Americas

Home page

Americas

New US Congress convenes today

05 January 2011 07:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The new 112th U.S. Congress convenes at noon EST (1700 GMT) on Wednesday. The session is expected to unfold in the House of Representatives and the Senate, both of which will swear in newly elected members and consider new rules for handling legislation in their respective chambers. Republicans will be in charge of the House, having ousted Democrats from the majority in Nov. 2 congressional elections. The new Republican majority will be 242-193. One of the first orders of business in the Senate will be the swearing in of 35 newly elected lawmakers in the 100-member chamber. Vice President Joe Biden, as the Senate’s president, will preside. Democrats will still retain control of the chamber, but their majority will shrink to 53-47 from the 58-42 majority they held when the last Congress ended in December. One of the first orders of House business will be the virtually certain election of Republican John Boehner as the chamber’s new speaker, replacing Democrat Nancy Pelosi. She will become the chamber’s new minority leader. Once Boehner is selected by the full House, Pelosi is to hand Boehner the speaker’s gavel as the chamber’s presiding officer. Boehner will then deliver his first speech as speaker and swear in the chamber’s 435 newly elected members. Republican Eric Cantor of Virginia will become majority leader.
The Senate will focus attention on five major issues of the foreign policy in 2011 â€“ Iran, Russia, North Korea, Afghanistan and Sudan. Senator John Kerry will remain in the post of chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.