Congress

Expect a quieter Jan. 6 this time around — as long as Republicans avert a looming speakership crisis

Published

2 years ago

December 26, 2024

Donald Trump’s victory has made Jan. 6 boring again.

Four years after a mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory, Republicans and Democrats seem to agree they’ll give Trump the smooth, drama-free transfer of power he denied Democrats in 2020.

That’s despite the fact that many Democrats see Trump as an insurrectionist, ineligible to hold the presidency because of his role in creating the conditions that led to the attack four years earlier. Instead, top Democrats say they have no plans to stand in the way of Trump’s victory — and they’re not even sure their rank-and-file colleagues will make the token objections they’ve lodged in years past.

They also anticipate that Vice President Kamala Harris will lead the joint session of Congress to count Trump’s presidential electors precisely the way her predecessors have, taking no active role in the proceedings and tallying the results certified by the states. The result: a quick and simple transfer of power that will culminate on Jan. 20 when Trump takes the oath of office.

“I think you’re going to have a pretty sort of normal transfer, and I think we will respect the wishes of the American people … in contrast to what happened January 6, 2021,” said Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House committee tasked with overseeing elections. “I do feel like that’s worth saying over and over again.”

There is one potential crisis, attributable to Trump’s own party and the incoming president himself. After a spending fiasco last week, conservatives have expressed doubts that Mike Johnson should still be speaker, and Trump hasn’t weighed in to defend him. That House vote is scheduled to occur on Jan. 3, and a protracted battle could delay the certification of Trump’s win. Congress can’t do anything else until it elects a speaker.

Here’s a look at how the final stages of the presidential transition will play out once the new Congress convenes next month.

Before Jan. 6

Before Congress convenes to count electoral votes there are two crucial questions lawmakers must answer. The first: Who will be speaker of the House?

When the new Congress convenes on Jan. 3, their first job is to select a speaker, who can then swear in the other members and preside over the adoption of rules to govern the chamber. Until last week, Johnson appeared to be a shoo-in to win a full term, consolidating the support of his fractious conference, winning over detractors and lining up votes for what he hopes will be his first full term. But his stewardship of spending negotiations and an initial deal with Democrats led to a conservative revolt, with several openly calling for a new speaker. Trump also openly issued veiled threats about Johnson’s future as speaker.

If Democrats, as expected, unanimously back Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) holds to his promise not to return to Congress, Johnson can only afford to have one Republican vote against him. That’s a suddenly realistic possibility — Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has already vowed to oppose him, and several more are noncommittal.

After a spending fiasco last week, conservatives have expressed doubts that Mike Johnson should still be speaker, and Trump hasn’t weighed in to defend him.

A battle for the speakership could take days, creating uncertainty about the House’s ability to count Electoral College votes. And there’s no road map for what to do if a protracted battle eclipses Jan. 6.

That leads to the second question: Could Congress change the date of the joint session? Lawmakers have the authority to pass a law changing the date from Jan. 6 — and there’s precedent for doing so in modern history. The branches could, of course, push the session back a few days to give the House breathing room to resolve a speaker fight.

Presuming the speakership is resolved, the House and Senate must agree on the procedures governing the joint session of Congress. For more than 100 years, this has been uncontroversial and Congress has approved rules governing the legislative branch, including the Electoral Count Act, a statute that has governed the joint session since 1887. Even in 2020, when Trump was contesting the results of the election, Congress adopted this resolution unanimously.

However, the fight that emerged in 2020 revealed that some Republican lawmakers do have doubts about the laws that govern the transfer of power. And Johnson himself has yet to clarify his own views on the Electoral Count Act — particularly since Biden signed significant amendments to it in 2022.

Though Republicans are unlikely to want to stoke uncertainty, given that their guy is about to take the oath of office, a fight over the Electoral Count Act could still emerge on Jan. 3.

Democratic objections

Republicans are fond of pointing out that Democrats have lodged objections to presidential electors in every race Republicans have won since 2000. However, Democrats have seen those objections as largely symbolic, without any endorsement from national leaders or party organizations.

