Democrats will retake control of the House of Representatives for the first time in eight years as Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will likely become the next Speaker of the House.
Democrats will officially take control of the House of Representatives in the 116th Congress on Thursday after they won a majority during the 2018 midterm elections.
Democrats pledged during the midterm elections to fight President Donald Trump’s America First agenda and to pass legislation ranging from protecting Obamacare to fighting climate change and even pushing for a single-payer “Medicare for All” government-run healthcare program.
The House will first vote for Speaker of the House, where Rep. Pelosi will likely become the leader of the House, setting up future battles with President Trump on a number of wide-ranging issues.
Pelosi faced initial resistance from progressive and rank-and-file members in the run-up to the new congressional term.
Reps. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), and Tim Ryan (D-OH) promised to oppose Pelosi for Speaker but eventually backed Pelosi for speaker.
The California Democrat will continue to spar with progressive Democrats such as Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who both took to Twitter this week to oppose a House rules package that would make it harder for Democrats to pay for programs such as Medicare for All and a “Green New Deal.”
The rule “PAYGO,” or “pay as you go” requires that Congress offset spending by matching cuts or increases in revenue.
“I do not understand why the Democrats don’t have the courage of our convictions and make the case that our policies will lead to growth,” Khanna said.
Khanna added:
PAYGO is to protect members in vulnerable districts who can say that Democrats are for fiscal responsibility. I’m all for raising taxes on the 1% and multinational corporations and stopping our excessive spending on the bad wars. But we should make an economic growth argument in swing districts instead of thinking the ’90s playbook of fiscal responsibility will work.
This is how absurd PAYGO is: We campaigned in the Better Deal for $1 trillion in infrastructure spending over 10 years. Under PAYGO, if after 6 years that plan wld produce a deficit, it would not be in order — even if in 10 years it wld create 16 million jobs and revenue growth!
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) January 3, 2019
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez said that she will vote against the House rules package primarily due to the inclusion of PAYGO.
Tomorrow I will also vote No on the rules package, which is trying to slip in #PAYGO.
PAYGO isn’t only bad economics, as @RoKhanna explains; it’s also a dark political maneuver designed to hamstring progress on healthcare+other leg.
We shouldn’t hinder ourselves from the start. https://t.co/WW3UaBs7vh
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 2, 2019
Pelosi will have to work with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who was the number two Republican in the House majority last session.
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