07 January 2019 - Historic 116th US Congress Sworn Into Office
No other Congress has ever looked like this
Clare Foran and Phil Mattingl (CNN, 04/01/2019)
The 116th class of Congress broke barriers before its members even set foot in Washington.
One example: Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat and the first Somali-American member of Congress, noted the history of her election on Twitter on Wednesday night.
"23 years ago, from a refugee camp in Kenya, my father and I arrived at an airport in Washington DC," she tweeted, along with a photo of her and her father smiling with suitcases. "Today, we return to that same airport on the eve of my swearing in as the first Somali-American in Congress."
In the First Forty-Eight Hours of the New Congress, a Mixed Triumph for Nancy Pelosi
Osita Nwanevu (The New Yorker, 06/01/2019)
When Nancy Pelosi retook the House Speaker’s gavel, on Thursday, there were few remnants of the quashed mutiny among the Democratic ranks in the fall. Representatives even added flourishes to their votes for Pelosi.
“Standing on the shoulders of the women who marched one hundred years ago for me to have the right to vote, I cast my vote for Nancy Pelosi,” Brenda Lawrence, of Michigan, said.
“Born and raised in Baltimore, Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi!” Dutch Ruppersberger, from Maryland, yelled.
Liberal Freshmen Are Shaking the Capitol Just Days Into the New Congress
Catie Edmondson, Emily Cochrane and Lisa Friedman (The New York Times, 06/01/2019)
It took less than 48 hours into the new Congress for some of the most liberal freshmen of the now Democratic-controlled House to upend Capitol Hill — and they see no reason to slow down.
They have pressed for an ambitious and costly climate change proposal that would eliminate the use of fossil fuels in 12 years and provide a job to anyone who wants one. After conservatives tried to embarrass Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York with old footage of her dancing, she faced them down by videotaping new footage of her dancing — outside her new congressional office.
I was the youngest woman in Congress. Here's my advice to those who have taken my place
Elise Stefanik (USA Today, 04/01/2019)
Now that the 116th Congress is sworn into office, I am proud and honored to pass along the historic distinction as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress to two dynamic, young women who surpassed my record this past election cycle: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Abby Finkenauer, D-Iowa.
During my swearing in four years ago, I felt overwhelmed and awestruck by the outpouring of genuine encouragement and support from my colleagues. One of the most gracious things that happened to me that week was when I opened up Politico and read a column headlined “How to Be Young and Female in Congress” by former New York representative Elizabeth Holtzman, the previous youngest woman ever elected to Congress. I treasure the wise counsel that Elizabeth publicly imparted to me in that piece, and I promised myself I would do the same to the next guardian of the title “youngest woman ever.”