This time, there may not even be a symbolic objection to Trump’s victory. Blue Light News spoke to the group of Democrats who challenged some of Trump’s electors in 2017, and none of them said they planned to mount a similar effort this time. They acknowledged that their 2017 votes were token statements that they did not expect to succeed, and said the events of the last four years underscored the need to show confidence in the transfer of power.

“I’m not intending to do that again, because I think that people don’t differentiate,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.). She added: “I think there was a clear difference between what we did and what he does.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal gives an interview at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 19.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who also lodged an objection in 2017, said he hadn’t heard of a single Democrat who planned to object this time and predicted that Democrats would be “constitutional patriots.”

“I have not actually heard of anybody who intends to vote no,” added Morelle, “and I would certainly discourage it.”

And if Democrats did mount challenges to Trump’s electoral votes, the updated Electoral Count Act made it significantly harder to force their colleagues to consider them.

In every previous joint session, it took objections from just one House member and one senator to trigger a lengthy debate and vote. But the revised law now requires 20 percent of each chamber — 87 House members and 20 senators — to sign challenges before they trigger further proceedings. It’s hard to imagine any potential challenge coming close to that threshold in 2025.

Kamala Harris presides

Harris will be presiding over the certification of her own defeat — a moment that is simultaneously uncomfortable and an ode to the peaceful transfer of power. She’s the third losing candidate to do so in recent history.

The vice president, who serves as president of the Senate, is constitutionally required to fulfill this role, with limited exceptions. In 2000, Al Gore brushed aside Democrats’ protests to certify George W. Bush as the victor. In 2016, Biden told a handful objecting Democrats that it “is over” and ushered in the first Trump presidency. And in 2020, Mike Pence resisted a crushing pressure campaign from Trump — and a violent riot — and followed in his predecessors’ footsteps.

Trump and a group of fringe attorneys argued that Pence could buck history and take control of the joint session, deciding which electoral votes to count or postponing the session altogether to give states a chance to reverse their certified results. Pence rejected this approach as unconstitutional, contending that the vice president’s role in the joint session is meant to be largely ceremonial.

Though some Trump allies still say the vice president has this authority, no one expects Harris to remotely entertain the idea — and Democrats have roundly dismissed it as a possibility.

Harris aides have said she intends to carry out her duties as all vice presidents have before her, in part because it is right and also because it’s the law. Indeed, lawmakers seem so certain that Jan. 6, 2025 will lack intrigue that they’ve largely treated it as an afterthought. Gone are the intensive strategy sessions and convoluted legal analyses aimed at pressuring the vice president to take an active role in the proceedings in order to reverse the outcome.

Security concerns

In 2021, the expectation of challenges to the election were high while the anticipation of violence at the Capitol was low. Those dynamics are reversed this time.

Despite the lack of drama, security agencies — the Secret Service, the Capitol Police, the D.C. police and others — are treating the event on par with the security needs of the Super Bowl. Already, there are signs around the Capitol of enhanced security measures, including surveillance towers set up in the vicinity.

And while protests are possible, there’s been no call by any national leaders to converge on Washington for the joint session or to challenge the outcome. That lack of organizing energy suggests the fervor of Trump supporters in 2021 simply won’t be replicated by Trump’s detractors.

Congress

Todd Blanche won’t get Thursday vote in Senate Judiciary Committee

Published

6 hours ago

July 30, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Senate Judiciary Committee has abandoned plans to advance Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general Thursday, according to a committee spokesperson.

The decision comes as Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) continue to push the Justice Department to revise a controversial settlement agreement between President Donald Trump and the IRS. A “no” vote from either senator would effectively sink Blanche’s nomination.

The two senators met Wednesday with Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) but did not announce any breakthrough.

“Chairman Grassley works to set President Trump’s nominees up for success in committee, not failure,” said the spokesperson, who declined to be named. “Senators Cornyn and Tillis want written assurances from the Department of Justice regarding the Trump-IRS settlement. Tomorrow’s markup is postponed as work continues to secure sufficient support in committee to favorably report [Blanche], who is highly qualified for the job.”

The meeting could still be rescheduled if Cornyn and Tillis are placated, but any delay threatens Senate GOP leaders’ plans to confirm Blanche before the chamber adjourns for its summer recess next week.

