By The Telegraph (World News) | Created at 2024-11-14 05:05:13 | Updated at 2024-11-22 15:45:20
1 week ago
Republicans have won enough seats to control the US House, securing the party’s hold on the US government alongside president-elect Donald Trump.
A House Republican victory in Arizona, alongside a win in slow-counting California on Wednesday, gave the GOP the 218 House victories that make up the majority. Republicans earlier gained control of the Senate from Democrats.
With hard-fought yet thin majorities, Republican leaders are envisioning a mandate to upend the federal government and swiftly implement Mr Trump’s vision for the country.
The incoming president has promised to carry out the country’s largest-ever deportation operation, extend tax breaks, punish his political enemies, seize control of the federal government’s most powerful tools and reshape the US economy.
The GOP election victories ensure that Congress will be onboard for that agenda, and Democrats will be almost powerless to check it.
When Mr Trump was elected president in 2016, Republicans also swept Congress, but he still encountered Republican leaders resistant to his policy ideas, as well as a Supreme Court with a liberal majority.
But when he returns to the White House, Mr Trump will be working with a Republican party that has been completely transformed by his “Make America Great Again” movement and a Supreme Court dominated by conservative justices, including three that he appointed.
Mr Trump rallied House Republicans at a Capitol Hill hotel on Wednesday morning, marking his first return to Washington since the election.
“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say, ‘He’s good, we got to figure something else,’” Mr Trump said to the room full of lawmakers, who laughed in response.
‘Blowtorch’ to federal government
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who with Mr Trump’s endorsement won the Republican Conference’s nomination to stay on as speaker next year, has talked of taking a “blowtorch” to the federal government and its programs, eyeing ways to overhaul even popular programs championed by Democrats in recent years.
The Louisiana Republican, an ardent conservative, has pulled the House Republican Conference closer to Mr Trump during the campaign season as they prepare an “ambitious” 100-day agenda.
“Republicans in the House and Senate have a mandate,” Mr Johnson said earlier this week. “The American people want us to implement and deliver that ‘America First’ agenda.”
With a few races still uncalled, the Republicans may hold the majority by just a few seats as the new Congress begins.
But a highly functioning House is also far from guaranteed. The past two years of Republican House control were defined by infighting as hardline conservative factions sought to gain influence and power by openly defying their party leadership.
While Mr Johnson — at times with Mr Trump’s help — largely tamed open rebellions against his leadership, the Right-wing of the party is ascendant and ambitious on the heels of Mr Trump’s election victory.
The Republican majority also depends on a small group of lawmakers who won tough elections by running as moderates. It remains to be seen whether they will stay onboard for some of the most extreme proposals championed by Mr Trump and his allies.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, meanwhile, is trying to keep Democrats relevant to any legislation that passes Congress, an effort that will depend on Democratic leaders unifying over 200 members, even as the party undergoes a postmortem of its election losses.
In the Senate, GOP leaders, fresh off winning a convincing majority, are already working with Mr Trump to confirm his Cabinet picks.
The GOP’s Senate majority of 53 seats also ensures that Republicans will have breathing room when it comes to confirming Cabinet posts, or Supreme Court justices if there is a vacancy.
