VOA News | Friday, November 15, 2023 
Republicans to control White House, Congress in early 2025

Republicans are set to take full control of the U.S. government by the third week in January, with President-elect Donald Trump in the White House and the party holding majorities in the Senate and now the House of Representatives, where late vote counting put it over the top on Wednesday. “Republicans in the House and Senate have a mandate,” newly reelected House Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier this week. “The American people want us to implement and deliver that ‘America First’ agenda” espoused by Trump. Trump will be sworn in as the country’s 47th president on January 20, two weeks after the new Congress has been seated. Trump, 78, campaigned on a sweeping agenda that Democrats will be largely powerless to stop unless joined by a handful of Republican defectors in Congress on any specific issue that would undercut the party’s slim majorities in both chambers. Republicans will have a 53-47 edge in the Senate, and the tie-breaking vote of Vice President-elect JD Vance in the event of a 50-50 stalemate on any legislative proposal. Republicans have secured at least 218 seats in the 435-member House, pending the outcome of nine undecided elections for two-year terms. The party won a seat in the Southwestern state of Arizona on Wednesday to cement its majority. During his bid to win a…Read more