Day 714: Democrats take over House, already begin flexing muscle

With Democrats officially taking over the House on Thursday, Donald Trump must deal with a divided government for the first time in his tenure. Democrats have been champing at the bit for two years to push progressive ideas and government oversight. Meanwhile, Trump is playing defense on the economy, government shutdown and desperately trying to keep the rest of his party in line.

While Trump was happy to engage in political stunts Thursday, the Democratic-led House quickly elected Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as House Speaker while laying the foundation for their future plans. By day’s end, the House had passed a pair of clean spending bills that would reopen the government immediately.

At the same time, cracks in the Republican Senate bloc were forming. Some 2020-vulnerable Republicans were openly pushing back on leadership, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Trump. They want the Senate to follow the House’s suit and pass a clean bill to allow the government to reopen. This would table spending questions related to border security and a wall until a later date.

Considering the 116th Congress only officially began at noon Thursday, Democrats provided a glimpse at what could be a very different direction for the country in only a few hours’ time.

714 days in, 748 to go

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