Winning a House majority, even by a narrower margin than they had hoped, will give Republicans new power to set the agenda when they take control of the House in January.
House Republicans will have the power to subpoena in the majority and control over powerful committees — and they plan to make investigations into the Biden administration a top priority.
On the legislative front, there will be inescapable political issues — like government funding — that will test the ability of Republicans and Democrats to work together.
Here is a look at some of their projects:
Investigations: House Republicans are considering potential investigations into everything from the chaotic pullout from Afghanistan, border policies overseen by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, the FBI’s search for Mar-a-Lago, the business dealings involving President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, and the bureaucratic decision-making behind Covid-related school closures and vaccination mandates.
House Republicans can also use their majority to push a counter-narrative around the Jan. 6, 2021 attack in a bid to pin the blame on former President Donald Trump after a violent mob of his supporters took storming the Capitol.
Even before the party won a majority in the House, some of the investigative groundwork laid out by Republican officials had begun to materialize. A federal judge in Louisiana, for example, on Monday ordered the removal of an FBI cybersecurity official in a lawsuit alleging the FBI coerced social media companies into blocking stories on Hunter Biden’s laptop before the 2020 elections.
The FBI deposition is one of many sought by state Republican officials in a lawsuit accusing Biden officials of effectively enforcing government censorship by pushing social media companies to, among other things, deliver speech from the police on the origins of the virus that causes Covid-19, the effectiveness of face masks and health care measures intended to curb the spread of the virus, as well as allegations about the integrity of elections and the security of voting by correspondence.
It’s unclear just how far House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy is willing to go when it comes to Jan. 6 and the 2020 presidential election. And some Republicans argue the party would be better served by moving past 2020.
GOP Legislative Agenda Amid Narrow Majority: The president can veto legislation, but House Republicans will still be able to push certain messaging bills that highlight their agenda.
In an exclusive, high-profile interview with CNN two days before the midterm elections, McCarthy outlined his plans for power, which include tackling inflation, rising crime and securing borders – three issues that have become central to Republicans’ closing speech to voters.
McCarthy also left the door open for the launch of a possible impeachment procedure, which some of its members have already begun to demand.
At a private party meeting on Monday ahead of the leadership election, McCarthy vowed he would take power away from Democrats, promising to kick Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar off the House Foreign Affairs Committee and California Representatives Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff of House Intelligence. Committee, according to a source in the room.
But the narrow majority of Republicans will stand in the way of most — if not all — of their priorities in the chamber.
McCarthy’s allies recently tried to convince moderate Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas to switch parties in hopes of filling their thin margins, according to two sources familiar with the conversation. Cuellar flatly rejected the idea.
