The House, A Pardon, and New Leadership
Hello everyone and welcome back to another week of Politics Explained. If you're new here we make short and informative blogs every week about the happenings on Capitol Hill. This week there was a lot of news including the final results from the House of Representatives, President Joe Biden pardoned his son, and Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) stepping down from his top spot in the Judiciary Committee. With all that being said, let’s dive right in.
One month after election day, the final result from the US House of Representatives has been released, showing the final tallies to be the Republicans winning the majority, 220 seats to 215. The Democrats gained one seat from the prior Congress, but not enough to get them over the hump of the majority. This has reinforced that the Republicans will have the trifecta in the House, Senate, and Presidency. On November 12th, Congress came back into session and voted to keep Mike Johnson and Steve Scalise in their positions as Speaker of the House and Majority leader. The number of 220-215 seats will not stay the same as that of Congressman Matt Gaetz, who resigned from Congress earlier in the year to try and become the next Attorney General but stepped away from consideration days later. Also, Elise Stefanik of New York is the nominee for the US Ambassador to the United Nations. Lastly, Florida Rep. Michael Waltz has been nominated to be President-elect Donald Trump's National Security Advisor. This will dwindle the Republicans' majority to 2 as it will be 217-215. These seats will be vacant for a little while until special elections can be held. This does not give a lot of breathing room for Mike Johnson and the Republicans.
President Joe Biden released a statement earlier this week pardoning his son, Hunter Biden. This comes after months of the President stating that he would not pardon his son but rather let the judiciary system do its work in relation to the case. Some Democrats have been left fuming after the President stated he would not pardon his son, then ended up doing so. Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ) said, “I think he got this one wrong.” Many close to Biden around the White House believed at one point that he would pardon his son. Biden also stated that he believed his son was unfairly treated by the Justice Department as he was his son and any other person in his shoes would not be treated the way Hunter was.
Lastly, Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-NY), the top Democrat in the Judiciary Committee, has decided to step down after calls within his own party for him to relinquish* his role. Nadler has been the top Democrat in the Judiciary Committee since 2017 and has been in Congress since 1992. This decision came two. days after fellow Democrat Jamie Raskin (D-MD) challenged Nadler for the top spot. Many colleagues within the Capitol called for a change in thensition to a more strategic and younger person at the wheel. This was a relatively interesting idea as normally, top spots on the Democratic side went to lawmakers based on their seniority in Congress. Also, in the Natural Resources Committee, the top Democratic Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) stepped down, resulting in Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) being the front runner for the spot. In the Agriculture Committee, there seems to be some moving around, too, and as more information comes out, we will keep you up to date! Thank you, everyone, for following along this week, and we can’t wait to see you again next.
*Definition of the Week (Relinquish): To Relinquish is the act of giving something up or conceding something.
