Washington

- On the third day of the new year, the 118th Congress in American history begins its first working days in a new parliamentary session, which lasts two years.

After two years of one party controlling both houses of Congress and the White House, the balance will change with Republican control of the House of Representatives, and Democrats continuing to control the Senate.

The Republicans occupy 222 seats in the House of Representatives, and the Democrats have 213 seats, while the picture is reflected in the Senate, as the Democrats have a majority of 51 members, compared to 49 members for the Republicans.

Although Americans agree that there are pressing issues that require bipartisan cooperation to confront them, such as rising crime rates, failing immigration policies, and rising health care prices, many experts do not expect any progress in the legislative agenda of both parties in the new congressional session.

A recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Institute last month, in which 11,377 people participated, showed that 65% of Americans believe that President Joe Biden will not succeed in passing his programs into laws in the next two years.

According to the poll, 61% stated that they expect Republican congressional leaders to fail to pass their legislative agenda, while only 8% of respondents expressed the possibility of the two parties working together successfully in the interest of Americans.

Republican leader in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, is the favorite so far to win the presidency of the House of Representatives (Reuters)

Congress is like America

In the new Chamber, the number of members of Congress who are not white men has clearly increased, and the number of female members has become 149 women, of whom 124 are representatives in the House of Representatives, or 28.5% of the members, and 25 women in the Senate, representing a quarter of the members.

The new House of Representatives also includes 54 African-American members, 52 Hispanic members, and 80 deputies with military backgrounds, having previously served in the US army.

The Senate also includes 3 black members and 4 Latino members.

Today, the House of Representatives will decide the identity of its new president to succeed Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi, whose party lost the majority of the House after the midterm elections on November 8.

With the Republicans regaining control of the House of Representatives, the House needs a new president, and it seems that the leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, is the most likely candidate so far to win the third most important position in the American system of government.

A few weeks ago, a number of Republican members of the House of Representatives impeded McCarthy's obtaining the 218-vote majority needed to become the new speaker of the House.

And the election will be repeated today until any candidate gets the necessary number of votes, and there does not seem to be a strong competition for Kevin McCarthy.

Not only will the presidency of the House of Representatives devolve to the Republicans, but the Republicans will also control the various House committees. It is likely that the Republican Party in the House of Representatives will exercise its power through several investigations targeting the administration of President Biden and his family.

It is widely expected that the Republicans' control of the House of Representatives will end the committee's investigations into the events of January 6 and the storming of the Capitol building at the end of the era of former President Donald Trump.

The Republican House already plans to vote on issues such as abortion and border security, but those efforts will essentially end when they reach the Democratic-controlled Senate.

In the Senate, the Democrats' major focus will be on confirming the Biden administration's nominations for key administrative posts and federal judges.

Nancy Pelosi discusses future plans during a previous session (Reuters)

Legislative paralysis awaits

The narrow margin of Republican progress in the House of Representatives heralds an experience familiar to Americans known as "divided government", when the president is from a party that does not control the House of Representatives.

It is likely that the Republican House of Representatives will clash with most issues with the Democratic Senate during 2023 and 2024, and about the basic functions of the state, such as government financing, which threatens to paralyze and shut down Washington if no compromises are reached on it.

And the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives means that President Biden's legislative agenda is essentially dead, unless he can find compromises and bipartisan support for some proposals that benefit them both.

Biden's focus in the next two years of his presidency will likely be on defending his signature achievements, such as a bill to lower drug prices and investing hundreds of billions of dollars to tackle climate change.

On the other hand, GOP lawmakers are already saying they want to roll back some of Biden's programs, or defund many of them.

Biden will also face investigations on a wide range of issues, as senior Trump supporters on the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees said they plan to investigate the business dealings of Biden's son - Hunter Biden - and the president's policies towards the US-Mexico border, the origin of the Corona virus, and the chaos of the withdrawal. American forces from Afghanistan.

But because the margin of majority is so narrow, there may be pressure from more moderate Republicans to back off some of the investigations and focus instead on issues that matter most to Republican voters.

The meager Republican majority may limit the ability of the expected House leader, McCarthy, to have freedom of movement at the same time, as he must take into account the gathering of Trump supporters in the House who will push for early investigations of President Biden, and among the traditional Republicans who are interested in passing a balanced agenda beneficial to the Americans in light of the difficult conditions. that they live.