It is a big event when Congress, the US legislative assembly, convenes every January in Washington DC. Today, the 118th edition of Congress opens in the US capital – and with it comes a change of power. After the mid-term elections in the United States in November, it became clear that the Republicans will take over the majority in the House of Representatives, one of the two chambers. However, the Democrats still have a majority in the other chamber, the Senate. Both pluralities are very scarce. In the House of Representatives, the Republicans have 222 representatives while the Democrats have 213. In the Senate, the Democrats have 51 and the Republicans 49, but the Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema announced before Christmas that she will be independent and no longer one of the Democratic party group. Election of a leader One of the first things to happen in Congress is to elect a new leader, or speaker as they call it in the USA. The Speaker is the third most powerful politician in the country, after the President and Vice President. And there is great excitement about who will take over as leader of Congress after Nancy Pelosi. Kevin McCarthy, the clear favorite from California, has turned a group of ultra-conservative Republicans against him. They believe he is not conservative enough and part of the old and established. YOUNG: Maxwell Frost is only 25 years old and the youngest in the House of Representatives. Photo: ANNA MONEYMAKER / AFP At least five representatives have said that they do not want him as leader, and you can have a maximum of four against you if you are to be elected. There may be several rounds of elections when Congress gathers to elect a leader today, but McCarthy has no challengers and will probably be elected in the end. Anything else would be a historic defeat. 12 of those who will now sit in the House of Representatives have no political experience. The average age is 46 years. The proportion of women has decreased compared to the previous Congress, while the proportion of blacks has increased. A group of younger democrats well out on the left has also been elected. Maxwell Frost from Florida is the youngest of them. He is only 25 years old. POWERFUL: The House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the US Congress. A lot of political power lies here. Photo: J. Scott Applewhite / AP Tougher for President Biden The new majority and the shift in power make it a significantly greater challenge for Joe Biden as president, since he has to maneuver through a divided Congress. Until now, Biden has had an easier path and Democratic majorities in both chambers. – The new Congress will be different from what we are used to. It will be the first time Joe Biden has to deal with divided leadership, says political commentator Caitlin Huey-Burns in CBS. The party with a majority in each of the two chambers of Congress gets all the committee chair positions. It is thus the party with the majority that decides the agenda. This means, for example, that the investigation into what happened on 6 January 2021 will not continue and that the Republicans will initiate new investigations, says Huey-Burns. – The Republicans went to the polls to sort out the economy, and make it financially easier for everyone. We will also see a series of committee hearings against Joe Biden, ministers and perhaps the president’s son, Hunter Biden. PRESIDENT: Joe Biden faces a much bigger challenge with the House of Representatives, when Republicans take over with a narrow majority. Photo: Patrick Semansky / AP Fiasco for Trump EXPERT: Associate Professor Hilmar Mjelde says that the White House knows what is coming, with a new majority. Photo: Norce Hilmar Mjelde, associate professor of political science at the University of Western Norway, tells NTB that President Biden and his team are prepared for the new situation. – Biden steels himself. The most important job for the White House now is to protect the president from the Republican attack now coming in the House of Representatives. He adds: – The White House knows what is coming. They have been preparing for a long time by appointing a separate defense team, says Mjelde. Despite a new majority in the House of Representatives, the election result was considered a failure for Donald Trump and the Republicans. The Democrats made a historically good by-election, and thus retained the majority in the Senate. STORMING: A whole world sat in disbelief and watched the storming of the American Congress. And the historic event is still relevant and in the media’s spotlight via the 6 January committee. Photo: JIM LO SCALZO / EPA Storming and investigation It shocked the whole world when the Congress was stormed on 6 January 2021. Five people died in connection with the storming. One of them was a policeman. And the storming continues to receive media attention. An investigative committee links Donald Trump directly to the incident. The committee believes that Trump was part of a criminal conspiracy, and that he has direct responsibility for the acts. The investigators in the House of Representatives in the Congress interviewed almost 1,200 people. The committee has also gone through over one million documents, and summoned over 100 witnesses for questioning. See Congress under attack here:
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