US President-elect Donald Trump’s Republican Party will control both houses of Congress when he takes office in January, allowing him to push ahead with an agenda of cutting taxes and shrinking the federal government.
Republicans will have at least the 218 votes needed to control the 435-seat House of Representatives, Edison Research predicted Wednesday, with nine races still to be called. They have already secured a U.S. Senate majority of at least 52-48 with a race not called after the Nov. 5 election.
During his first presidential term in 2017-2021, Trump’s greatest achievement was the sweeping tax cuts that expire next year.
That legislation and that of Democratic President Joe Biden both occurred during periods when their parties controlled both houses of Congress.
By contrast, over the past two years of divided government, Biden has had little success passing laws and Congress has struggled to perform its most basic function of providing the money needed to keep the government open.
The House’s slim Republican majority has been fractious, dismissing its first speaker, Kevin McCarthy, and regularly antagonizing his successor, President Mike Johnson.
Trump’s grip on the party and particularly its hardliners has been much firmer, as evidenced by his success earlier this year in ending a bipartisan agreement that would have significantly strengthened border security.
His power will also be supported by a Supreme Court with a 6-3 conservative majority that includes three justices he appoints.
More immediately, the Republican victory will certainly influence the post-election session of the House.
The current Congress faces year-end deadlines to fund the government to avoid Christmas shutdowns and extend the federal government’s borrowing authority to avoid a historic debt default.
One possible scenario is the approval of temporary patches to give the incoming Trump administration a say on these two points of contention when it takes over from the Biden administration on January 20.
The new Congress will meet on January 3.