WASHINGTON — Republicans will maintain a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and regain control of the Senate when Congress convenes in January, positioning the party to potentially make major policy changes over the next two years.
The GOP had won the 218 House seats needed for a majority until tardy Wednesday, when The Associated Press, the news organization that States Newsroom relies on for calls on the race based on decades of experience, called chamber control. The AP has assigned 208 seats to Democrats so far, with nine yet to be determined as of early Thursday.
Combined with President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the election results will have huge implications for the future of the country and could give the former president a chance to add one or more justices to the Supreme Court.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said during press conference On Tuesday, before the AP projected the GOP would retain its majority, he had been in talks with other GOP lawmakers for months, laying out a plan for unified control of the government, though he declined to provide details.
“Over the past year, I have worked with our committee chairmen and Senate colleagues to lay the groundwork for America First,” Johnson said. “This will grow our economy and reduce inflation. This will secure our borders. We will once again restore America’s energy dominance. We will introduce educational freedom and drain the swamp. And this is just the beginning of the program.”
The AP projected Republicans to hold 53 Senate seats after flipping seats in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia from blue to red. However, there was an extremely tiny chance that the Keystone State would swing toward the Democrats.
Incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey had not yet awarded the Pennsylvania Senate seat to Republican Dave McCormick and the contest was heading to a recount.
Who ultimately wins the outstanding races will determine how often GOP leaders will have to rely on Democratic votes over the next two years and how often they will be able to go it alone.
House Republicans have faced obstacles over the past two years as they tried to get bills through the chamber without Democratic support, largely because of wide disagreements between centrist and far-right members of the GOP Conference.
That likely won’t change in the next Congress, especially since Republicans are on track to maintain a razor-thin majority in the House.
Tax cuts are a priority
GOP lawmakers will likely apply unified congressional control to address core aspects of their 2017 tax law that are expiring or have already done so, and make significant changes to the nation’s health insurance marketplace, namely by amending the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Leaders will likely apply the complicated budget reconciliation process for these and perhaps other tasks to convince them to pass the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster and ensure they don’t need Democratic support.
Republicans will also have to keep up with Congress’ annual to-do list, which includes drafting more than a dozen annual government funding bills and an annual defense policy bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act.
Republicans, who regularly campaign on the annual deficit and accumulated national debt, must find a way to raise or suspend the nation’s debt limit, which expires on Jan. 1.
They will have several months of so-called “emergency measures” on the debt ceiling until a deal is negotiated, but they must reach some kind of agreement if they are to avoid defaulting on the country’s debts for the first time in its history and triggering a global financial crisis.
Johnson is on track to remain in charge of the House of Representatives after helping the party retain its majority, although he will have to go through voting formalities in January.
South Dakota Senator John Thune will become the next majority leader of his chamber after Wednesday’s closed-door secret vote by Republican senators.
Both GOP leaders and their respective committees will begin a two-year sprint to address as much as possible before voters go to the polls again in November 2026, possibly shifting the balance of power once again.
Last updated: 6:51, November 14, 2024
