Republicans won enough seats to control the House of Representatives of the United States of America (USA), thus completing the power grab and securing total power, along with President-elect Donald Trump.
The Republican victory in Arizona's House of Representatives, along with a victory in California, which announced results earlier Wednesday after a slow count, gave Republicans 218 seats in the House of Representatives, a majority in that legislature. Republicans have previously taken control of the Senate from Democrats.
With a hard-fought but slim majority, Republican leaders see a mandate to change the federal government and quickly implement Trump's vision for the country.
The new president has promised to carry out the nation's largest deportation operation, extend tax breaks, punish his political enemies, take control of the federal government's most powerful tools and reshape the American economy. Election victories by the Republican Party ensure that Congress will be involved in that program, and Democrats will be almost powerless to control it.
When Trump was elected president in 2016, Republicans also won both houses of Congress, but there were still Republican leaders resistant to his policy ideas, and there was a US Supreme Court with a liberal majority. However, that is not the case this time.
When he returns to the White House, Trump will work with a Republican Party completely transformed by his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement and a Supreme Court dominated by conservative justices, including three he appointed.
Trump gathered House Republicans at the Capitol Hill Hotel on Wednesday morning, marking his first return to Washington since the election.
"I doubt I'll run again, unless you really say, 'That's good, we've got to come up with something else,'" Trump told a room full of lawmakers, who laughed at his remark.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who with Trump's backing won the Republican conference nomination to remain speaker next year, has talked about cleaning up the federal government and its programs, looking for ways to overhaul even popular programs recently championed by Democrats. The Louisiana Republican, an ardent conservative, has brought the House Republican Conference closer to Trump during the campaign season as he prepares an "ambitious" 100-day agenda.
"Republicans in the House and Senate have a mandate," Johnson said earlier this week. "The American people want us to implement and deliver that 'America First' agenda."
Trump's allies in the House of Representatives are already signaling they will seek retribution for the legal problems Trump has faced while out of office. The new president said on Wednesday that he will nominate republican representative Matt Goec, a staunch loyalist, as state prosecutor, that is, secretary of justice.
Meanwhile, lawmaker Jim Jordan, chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, said Republican lawmakers will not budge on their plans to investigate special counsel Jack Smith, even as Smith drops two federal conspiracy investigations against Trump. overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election and stockpiling classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Still, with a few results still to come, Republicans could hold onto a majority of just a handful of seats as the new Congress begins. Trump's decision to withdraw people from the House of Representatives for positions in his administration — former congressmen Goetz, Mike Volz and Elise Stefanek — could complicate Johnson's ability to retain a majority in the first days of the new Congress.
On Wednesday, Gec submitted his resignation, effective immediately. Johnson said he hoped the seat could be filled by the time the new Congress convenes on Jan. 3. Replacing members of the House of Representatives requires special elections, and the congressional districts from which three representatives are now leaving have been held by Republicans for years.
With a small majority, it is not guaranteed that the House of Representatives will be highly functional. The past two years of Republican control of the House have been marked by infighting as hardline conservative factions have sought to gain influence and power in open defiance of their party leadership. While Johnson — sometimes with Trump's help — has largely tamed open rebellions against his leadership, the right wing of the party is emboldened and ambitious on the heels of Trump's election victory.
The Republican majority also depends on a small group of lawmakers who won tough elections by posing as moderates. It remains to be seen whether they will agree to some of the most extreme proposals advocated by Trump and his allies.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, meanwhile, is trying to keep Democrats relevant to any legislation passed by Congress, which will depend on whether Democratic leaders can rally more than 200 members, even after the party suffered a crushing loss. in the elections.
In the Senate, GOP leaders, who recently won a landslide majority, are already working with Trump to confirm his Cabinet picks. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota won Wednesday's internal election to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving party leader in Senate history.
Tun has been critical of Trump in the past, but praised the new president during his election campaign.
"This Republican team is unique. We are on one team," Tun said. "We are excited to regain the majority and begin working with our colleagues in the House of Representatives to pass President Trump's agenda."
The GOP's 53-seat Senate majority also ensures that Republicans will have leeway when it comes to confirming cabinet positions or Supreme Court justices if a vacancy occurs.
However, not all of these confirmations are guaranteed. Republicans were skeptical Wednesday when word reached Capitol Hill that Trump would nominate Goetz as his attorney general (Justice Secretary). Even Trump's close allies in the Senate distanced themselves from supporting Goetz, who was facing a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of sexual abuse and illegal drug use.
Still, Trump demanded on Sunday that any Republican leader must allow him to appoint members of the administration without a vote while the Senate is in recess. Such a move would represent a significant shift in authority from the Senate, but all leadership candidates quickly agreed to the idea. Democrats could potentially fight such a maneuver.
Meanwhile, Trump supporters on social media, including Elon Musk, the world's richest man, railed against the choice of a traditional Republican to lead the Senate. Tun worked as McConnell's right-hand man, who once called the former president "a despicable human being" in his private notes.
However, McConnell made it clear that the days of Republican resistance to Trump on Capitol Hill are over.
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