U.S. House ushers in a tiny Republican majority to tackle enormous tasks in 2025
A new Congress starts Friday with a long to-do list for Donald Trump’s second term: keeping the government open, raising the debt ceiling, immigration and taxes.
WASHINGTON — The new Congress will begin Friday, ushering in a tiny House Republican majority to tackle enormous tasks in the first year of Donald Trump’s second term, from keeping the government open to averting a calamitous debt default to advancing the president-elect’s immigration and tax ambitions.
Republicans won a 220-215 seat majority in the 2024 elections, but they will start with 219 members as former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., has already resigned and vowed not to reclaim his seat.
That means House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., can afford no more than one defection in order to get re-elected as speaker in a public vote on Friday. But holding on to his job is the easy part: What comes next will present the biggest test of the Louisiana Republican’s political career.
Johnson’s majority is poised to shrink even further in the coming weeks, with Trump announcing he’ll pluck two House Republicans to serve in his administration — Michael Waltz of Florida to be national security adviser and Elise Stefanik of New York to be United Nations ambassador. Replacing them is likely to take months.
If both leave before Gaetz is replaced, that would cut the majority to an even more tenuous 217-215, meaning a single Republican defection could tank a bill unless Democrats vote in favor.
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