As the Biden administration enters the transition period, including the vetting of cabinet officials, the current Congress begins a lame-duck session. The Senate reconvened on Monday, November 9th, and the House will reconvene on Monday, November 16th. The 117th Congress is set to begin on January 3rd, 2021. President-elect Biden will take office at 12:00pm ET on January 20th, 2021.
To recap:
- Joe Biden has been elected President, and Kamala Harris has been elected Vice President.
- President Trump and Vice President Pence’s terms will expire on January 20th, 2021. They are “lame-ducks”, meaning they have a limited amount of time to accomplish remaining agenda items.
- The House of Representatives is still under Democratic control in the next Congress, by a narrow margin, after Democrats lost a handful of seats.
- The Senate is very likely still under Republican control in the next Congress, even with uncalled elections in Alaska, Arizona, North Carolina, and Georgia. Republican Senators Sullivan (R-AK) and Tillis (R-NC) are projected to keep their seats. Republican Senator McSally (R-AZ) is expected to lose her seat to Democrat challenger Mark Kelly. A runoff in Georgia is scheduled for January 5th to elect those two seats, one of which is a special election. If Democrats manage to flip those two seats, the balance of the Senate would be 50-50, however this is a heavy lift considering Georgia hasn’t elected a Democratic Senator since 2000.
Looking to the next Congress:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has won reelection and is favored to remain in his position. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has also won reelection and will seek another term as Speaker. Leader McConnell confirmed during that during the lame-duck session, the Senate will continue to work on COVID-19 relief and FY21 appropriations. Speaker Pelosi has announced a similar plan for the House. The National Defense Authorization Act also remains on the to-do list.
The current Continuing Resolution expires on December 11th, after which the Federal Government could shut down without another Continuing Resolution. Democrats and Republicans would have to come to a quick consensus on a variety of issues in order to wrap up FY21 appropriations before Biden takes office. Senate Republicans are expected to release their FY21 numbers in the next day or so.
For the 117th Congress, the members of the Washington delegation remain unchanged except for the addition of Congresswoman-elect Marilyn Strickland (D-WA-10th) replacing Congressman Heck, who will become Lieutenant Governor. Neither of the Washington Senators were up for reelection in 2020. Committee assignments for the 117th Congress should be finalized in January.
We will post relevant updates as they become available.