Hakeem Jeffries: Nancy Pelosi’s likely successor formally declares Democratic leadership bid

Senator Bernie Sanders wants to chair the Senate’s Health committee in the upcoming Congress, hoping to focus on health care and prescription drug costs – positioning himself to hold congressional hearings and studies on Medicare for All.

His spokesperson Mike Casca said in a statement that the Vermont progressive “will focus on universal health care, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, increasing access to higher education, and protecting workers’ rights on the job.”

After Senate Democrats picked up a razor-thin majority in 2020, Mr Sanders picked up the role or chairman on the Budget Committee, holding hearings on wealth inequality and corporate bailouts and steering a budget reconciliation process central to Joe Biden’s agenda.

Top Democrats are coalescing their support behind longtime Democratic caucus chair Hakeem Jeffries to be the head of a new-look team that will lead Democrats after two decades under the trio of Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and James Clyburn.

Andrew Feinberg reports:

The lack of a signficant majority will come back to bite the GOP, writes Chris Stevenson:

As outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reveals her political future, The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg looks back on her legacy:

House Republicans previewed a swathe of investigations into President Joe Biden and his family after narrowly winning back the lower chamber in the midterms.

The president has rejected any claims that he’s linked to his son’s affairs, but House Republicans are pushing ahead with a congressional probe to derail his administration.

Secretaries of state – both Democrats and Republicans – were critical in 2020 elections to stand up against Donald Trump and his allies from attempts to reject or overturn the results. Those officials certified votes, protected election workers and volunteers from harassment and abuse, and, in at least one case, rebuffed a direct surbversive attempt – recorded on tape – from Mr Trump himself.

Georgia’s Republican secretary of state Brad Raffensperger gained a national profile in the aftermath of the 2020 election, when then-president Trump called him to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state. He refused.

“We’re going to stand for the rule of law,” he told reporters in the briefing on 15 November. “They’re gonna stand for the Constitution. And so that’s where we are right now. And we continue to press on to make sure we have honest, fair elections.”

Ahmed Baba writes:

When the new Congress convenes on 3 January, Republicans will control the House of Representatives for the first time in four years after winning enough seats in midterm elections to secure a slim majority in the chamber.

Still, it was far from the “red wave” anticipated by Republicans, with embattled Democrats in critical races managing to protect their seats as voters – particularly young people and women – rejected far-right campaigns on abortion rights, Mr Trump’s looming precense and the GOP’s worryingly antidemocratic agenda.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hailed outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a trailblazer who “transformed practically every corner of American politics and unquestionably made America a better, stronger nation.”

Mr Schumer and his caucus will retain control of the upper chamber of Congress next year, holding at least 50 seats in the 100-seat Senate. A runoff election between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker next month could give Democrats a 51st seat to solidify Democrats’ majority.

Far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene dodged a question from The Independent when asked about her claims regarding the source of fentanyl crossing the US-Mexico border.

When asked about the fact that most fentanyl comes not from illegal border crossings but from legal ports of entry from American citizens, Ms Greene dodged the question.

“I would ask for where’s your proof on that because that’s not what we’ve been shown,” she said. “When we go to the border and we’re speaking with border patrol agents, when we’re on the ground, that’s not at all what we are being told.”

Then citing a study from the CATO Institute, a libertarian organisation that cited US government data, she rebuffed the study.

“The CATO Institute is not the border patrol,” she said.