Nancy Pelosi wins House speaker in historic Congress vote as Democrats inherit government shutdown
In response to the incoming Congress, the president called a surprise meeting to promote border security that was quickly labelled a 'stunt'
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Congress has reconvened for its 116th session, with the Democrats taking majority control of the House of Representatives after their success in last November’s midterm elections.
Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi has made history by becoming speaker of the House for a second time, the first person to do so in 50 years. She is the first woman in US history to hold the office — which is third in line from the presidency — and on Thursday took the speaker's gavel for the second time in her life.
Ms Pelosi, during her first speech behind the speaker's lectern in the 116th Congress, laid out a vision to push for progressive policies to tackle climate change issues, while protecting America's social safety net. She expressed an optimism in American democracy, while reaffirming the legislature's obligation to serve as oversight of the executive branch of government — a clear threat to President Donald Trump, who has so far enjoyed Republican control of the entire government since taking office.
"They called upon the beauty of our Constitution: our system of checks and balances that protects our democracy, remembering that the legislative branch is Article I: the first branch of government, co-equal to the president and judiciary," Ms Pelosi said.
She continued, describing the expectations of America for it's elected representatives: "They want a Congress that delivers results for the people, opening up opportunity and lifting up their lives".
The San Francisco liberal has promised her first act will be to quickly pass legislation to bring the recent government shutdown to an end without releasing funds for President Donald Trump‘s proposed Mexico border wall. The Republican-held Senate could block such a bill but doing so would see the GOP left accountable for the continued federal hiatus. The Senate had previously passed legislation to keep the government open without the level of border wall funding requested by Mr Trump, but that measure was not passed by the then-Republican controlled House.
In response to the events on Capitol Hill, Mr Trump declared a last-minute event in the White House press briefing room that included senior members of the National Border Patrol Council, a labour union representing Border Patrol agents. That labour union lobbies heavily in Washington in favour of border security measures and immigration legislation.
That even was seen as an attempt to divert attention from Ms Pelosi, and was labelled by pundits and critics as a "stunt". That group included CNN anchor Brianna Keilar.
Ms Pelosi could prove to be an effective opponent for Mr Trump as talks surrounding the government shutdown — which are expected to restart on Friday — continue onward. During a meeting before the shutdown itself, Ms Pelosi and her Democratic counterpart in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, managed to get the president to take responsibility for the shutdown during a televised meeting in the Oval Office. Their next meeting after that, on Wednesday, occurred behind closed doors.
But, Ms Pelosi also faces a difficult task ahead as she looks to maintain a cohesive Democratic party and avoid the fracturing that was seen after the conservative Tea Party wave washed through Washington in 2010 and let establishment and centrist Republican leaders with little room to manoeuvre in the face of hard line members of their caucus.
To maintain that cohesion, Ms Pelosi has promised to limit her speakership to four years in order to help usher in a younger generation of leadership in the party.
Ms Pelosi has also faced pressure from the party's ascendant progressive wing, with popular candidates like New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez among those leading the push for causes like a transformative and ambitious Green New Deal programme that would eliminate the United States' reliance on fossil fuels — but would require massive investment and political will to be made into law.
Please read along for our coverage of the day's events, as they happened
As of now, we're told there are two vacancies today. One vacancy is due to the North Carolina race, and one is because Walter Jones is not here today.
That means the current number of members on the floor today is 433, and the magic number needed to win the speakership is 217 — a majority of those present.
Nancy Pelosi has been nominated for speaker - to cheers and clapping on the House floor from Democrats.
Hakeem Jeffries of New York said that he "proudly" nominates Ms Pelosi, who he calls NDP to cheers from the floor.
Republican Representative Kevin McCarthy is now being nominated for speaker, meaning Republicans have chosen him as the minority leader.
Mr McCarthy was actually considered a front-runner to be speaker about four years ago before Paul Ryan took that mantle. Mr McCarthy will not be able to win the speakership, as Republicans do not control enough seats in the House to do so.
Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney — daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney — delivered the speech announcing Mr McCarthy's nomination.
Several House members have now been brought forward in front of the speaker's lectern in order to take tally of the votes for speaker.
Up for consideration are just two nominees: Democrat Nancy Pelosi and Republican Kevin McCarthy.
Ms Pelosi, whose party now controls a significant majority of seats in the House, will soon be named the next speaker of the House.
Roll is now to be called in the speaker race between Democrat Nancy Pelosi and Republican Kevin McCarthy.
Ms Pelosi needs 217 votes today to cinch the speakership.
This could take a while.
There have been a few defects so far in the voting.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, for instance, just received a vote.
The speaker of the House does not need to be an actual member of the House.
As that vote continues - we are at Representatives with surnames beginning with 'F' - a reminder that a number of members have brought their families with them today.
If no candidate receives the majority of votes on Thursday, the roll call vote is repeated until a majority is reached and the speaker is elected. Although I doubt that will be a problem.
A number of members are touting the fact that Ms Pelosi is the first woman speaking in the House after her stint beginning in 2007. Therefore she will also be the first woman to do the job twice.
A number of votes for Ms Pelosi have included the phrase "for future generations of women".
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