119th Congress Kicks Off
Happy New Year! Lawmakers return to Washington this week in the new 119th Congress following Rep. Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) reclaiming of the House Speaker gavel and swearing in of Members last Friday.
Today, Congress met in joint session to certify the 2024 presidential election results, teeing up the January 20th inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. The House will then take up legislation dealing with immigration detention policy and states’ legal rights against federal immigration agencies.
House and Senate Republicans are also set to begin crafting legislation advancing many of President-elect Trump’s border security and tax policy priorities ahead of the 2017 tax bill’s expiration at the end of the year.
Speaker Johnson has said that he expects this budgetary reconciliation package to pass by May, meaning they could pass in the Senate by simply majority rather than under the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold.