Pelosi secures another term as speaker, as senate hangs in balance

Democrats returned Rep Nancy Pelosi of California to the House speakership Sunday for what may be her final term, handing a tested leader control of the slimmest majority in almost two decades as Washington prepares for a new Democratic president.

The nearly party-line vote punctuated an opening day marked more by precaution than pomp, as the 117th Congress convened under the threat of a deadly pandemic and awaited a pair of Senate runoffs in Georgia that will determine control of that chamber. Several House members sick with COVID-19 missed the session altogether and others cast their votes from behind a Plexiglas enclosure specially constructed in a gallery overlooking the chamber.

Her victory means that after two years as President Donald Trump’s most outspoken antagonist, Pelosi will now be responsible for trying to shepherd through Congress as much of President-elect Joe Biden’s agenda as possible.

“Scripture tells us that to everything, there is a season: a time for every purpose under the heavens; a time to build, a time to sow, a time to heal,” she said in a speech after winning the speakership. “Now is certainly a time for our nation to heal. Our most urgent priority will continue to be defeating the coronavirus. And defeat it, we will.”

It will be no easy task. With her party in control of just 222 of 435 seats, Pelosi can afford to lose only a handful of Democrats on any given vote. Emboldened Republicans are gunning to retake the majority in next year’s midterm elections and are in no mood to extend an olive branch.

Rep Kevin McCarthy of California, the Republican leader, used his own remarks to torch Democrats’ record in the majority and effectively declare the beginning of the campaign to wrest power from them.

“It has been said that a house divided cannot stand,” he said. “Well, if there is any lesson Americans have learned in the last two years, it’s this: A House distracted cannot govern.”

Pelosi secured 216 votes for speaker Sunday afternoon, keeping defections within her party to just a handful despite grumbling from some moderates and progressives eager for new leadership.

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