This week: 118th Congress kicks off with Speaker vote, lawmakers sworn in

The 118th Congress officially kicks off on Tuesday, with the House voting on its next Speaker and members of both chambers — newly elected and incumbent — taking their oaths of office to be sworn in for the new session.

The House is scheduled to convene at noon on Tuesday and will begin business with the highly anticipated Speaker vote, which has been a source of contention in the Republican conference for weeks as House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) has sought to shore up support to secure the gavel.

Once a Speaker is sworn in — which could take several days if McCarthy fails to win on the first ballot — members of the House will then be administered the oath of office by the newly minted top lawmaker.

On the Senate side, the chamber will convene at noon on Tuesday for the first session of the 118th Congress, and members will be sworn in.

House to vote on Speaker

The race for Speaker will come to a head on Tuesday, when McCarthy’s nomination hits the floor and lawmakers vote on who to install as the next top lawmaker in the House.

McCarthy won the GOP nomination for Speaker in November, staving off a last-minute challenge by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. McCarthy secured 188 votes from House Republicans, far ahead of Biggs’s 31. Biggs is remaining in the race as a protest candidate.

McCarthy has been engaging in negotiations with members of his conference for weeks in an effort to to turn detractors into supporters. On Sunday, he offered a number of concessions to those critics in a rules package released by the conference.

Among the compromises is lowering the required number of Republicans to approve a motion to vacate the chair, which would force a vote on ousting the Speaker, to five. In November, the conference voted on an internal rule that would require approval from at least half of House Republicans to force the vote.

Additionally, the House will establish a select subcommittee on the “Weaponization of the Federal Government,” under the umbrella of the Judiciary Committee, which will “investigate the full extent of the Biden Administration’s assault on the constitutional rights of American citizens.”

It remains to be seen, however, how effective those concessions will be in securing enough support for McCarthy’s Speakership bid.

Shortly after House Republicans convened for a call regarding the rules package on Sunday, a group of nine conservatives published a letter describing the changes as “insufficient.”

“At this stage, it cannot be a surprise that expressions of vague hopes reflected in far too many of the crucial points still under debate are insufficient,” the letter reads. “This is especially true with respect to Mr. McCarthy’s candidacy for speaker because the times call for radical departure from the status quo — not a continuation of past, and ongoing, Republican failures.”

The group of nine did not include the five lawmakers who have already expressed opposition to McCarthy, marking an expansion of the contingent of members cool to his candidacy.

Making matters worse for McCarthy, the Club for Growth, an influential conservative group, released a “key vote” alert on Monday urging House members to only vote for a Speaker candidate who agrees to a set of rules changes — terms that McCarthy has not agreed to. On the list is banning the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with McCarthy, from “engag[ing] in open Republican primaries or against any Republican incumbent.” The statement, however, did not mention McCarthy by name.

Time is running out for McCarthy to strike a deal to secure the gavel. Members will vote for Speaker shortly after the House convenes at noon on Tuesday.

Adding to the urgency, the chamber cannot move forward with legislative business until a Speaker is elected.

McCarthy needs support from a majority of the chamber voting for a specific candidate for Speaker, making the magic number 218. With the House set to include 222 Republicans and 212 Democrats, that means he can only afford to lose four GOP lawmakers if every member casts a vote.

But if any lawmakers do not vote or vote present, that number could be lower. Democrats are expected to vote for their newly elected leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.).

The race could go to a second ballot if no candidate secures majority support in the first round of voting. The last time a Speaker was not elected on the first ballot was 1923.

House lawmakers, Senators to be sworn in

After a Speaker is elected, members of the House will begin taking their oaths of office to be sworn in for the 118th Congress. That, however, cannot occur until a Speaker is sworn in, which means it could be days until members take their oaths.

The Speaker will administer the oaths, according to the Congressional Research Service. Both newly elected and reelected members must be sworn in. More than 70 lawmakers taking the oath are new members of Congress.

Significant attention will be focused on Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.), who is arriving in Washington amid scrutiny after revelations that he fabricated and misrepresented parts of his biography. He admitted to embellishing parts of his résumé after the reports.

The incoming congressman, however, is vowing to serve his term, telling City & State in an interview last week, “I’m not resigning.”

“If I have to leave Congress,” he told the outlet, “it’s going to be by a pink slip by the voters, November of 2024.”

On the other side of the Capitol, the Senate is scheduled to convene at noon, and members of the chamber will be sworn in. Both incumbent senators and those elected for the first time will be administered the oath of office. The oath will be administered by Vice President Harris or a surrogate, according to the Senate website.

After senators are sworn in, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) will be elected president pro tempore, the position that is third in line to the presidency. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced in November that he would nominate Murray to the post to succeed Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who is retiring.

The position typically goes to the most senior member of the majority party. That would be Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has served in the chamber since November 1992, a few months earlier than Murray. Feinstein, however, declined to take on the role.

The Senate is only scheduled to be in session on Tuesday of this week, and will reconvene on Jan. 23.

House Republicans look to plow ahead with first pieces of legislation

Once a Speaker is elected, House Republicans are planning to move ahead with a number of legislative priorities to kick off the new Congress.

First, the chamber is scheduled to vote on adopting the rules for the 118th Congress, which House Republicans released on Sunday night. The terms have been an area of focus amid negotiations in the Speaker race, with some of McCarthy’s detractors pushing for rules that would empower individual members.

After that, the chamber is set to take up the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act, which would revoke the increase in funding for the IRS that was appropriated through Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act passed over the summer.

McCarthy teased the bill as the first piece of legislation the chamber would take up back in September. Members of the GOP conference have falsely claimed that the increase in funding will authorize 87,000 new IRS agents. The estimate, however, includes support staff and non-agent IRS workers and replacements for individuals who depart the agency over the next 10 years.

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), who is slated to become majority leader in the next Congress, outlined a number of other measures that will come to the floor in the first two weeks of the new session — including eight bills and three resolutions.

Among those listed are bills involving immigration and the border, abortion and how the U.S. manages petroleum and energy production. The chamber will also consider a resolution condemning recent attacks on anti-abortion centers and churches.

“The American people spoke on November 8th and decided it was time for a new direction. The last two years have been tough on hard-working families as they have grappled with drastic increases in the cost of living, safety concerns with violent crime skyrocketing in our communities, soaring gas and home heating prices, and a worsening crisis at our Southern border,” Scalise wrote in a letter to GOP lawmakers last week.

“In the 118th Congress, we will work to address these problems by passing bills that will improve the lives of all Americans,” he added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.