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However, Jeffries has staked out a more conservative position in the debate about the Democratic Party’s future and is expected to use his position to beat back challenges from the party’s more progressive left flank. Democrats in the House of Representatives, one of the two branches of the United States Congress, have selected New York’s Hakeem Jeffries to lead their caucus. "Moving forward, it's my hope that House Democrats can find common ground with Republicans to get things done that would make life better for everyday Americans whenever possible. But we're also prepared to oppose their extremism when we must." Pelosi congratulated the new leaders on their elevation, saying in a statement that she looks forward to an "orderly transition" before the next Congress.
COMMITTEES
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. As House minority leader, Jeffries will become the first Black person to lead a major political party in Congress. He is among a new slate of leaders elected Wednesday to lead House Democrats in the next session of Congress, including Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., as Jeffries' No. 2, and Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., as the third-ranking leader. He attended law school at New York University, graduating with honors and becoming a successful corporate lawyer before running for elected office. Both his state assembly district and congressional district are anchored in Brooklyn. 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.
U.S. House of Representatives
Joe Neguse of Colorado, another rising Black Democrat who was a House manager in the second Trump impeachment, was also seeking a leadership slot but faced being blocked by Clyburn. As the senior Black Democrat in Congress, his approval of Joe Biden’s presidential bid was widely held to have propelled the former vice-president to victory in the presidential primary in 2020. He was reported to be seeking to become assistant leader but for the top spot he endorsed Jeffries, 30 years his junior. Hailed as a kingmaker in South Carolina politics, his influence is widely felt.
Members of Congress put pressure on Biden to grant protections for Haitians fleeing to the U.S.
Uncertainty hangs over the speakership election, as Kevin McCarthy attempts to quell a conservative revolt that could derail his long-held hopes of claiming the speaker’s gavel. Beginning in 2000, Jeffries ran for office twice, unsuccessfully, before winning a seat in the New York State Assembly in 2006. Supporters and the media called him “The Barack of Brooklyn;” he was young, charismatic, and born on the same day as another Black politician, future President Barack Obama. The Minority Whip is a member of the minority party who assists the minority leader in coordinating the party caucus in its responses to legislation and other matters.
House Minority Leader Weekly Briefing January 11, 2024 - C-SPAN
House Minority Leader Weekly Briefing January 11, 2024.
Posted: Thu, 11 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries is the first Black lawmaker and the youngest member to lead a party in Congress. His political clout rising from Crown Heights to Washington, Jeffries is part of a new generation of leaders in American politics. With a foundation in social justice coupled with experience as a lawyer, the Democrat has served Brooklyn in the New York Assembly and, since 2013, as one of its U.S. congress members. As an impeachment manager, he demonstrated his flair for oratory in the proceedings against former President Donald Trump, deftly interspersing hip-hop lyrics with constitutional law.
There's been a history of hard landings
By stalling action on the majority party's agenda, the minority leader may be able to launch a campaign against a "do-nothing Congress" and convince enough voters to put his party back in charge of the House. To be sure, the minority leader recognizes that "going negative" carries risks and may not be a winning strategy if his party fails to offer policy alternatives that appeal to broad segments of the general public. 17 From January 3 to January 20, 2021, with Republicans holding a majority with 51 senators, Mitch McConnell served as the majority leader and Charles Schumer remained the minority leader. The run-off elections for both Georgia Senate seats held on January 5, 2021, resulted in Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeating incumbent Republican senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue (respectively).
US House of Representatives: who’s who in the new leadership?
The minority party offers opposition, but it is of marginal significance, typically because the minority is so small. As reported, on April 25, President Volodymyr Zelensky held phone conversations with House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. His predecessor, Frederick Gillett of Massachusetts, also had the top job for less than five years. But when he left after the 1924 session, his party was still firmly in control and had just elected President Calvin Coolidge to a full term. The next two Republican speakers would be John Boehner, elevated to the job by the GOP recapture of the House in the "Tea Party" election of 2010.
Now, in a historical first, the triumvirate of top House Democrats includes no white men. Pelosi tapped Jeffries to serve as an impeachment manager for the Senate trial in January of 2020 — a high profile position for those who would prosecute their case on national television. Crow was on the team and recounted a tense moment during the Senate trial when a protester burst into the chamber during Jeffries' presentation and it was unclear if he had a weapon or would threaten the lawmakers inside.
House Minority Leader Weekly Briefing January 18, 2024 - C-SPAN
House Minority Leader Weekly Briefing January 18, 2024.
Posted: Thu, 18 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Representative Katherine Clark of Massachusetts was elected as whip, the lead vote counter for House Democrats, and Representative Pete Aguilar of California as the chairman of the party caucus, in charge of messaging. House minority leaders also hold joint news conferences and consult with their counterparts in the Senate—and with the president if their party controls the White House. The overall objectives are to develop a coordinated communications strategy, to share ideas and information, and to present a united front on issues. Minority leaders also make floor speeches and close debate on major issues before the House; they deliver addresses in diverse forums across the country, and they write books or articles that highlight minority party goals and achievements. The floor leaders and whips of each party are elected by their respective parties in a closed-door caucus by secret ballot.[3] The Speaker-presumptive is assumed to be the incoming Speaker, although not formally selected to be nominated for Speaker by the majority party's caucus.
Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the current whip, won a vote to become assistant Democratic leader in an election on Thursday. Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island briefly challenged Clyburn for the post, citing a need for LGBTQ representation in leadership. Washington — House Democrats elected Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York as their next party leader in a unanimous vote on Wednesday, ushering in a generational shift as Democrats prepare to relinquish control of the lower chamber in January. Elected by acclamation, Clark will become the highest-ranking woman in House Democratic politics.
He also got strong support in the Senate, where even an outright majority of Republicans voted for the aid on Tuesday. Two colleagues had spoken up to say they would join Greene in such a vote, giving her enough to defeat the speaker if all the chamber's Democrats voted to do the same. That's what the Democrats did when a motion to vacate the chair ousted the last Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, last fall. This time around, the Georgia Republican has the support of at least two other House Republicans, Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz. Gaetz told theGrio he is worried some of his “Republican colleagues would vote for Jeffries” to be Johnson’s successor in the event far-right Republican lawmakers make good on their threat to vacate him from the speakership.
In 1997, in his second Congress as speaker, he barely survived a largely covert challenge from within his own leadership team. And just shy of his fourth anniversary in the job, he was voted out by the full House Republican conference in December 1998. 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.
But House rules require that the speaker receive a majority of the votes cast, something neither Mr. Jeffries nor Mr. Jordan got in the first round of voting, because 20 Republicans voted for other candidates. 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. Jeffries is set to lead a Democratic party that will lose its majority in the House of Representatives for the first time since 2018. In a speech following the vote on Wednesday, Jeffries said the party would reach across the aisle to work with Republicans.
Boehner worked hard to fashion budget deals with both a Democratic President Barack Obama and a Democratic Senate. But his efforts alienated some in his own ranks who in 2015 formed an insurgent group known as the House Freedom Caucus. Increasingly exasperated with his untenable predicament, Boehner simply resigned in October of that year. Even a glance at the history of Republican speakers since World War II would tell him that. Just such a "motion to vacate the chair" was filed against Johnson in March by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. But Greene has yet to make the motion "privileged," which under the rules would necessitate a vote within two days.
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