Even as a long shutdown looms overhead, the White House prepares itself as new members of the Congress will swear in today. This will be the most diverse crop of government officials taking oath to serve a divided country. In the 116th Congress, more women than ever will be sworn in, along with women of colour.
Senator Mitch McConnell as majority leader and Senator Chuck Schumer as minority leader have been elected as leaders of the Senate and the House is expected to re-elect Republican Nancy Pelosi as its leader today. This will be a Congress of a few firsts— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Abby Finkenauer will be the youngest women ever to serve in Congress. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar will be the first Muslim-American women ever elected. Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland are the first indigenous women ever elected to Congress. 102 women members will serve in the Congress of which, for 34 per cent it will be their first time.
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One of the first things the new Congress will roll up its sleeves and tackle will be the shutdown. Even though Trump maintains that he will not be signing the deal to end the shutdown unless it contains the proposed $5 billion for a wall on the Mexican border, Democrat Nancy Pelosi is keen to end the shutdown that has reached day 12.
The Democrats most likely will use this Congress to address the issue of immigrants, especially settling the status of Dreamers, people brought illegally to the United States as children. With more Democrats in the house, they will try to launch further investigations into Trump's collusion with Kremlin. Robert Muller is expected to finish his investigation regarding Russia's involvement in the US elections. The Democrats are also likely to vouch for a package concerning government ethics, including more stringent rules for lobbying and campaign-finance.
Trump will in most likelihood try and persuade the Congress to ratify the NAFTA pact so that it may come into effect. Why, because it contains new rules for the auto industry that are meant to drive manufacturing jobs away from Mexico and to the United States— a major campaign pledge by the President. The Democrats, however could use it as a bargaining chip to gain other concessions from Trump.
The Democrats and Trump however, do seem to have some common ground— both want to increase federal spending on improving infrastructure by improving or building new roads, bridges and transit lines. Trump has also talked about reducing price of prescription drugs, which could be another area for them to work together. Differences among Democrats that have cropped in the 2016 elections have become more evident off-late. How these factions work together will determine how they will be able to wring favourable concessions from the President.
