The new US House of Representatives began its first session on Thursday amid a standoff between Democrats and US President Donald Trump over budget and construction of the border wall with Mexico, and the council is the 116th in US history.

The new senators were sworn in to Vice President Mike Bens to join Congress. Republicans kept their majority in the midterm elections, and their seats rose to 50 out of 100, compared to 47 for Democrats.

The Republican Party has dominated the Senate since 2014, which plays a crucial role in naming Supreme Court judges and senior government officials.

Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi of the Democratic Party is due to take over the House of Representatives, and the Democratic-controlled Council has 435 new members.

Pelosi did not rule out President Trump's trial in order to isolate him, saying in a NBC interview that the Democrats' decision was linked to what Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller would conclude about the possible complicity of the Trump campaign with Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election.

Elhan Omar, a Muslim woman of Somali origin, was elected to the House of Representatives for the Democratic Party (French)

The current session of the Congress is witnessing differences and divisions between lawmakers and the White House administration in internal and external files, most notably the financing of the border wall with Mexico, partial disruption of the federal government and the US withdrawal from Syria, and other files.

Mitch McConnell
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted the budget bill, planned by the Democratic majority of the House of Representatives, would not be put to a vote.

"The legislative text that the Democrats are planning to put to a vote in the House of Representatives will not be a serious contribution to the ongoing discussions between the administration and the next majority in the Council," McConnell said.

The partial government hiatus, which lasted for a quarter of federal administrations and half a million employees, entered its thirteenth day with no end in sight. The disruption came as a result of congressional failure to pass a bill to fund the government because of divergent positions between the Democrats and the White House over the border wall with Mexico.

President Trump insists on building the wall with Mexico to stem the flow of immigrants and drug trafficking, while Democrats refuse to build the wall.