Instead, most lawmakers would be sworn in without the company of a single guest to reduce coronavirus exposure, and were told to stay in their offices except during voting. The Capitol doctor warned strongly against ‘gatherings of any kind’.
Even the election of Pelosi – who could be her last turn with the hammer – will not have the usual plays to confirm the next speaker. The vote itself is expected to last between three and four hours, while lawmakers shuffle through the chamber in small groups to limit their risks to the virus.
“As we have all been sworn in today, we accept a responsibility that is as daunting and as demanding as previous generations of leadership have faced,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to her members before the oath.
Pelosi will face its tightest margins yet, after Republicans overturned more than a dozen seats in November. However, the biggest threat to her hammer comes from possible democratic absence, as legislators cannot vote for the speaker by proxy.
Pelosi told her caucus during a private call last week that her ‘opponent is Covid’. But the math does not seem to be that much of a concern Sunday morning, and Democrats expect only one absence on their side – Rep. Alcee Hastings, who is battling abdominal cancer. Republicans were expecting two absences – electioneer David Valadao and Maria Elvira Salazar, who both recently tested positive for coronavirus. Another seat will remain open: the 22nd District of New York, where the race has not yet taken place between the Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi and GOP rival Claudia Tenney were not offered.
“I am confident that today’s election of the Speaker will show a united Democratic Caucus to be ready for the challenges ahead, and that we are prepared to set our country on a new course,” Pelosi wrote. the note to her members.
The vote will once again seal Pelosi in the record books as the first woman to hold the post and the first person in six decades to regain the speaker’s hammer – now twice – after losing it.
Senate control, meanwhile, remains uncertain, with two run-off matches in Georgia set on Tuesday to determine whether Mitch McConnell or Chuck Schumer will be majority leaders.
Sunday’s proceedings will begin a packed week in Congress, which will include a chaotic but doomed attempt by Republicans to dethrone Joe Biden as elected president.
Several GOP members, led by Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks in the House and Senator Ted Cruz in the Senate, promised to challenge the results in Trump’s last snap to overthrow Biden’s victory. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) Was the first senator to join the House GOP to contest the election. Trump and his supporters have claimed – without proof – that Biden only won because of ‘voter fraud’, but the legal challenges of Trump and his allies have largely failed.
The chance will take place on Wednesday, January 6, when the House and Senate meet for a joint sitting to formally count the votes of the Electoral College. Vice President Mike Pence will be placed in the awkward position to chair the joint sitting. The process, which could take just half an hour, is expected to continue until late at night Wednesday or possibly in the early hours of Thursday, especially after nearly a dozen GOP senators signed on Saturday on the attempt.
Every process of the opening week – from the first quorum call to the election college vote – will be a logistical nightmare for Capitol officials charged with protecting members during the ever-raging coronavirus outbreak.
Unlike in much of 2020, when many lawmakers in the House were able to vote by proxy and restrict their travel to DC, the 117th Congress will require a member to vote in person from the beginning until the new package of arrangements is adopted. is.
This means that hundreds of members will travel to Washington after spending time with their family during the holidays – probably without first being quarantined in DC
The first-year class will be sworn in as a group on the floor, retaining at least part of the House’s biennial tradition. But in a clear change from previous sittings, each newly elected member will allow only one guest in the House Gallery on Sunday. (Returning members are not allowed.)
Congress leaders have intensified the coronavirus response in the Capitol over the past few weeks, including an internal test site that delivers results within 24 hours. Nevertheless, many lawmakers and associates are deeply concerned about the coronavirus spreading across the vast Capitol complex.
More than 50 members and elected members have tested positive in recent months, including several who have been admitted to hospital. Last Tuesday, lawmakers mourned the death of their soon-to-be colleague, GOP-elected Luke Letlow of Louisiana, who died at Covid-19 at the age of 41 and was only days old away from his swearing in.
In all, the 117th Congress will include more than 60 incoming members of the House, including the 14 Republicans who swung their seats and helped drive away the Democrats’ now fragile majority.
The GOP’s first-year class includes a record number of women – a much-needed boost after the conference had just 13 female members last term – as well as a mix of racial and ethnic backgrounds. Several freshmen are actually returning members: Rep Darrell Issa (R-California) and Pete Sessions (R-Texas), as well as Valadao.
One first-year member of the GOP, the election candidate Mariannette Miller-Meeks, will sit “for the time being” after being certified as the winner of a race with only six votes. Her Democratic challenger, Rita Hart, submitted a challenge to the House to investigate the race more closely, especially the approximately two dozen ballot papers that she said were improperly excluded from the count.