan Omar of
The new Congress is like Republicans but within the is "no excuse for gridlock." The halls of the Capitol Minnesota tweeted a pic-
none other. There are more parties themselves, splin- One office remains disput- were bustling with arriv- ture with her family at the
women than ever before, tered by their left and right ed as the House refused to als, children in the arms airport. The House rules
and a new generation of flanks. seat Republican Mark Har- of many new lawmakers. were being changed to
Muslims, Latinos, Native Pelosi defied history in re- ris of North Carolina amid Visitor galleries included allow Omar, who is Mus-
Americans and African- turning to the speaker's of- an investigation by state crooner Tony Bennett and lim, to wear a head scarf
Americans is creating a fice after eight years in the election officials of irregu- rock legend Mickey Hart, on the chamber floor. She
House more aligned with minority, overcoming inter- larities in absentee ballots both guests of Pelosi. In- wrote, "23 years ago, from
the population of the Unit- nal opposition from Demo- from the November elec- coming White House Chief a refugee camp in Kenya,
ed States. However, the Re- crats demanding a new tion. of Staff Mick Mulvaney, a my father and I arrived at
publican side in the House generation of leaders. She Many GOP senators are former congressman, sat an airport in Washington
is still made up mostly of will be the first to regain the up for re-election in 2020 in with Republican leaders. DC. Today, we return to
white men, and in the Sen- gavel since Sam Rayburn states where voters have Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, that same airport on the
ate Republicans bolstered of Texas in 1955. mixed views of Trump's D-Mo., opened the House eve of my swearing in as
their ranks in the majority. Putting Pelosi's name for- performance in the White prayer asking at "a time the first Somali-American in
In a nod to the moment, Pe- ward for nomination, Rep. House. fraught with tribalism at Congress."q
losi, the first female speaker Hakeem Jeffries of New
who reclaimed the post York, the incoming Demo-
she lost to the GOP in 2011, cratic caucus chair, re-
broadly pledged to make counted her previous ac-
Congress work for all Ameri- complishments -- passing
cans — addressing kitchen the Affordable Care Act,
table issues at a time of helping the country out of
deep economic churn — the Great Recession -- as
even as her party readies preludes to her next ones.
to challenge Trump with in- He called her leadership
vestigations and subpoena "unparalleled in modern
powers that threaten the American history."
White House agenda. One Democrat, Rep. Bren-
Pelosi promised to "restore da Lawrence of Michigan,
integrity to government" cast her vote for Pelosi "on
and outlined an agenda the shoulders of women
"to lower health costs and who marched 100 years
prescription drug prices ago" for women's suffrage.
and protect people with Newly elected Rep. Lucy
pre-existing medical con- McBath of Georgia, an an-
ditions; to increase pay- ti-gun violence advocate,
checks by rebuilding Amer- dedicated hers to her slain
ica with green and modern teenage son, Jordan Davis.
infrastructure from sea to As speaker, Pelosi will face
shining sea." challenges from the party's
The day unfolded as one robust wing of liberal new-
of both celebration and comers, including 29-year-
impatience. Newly elected old New Yorker Alexandria
lawmakers arrived, often Ocasio-Cortez, who has ris-
with friends and families in en to such prominence she
tow, to take the oath of of- is already known around
fice and pose for ceremo- the Capitol — and on her
nial photos. Then they swift- prolific social media ac-
ly turned to the shutdown. counts — by the nickname
Vice President Mike Pence "AOC." California Rep.