Congress

White House pitches Senate GOP on ‘tight’ party-line bill focused on military, farm aid

Published

11 hours ago

July 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

White House officials urged Senate Republicans on Wednesday to quickly adopt a spending blueprint for a narrowly focused party-line spending bill, but they struggled to quash GOP skepticism about the administration’s vision.

White House budget director Russ Vought stressed during the private lunch meeting with Senate Republicans that the next package passed under the filibuster-skirting budget reconciliation process should include only President Donald Trump’s most urgent priorities — particularly defense spending and aid for farmers.

Vought said Republicans should not seek to cut spending or otherwise offset the deficit impact of the tens of billions of dollars the Trump administration wants enacted, nor should they attempt to raise the debt limit.

“It should be tight,” he told reporters as he exited the lunch. “It should be for the defense needs that we need now, for the [agriculture] needs that we need now. And to get this as straight a shot to the president’s desk as possible.”

That approach comports with the $95 billion framework the House adopted last week before lawmakers there left Washington for their summer recess. But Vought and other White House officials faced pushback in the room Wednesday on a variety of issues.

Majority Leader John Thune warned afterward that he doesn’t believe he has the votes for the narrow budget resolution the Trump administration is contemplating. He said there was a disconnect between the narrow bill the White House is seeking and the political challenges it creates.

Those challenges revolve around “vote-a-rama” — a feature of the reconciliation process that allows Democrats to force a series of amendment votes that could put GOP senators in tough spots. The more committees the budget resolution “instructs” to deliver legislation, the more opportunities Democrats will have to create political mischief for Republicans.

“Some of the things that are contemplated being done in this reconciliation bill, or in this budget resolution legislation, are things that could implicate a number of committees,” Thune said. “Obviously that creates an uphill challenge in terms of trying to ensure that you have 50” votes.

Senators also aired concerns about Trump’s obsessive focus on the GOP elections bill known as the SAVE America Act. The House blueprint contemplates including parts of that bill in the party-line package.

But Senate Budget Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said doing so in the Senate could involve more committees — and open up the range of issues Democrats would be able to force politically troublesome votes on.

“I think we all hate vote-a-rama,” Johnson added. “Some people are more sensitive to the kind of votes they have to take.”

In another complication, some Senate defense hawks want more military spending than the $60 billion House Republicans laid out in their own framework. Johnson said he and other Republicans expect to meet with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth later Wednesday to discuss the Pentagon’s needs.

But other Senate Republicans, such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), aren’t convinced it’s a good idea to pursue another party-line bill at all.

“It used to be we would try to figure out how we worked through some challenging problems with the minority,” she said.

Murkowski added that the Trump administration’s strategy of relying on the reconciliation process to avoid bipartisan negotiations only works if a majority of Republican senators go along with the plan.

“It’s not always guaranteed that you get 50” votes, she said.

Vought, meanwhile, leaned on the potential for yet another party-line reconciliation package to be enacted after the midterm elections as another vehicle to deliver key priorities. That could include a debt limit increase, he said, along with yet another tranche of defense cash to meet Trump’s $1.5 trillion goal for annual military spending.

The various legislative vehicles left some GOP senators scratching their hands as they left the lunch.

Asked if he had gotten clarity from Vought & Co., Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said, “‘Not really’ is the short answer.”

Congress

Cruz drops plans to advance AI bills next week

Published

13 hours ago

July 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz said Wednesday he is again postponing a highly anticipated markup of artificial intelligence bills planned for next week.

Instead, the Texas Republican said in an interview Wednesday, the panel will only take up bills focused on kids’ online safety.

Cruz said senators could not strike a deal on AI legislation in time for the committee to vote next week.

“We are going to do a markup on kids’ safety next week,” Cruz told Blue Light News. “We have moved the broader AI markup to September. … It’s our intention still to mark those up, but it is taking longer to get bipartisan agreement.”

Cruz said the committee would mark up the Kids Online Safety Act, led by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), along with other measures.

Under the panel’s rules, the chair must publish an agenda a week in advance. The committee did not immediately respond to a question about exactly which bills would be on the docket.