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With the Republicans holding a majority of seats and the Democrats holding a minority, the current leaders are Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, and Minority Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts. In February, former New York Rep. George Santos's seat was flipped by Democrat Tom Suozzi after he was expelled from Congress last year for misusing campaign funds. Former Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher's resignation this month also set Republicans back as an election to fill his seat won't be held until November due to the timing of his resignation at Wisconsin election laws. New York Democrat Tim Kennedy's victory in a special House election Tuesday night to fill a vacancy left by a retiring representative further narrowed the GOP's already slim majority in the House. The list of the 10 speakers who served in the job longest includes just one Republican (and in the ninth slot at that). That speaker was Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois, notorious as the autocratic "Czar Cannon" during three two-year tours as speaker that ended with his party's historic defeat in 1910.
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But Greene has yet to make the motion "privileged," which under the rules would necessitate a vote within two days. Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress of the Confederation was a unicameral body with equal representation for each state, any of which could veto most actions. After eight years of a more limited confederal government under the Articles, numerous political leaders such as James Madison and Alexander Hamilton initiated the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which received the Confederation Congress's sanction to "amend the Articles of Confederation". Scalise, 57, is a Louisiana native who was elected to the No 2 spot by voice vote, a sign of his broad support in the House Republican conference. Should McCarthy fall short in his quest to become speaker, Scalise has been mentioned as a potential alternative. After completing law school, Rep. Jeffries clerked for the Honorable Harold Baer Jr. of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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2nd Congressional District: Anthony Daniels cites political experience • Alabama Reflector - Alabama Reflector
2nd Congressional District: Anthony Daniels cites political experience • Alabama Reflector.
Posted: Mon, 19 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Democrats will cede control of the House in January, after midterm elections in which Republicans performed less well than expected but still took the lower chamber. Democrats gained control of the White House and majorities in both branches of the US Congress in 2020. But Republicans won a majority of seats in the House during the recent midterm elections, with new members set to be sworn in on January 3.
Black History
Thereafter, Rep. Jeffries attended New York University School of Law, where he graduated magna cum laude and served on Law Review. Rep. Jeffries has been actively involved in the passage of a number of other key pieces of legislation, including the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 (H.R. 152), a bill that provides billions of dollars in Superstorm Sandy recovery to the Eighth District and other affected areas. The Congressman also sponsored — and passed as part of the National Defense Authorization package — the Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument Preservation Act, which directs the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to study the feasibility of designating the Prison Ship Martyrs’ mausoleum in Brooklyn as a national monument. Consisting of a 100-foot-wide granite staircase and a central Doric column 149 feet in height, the monument in Fort Greene Park houses the remains of 11,500 Revolutionary War soldiers who were kept as prisoners of war by the British.
Now, in a historical first, the triumvirate of top House Democrats includes no white men. Washington, DC – Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries held a press conference where he highlighted that House Democrats will continue to defend every American's freedom and protect our national security while extreme MAGA Republicans continue to try to turn back the clock. Jeffries will square off against Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy, a representative from California who has positioned himself as a steadfast ally of former President Donald Trump. McCarthy will become House Speaker when the new Republican-majority House convenes in January. Congressman Jeffries obtained his bachelor’s degree in political science from the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he graduated with honors for outstanding academic achievement. He then received his master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University.
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Jeffries was one of seven lawmakers named by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to serve as impeachment managers during the trial and present the House’s case against Trump. The appointment reflected the fact that Jeffries was an effective messenger, especially known for being highly quotable. Delivering part of the House managers’ closing arguments on February 3, he called for Trump’s removal from office, describing him as “a clear and present danger to our national security.” Two days later, however, Trump was acquitted by the Senate in an almost party-line vote. Like the Speaker of the House, the Minority Leaders are typically experienced lawmakers when they win election to this position. When Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, became Minority Leader in the 108th Congress, she had served in the House nearly 20 years and had served as minority whip in the 107th Congress. Gephardt's predecessor in the minority leadership position was Robert Michel, R-IL, who became GOP Leader in 1981 after spending 24 years in the House.
