January 03, 2019
The Capitol's 116th Congress, the most diverse group of lawmakers to ever be elected, will be sworn in on Thursday, Jan. 3 at noon.
This rookie group of officials — who have shepherded in a new era of Democratic control in the U.S. House of Representatives — contains more women and more women of color than any other Congress in U.S. history.
The Pew Research Center reports there are 102 female House members (that's about a quarter of all members) and 25 female Senate members (20 percent of whom are new members). Both numbers beat the previous records in each entity.
New members of Congress will be officially sworn in and convene at 12 p.m. You can live stream C-SPAN's coverage below.
Some other things to expect today?
It's a new day in America.#116thCongress #Ilhan pic.twitter.com/n6BufJesTD
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 3, 2019
I love how @RepDebHaaland @Deb4CongressNM is donning her Pueblo regalia while meeting people at open house. #116thCongress pic.twitter.com/flEp5HQ1kp
— Jourdan Bennett-Begaye (@jourdanbb) January 3, 2019
Sí, se puede. pic.twitter.com/Mdkf01qKZQ
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 2, 2019
Nancy Pelosi also is presumed to be elected Speaker of the House against Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California on Thursday. The roll-call vote to elect the new speaker is set to begin at 12:48 p.m. and conclude at 1:57 p.m.
Pelosi started the morning with some comments on the "Today" show about President Donald Trump, saying the investigation on Russian collusion in the 2016 election was not "conclusive."
"I think that that is an open discussion. I think that is an open discussion in terms of the law."
“Do you believe the special counsel should honor and observe the DOJ guidance that states a sitting president cannot be indicted?” -@savannahguthrie
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 3, 2019
“I do not think that that is conclusive. No, I do not.” -@NancyPelosi pic.twitter.com/Kyxy5SYCiY
CNN reported that California Democrat Brad Sherman plans to re-introduce impeachment against Trump today.
Rep. Jim Langevin, a Democrat from Rhode Island and the first quadriplegic elected to Congress, will preside over the first session of Congress, starting with a debate over how to reopen the government.
Then the House will also vote on two bills on reopening the government. One would fund the Department of Homeland Security into February (excluding funding for the border wall) and another would fund the shuttered departments and agencies through September.
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