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- Following the November US elections, the Senate and the newly elected House of Representatives will meet on Sunday for their constituent sessions.
- Parallel to the vote on a new president, the House of Representatives was re-elected in November, and about a third of the seats in the Senate were also put to a vote.
- Former Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is up for re-election.
In the House of Representatives, Democrats had defended their majority in the elections, if only narrowly. In the Senate, it will only be decided in the second round elections for two Senate seats in the US state of Georgia on Tuesday who will be in charge of the chamber going forward. It is unclear whether Republicans will retain their majority in the Senate and thus put obstacles in the way of future Democratic President Joe Biden’s plans or whether Democrats will also win the second House of Congress.
Pelosi cannot afford to “deviate”
After Democrats had to give up an unexpectedly large number of House seats to Republicans in the November election, the majority of the party in the House has become extremely tight. It has been reduced to 222 of the 435 seats currently; at least 218 votes are required for a simple majority. That also makes the election of the president challenging for Pelosi: She can’t afford to be too many “deviants.” In addition, it depends on the fact that, if possible, no deputy from his own ranks is absent from the vote, for example, due to illness.
The previous legislative period was particularly turbulent. It began two years ago in the midst of the longest government shutdown in US history. The impeachment process against the president for abuse of power followed, at the end of which Trump was acquitted by the Senate. In the spring, in light of the corona pandemic, Congress passed the largest economic stimulus package in the country’s history. And a few days ago, both houses of Congress overturned a Trump veto for the first time, a bitter defeat for the president shortly before the end of his term.
Disruptive actions against the election of Biden
State voters have confirmed Biden’s clear victory over Trump. In formal post-election procedure in the US, the election results of individual states still need to be certified in Congress. On Wednesday, the new House of Representatives and the Senate will meet in joint session to read the votes of the states, count them and officially announce the final result. So it is official who has won the elections.
Republicans in both houses have announced that they will oppose the results of the individual states during the proceedings. This allows them to force both houses of congress to withdraw to separate sessions to debate the objections and ultimately vote on whether or not to follow them. However, the interrupt action should only prolong the process.
