WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress returns to a changed Washington as newly elected President Donald Trump’s hard-right agenda quickly takes shape, backed by eager Republican allies eyeing a full power grab on Capitol Hill while Democrats figure it out what went wrong.
Even as final election results continue to be tallied, House and Senate leaders are pushing forward toward a second Trump term in the White House and what he calls a “mandate” to govern, with mass deportations, deregulation of industry and wholesale eradication of the federal government. .
Trump is already testing the norms of governance during this presidential transition period — telling the Senate to abandon its advisory and consent roles and simply accept his Cabinet nominees — and he is staffing his administration and finding lawmakers willing to upend those civic traditions.
“Trump is going to do his deportations, the drilling, the wall — we all need to come together,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a conservative member of the House Freedom Caucus.
But first, the leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate will hold internal party elections for their own jobs this week. Most top Republican leaders depend on Trump for their political livelihood and have made efforts to get closer to the president-elect to strengthen loyalty.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is poised to maintain a slim majority in the House with several House races still too early to call, will gather his leadership team early Tuesday on the Capitol steps for a victory lap and setting the agenda.
In the Senate, where Republicans seized power from Democrats on election night, three Republican senators vying to become the new leader of the Republican Party have hastily signed on to Trump’s plan for quick confirmation of presidential nominees.
“As Congress returns to Washington, we must prepare the Senate to advance that agenda legislatively and ensure that the President-elect can get to work as quickly as possible and his appointments are confirmed as quickly as possible,” says Republican Senator John Thune from South Dakota. seeking the leadership job, wrote in a Fox News op-ed.
All told, it’s a fundamental overhaul of not just the centers of power in Washington, but also the rules of government, as Trump returns to the White House in January with a potential Republican Party-led Congress that is far less skeptical or is more wary of his approach than eight American government leaders. years ago, and much more willing to support him.
“This is going to be a very challenging time,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
She described the “heinous immigration policies” Trump promised voters and emphasized that progressives in Congress will exert “effective checks” on the new White House, just as Democrats did during his first term by opposing efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. and other policies.
At the same time, Jayapal warned that Trump will have “much fewer restrictions.”
“Our members are ready to take up the fight again,” she said, alongside a handful of newly elected progressive lawmakers she called the “bright lights” joining Congress.
The first tests will take place during the “lame duck” period of the remaining days of this Congress, the eight-week sprint until January 3, 2025, when the new lawmakers are sworn in.
When lawmakers return this week, they will be joined by dozens of new names in the House of Representatives and Senate, who are in town for freshman orientation weeks and private leadership elections scheduled for Wednesday.
But Republican senators are protesting that one of their own, newly elected Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, is being excluded from orientation week by Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer because there are still uncounted ballots in his race. Schumer’s office has said the practice is to wait until all ballots have been counted.
The Senate leadership battle to replace retiring Republican leader Mitch McConnell is turning into a test of Trump’s loyalty, with the president-elect’s allies – including billionaire Elon Musk and Make America Great Again influencers – pushing the senators to elect Senator Rick Scott of Florida.
But Scott was not the most popular candidate for the leadership position, and senators had rallied around the two “Johns”: Thune, the second-place Republican leader, and Senator John Cornyn of Texas. The outcome of Wednesday’s private vote behind closed doors is highly uncertain.
In the House of Representatives, some conservative Republicans are quietly suggesting that their own leadership elections should be postponed until the final results of House races are known. Democrats will hold their House and Senate elections later.
Johnson wants to retain the speaker’s gavel and told his colleagues in a letter last week that he is willing to “take the field with them” to deliver on Trump’s agenda. But he is expected to meet opponents behind closed doors.
While Johnson only needs a simple majority in Wednesday’s closed-door vote to become the Republican Party’s nominee for chairman, he will need a 218-member majority in a House-wide vote in January.
A low vote total this week will demonstrate the leverage Freedom Caucus members and others have to force concessions from Johnson, just as they forced then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy into a lengthy vote for the gavel in 2023.
And while Johnson predicts that next year will see the launch of the “most consequential” presidency and Congress in modern times, he has struggled this year with Republicans refusing to go along with the plans, forcing the speaker to often collaborate to work with Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Johnson’s problems stem partly from his narrow majority, but that could persist if Trump continues to rely on Republicans in the House of Representatives to fill his government. Trump has already tapped Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to become ambassador to the United Nations, and Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., to become his national security adviser.
“We’ve accomplished pretty much everything,” said Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas. “Everyone understands that.”
In the coming weeks, Congress faces a new deadline, December 20, to fund the federal government or risk a shutdown, and conservatives are redoubling their pressure on Johnson not to give in to their demands for spending cuts.
The House and Senate will also consider replenishing the Disaster Relief Fund to provide relief in the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
And as President Joe Biden prepares to leave office and Democrats relinquish their hold on the Senate, there will be pressure to confirm more judicial nominees and push out any other bills that could potentially become law before Trump takes over .
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Farnoush Amiri, Mary Clare Jalonick and Stephen Groves contributed to this report.