Political positions
Pelosi subsequently announced that she would step down from the House Democratic leadership and that she would not pursue the role of minority leader in the new Congress. A noted strategist and coalition builder, he ultimately ran unopposed, and on November 30, 2022, the House Democrats selected him to replace Pelosi as the party’s leader in the upcoming Congress. In 2006 Jeffries ran successfully for the New York State Assembly and took office the following year.
Andy Eichar, communications director for Jeffries’s office, told Al Jazeera over email that Jeffries has worked across the aisle to champion criminal justice reform and that he would protect healthcare from “right-wing attacks”. Jeffries thanked Pelosi in his speech on Wednesday, calling her an “extraordinary Speaker for the ages who has delivered so much for so many over such a significant period of time”. Jeffries has become the first Black politician to lead a party in the US Congress, succeeding Representative Nancy Pelosi.
Passage of legislation
But the real test will come on the House floor, where he will need the support of nearly every member of his caucus to become speaker. Elected to Congress in 2006, McCarthy was part of a triumvirate of self-styled Republican “Young Guns” (along with Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan, neither of whom is currently in Congress) who rode the Tea Party wave to power. Republicans’ romping success in the 2010 midterms catapulted McCarthy into one of the top leadership positions, House majority whip. Jeffries said he has an "open mind" in terms of his relationship with the top House Republican, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who was nominated to serve as the speaker. McCarthy is still working to secure the votes he needs to be elected by the full House. Jeffries said he has more experience with the incoming majority leader, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., and said he would look for areas of common ground.
Those on the left often wanted bolder policy proposals and more generous federal spending, while centrists argued for positions they maintained were more in step with voters in purple districts they represented and helped the party regain the majority in 2018. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., who is 82 and has served in party leadership, said Tuesday night the shift taking place with the current slate of leaders stepping aside to make way for a new generation has been in the works for several years. Jeffries has emerged as a new and fresh voice of opposition to Republicans after former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who shepherded House Democrats for nearly 30 years, stepped down from party leadership. Democrats tell theGrio that they are ready to resist the Republican agenda and will lay the groundwork for their opportunity to reclaim power in the House. The seamless elevation of a new generation of leaders came in stark contrast to the fractured House Republican conference, which has yet to unite around Kevin McCarthy after the weaker-than-expected midterms win. With only a few votes to spare, McCarthy is attempting to shore up enough support to become speaker.
On Saturday morning, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries officially made history as the first African American to lead a major party in Congress. On Wednesday, Representative David Cicilline of Rhode Island, who is gay, said he planned to challenge Mr. Clyburn for the position of assistant leader. Though Pelosi will remain in Congress, she promised not to be the “mother-in-law in the kitchen”. Asked if the continued presence of Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn might be a burden, Jeffries said the new leaders felt honored to “stand on their shoulders”. Jeffries is a former lawyer who represents a diverse district in Brooklyn and Queens once represented by Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to serve in Congress. He is known on Capitol Hill as a disciplined tactician with a measured style and a penchant for pop culture references.
Securing broad support, Jeffries easily won the race to represent New York’s 8th congressional district, which includes parts of Brooklyn and the neighbouring borough of Queens. After taking office in 2013, he took particular interest in police and criminal justice reform. He introduced legislation calling for a federal ban on the police use of choke holds following the death of an unarmed Black man, Eric Garner, in July 2014. Garner had died after having a choke hold applied to him during his arrest on Staten Island. Jeffries also championed the First Step Act, which was signed into law in 2018. It aimed in part to improve conditions in federal prisons and to ensure that people convicted of federal crimes were sentenced in a fair and reasonable way.
In the two years since Russia's invasion, opposition to aiding Ukraine has grown from a fringe position to a majority view among House GOP lawmakers. Many argue the money should be spent domestically or that policy changes at the US-Mexico border should take precedence. Saturday's vote marked the first time the House had approved billions of dollars in Ukraine aid since December 2022, when Democrats still controlled the chamber.
A special election in 2008 brought Scalise to Washington, where he rose quickly through the Republican ranks. In 2012, he was elected chairman of the influential Republican study group, beating a candidate who had been handpicked by the group’s founders. After that surprise victory, Scalise told reporters on Capitol Hill that his goal was to pull Republican leadership “as far to the right” as possible. He was considered next in line for the speakership in 2015, but his bid imploded.
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