Republican congressman Ryan Costello calls Trump's an 'angry 8th grader' for 'close the border' tweet
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Congress has reconvened for its 116th session, with the Democrats taking majority control of the House of Representatives after their success in last November’s midterm elections.
Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi has made history by becoming speaker of the House for a second time, the first person to do so in 50 years. She is the first woman in US history to hold the office — which is third in line from the presidency — and on Thursday took the speaker's gavel for the second time in her life.
Ms Pelosi, during her first speech behind the speaker's lectern in the 116th Congress, laid out a vision to push for progressive policies to tackle climate change issues, while protecting America's social safety net. She expressed an optimism in American democracy, while reaffirming the legislature's obligation to serve as oversight of the executive branch of government — a clear threat to President Donald Trump, who has so far enjoyed Republican control of the entire government since taking office.
"They called upon the beauty of our Constitution: our system of checks and balances that protects our democracy, remembering that the legislative branch is Article I: the first branch of government, co-equal to the president and judiciary," Ms Pelosi said.
She continued, describing the expectations of America for it's elected representatives: "They want a Congress that delivers results for the people, opening up opportunity and lifting up their lives".
The San Francisco liberal has promised her first act will be to quickly pass legislation to bring the recent government shutdown to an end without releasing funds for President Donald Trump‘s proposed Mexico border wall. The Republican-held Senate could block such a bill but doing so would see the GOP left accountable for the continued federal hiatus. The Senate had previously passed legislation to keep the government open without the level of border wall funding requested by Mr Trump, but that measure was not passed by the then-Republican controlled House.
In response to the events on Capitol Hill, Mr Trump declared a last-minute event in the White House press briefing room that included senior members of the National Border Patrol Council, a labour union representing Border Patrol agents. That labour union lobbies heavily in Washington in favour of border security measures and immigration legislation.
That even was seen as an attempt to divert attention from Ms Pelosi, and was labelled by pundits and critics as a "stunt". That group included CNN anchor Brianna Keilar.
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Ms Pelosi could prove to be an effective opponent for Mr Trump as talks surrounding the government shutdown — which are expected to restart on Friday — continue onward. During a meeting before the shutdown itself, Ms Pelosi and her Democratic counterpart in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, managed to get the president to take responsibility for the shutdown during a televised meeting in the Oval Office. Their next meeting after that, on Wednesday, occurred behind closed doors.
But, Ms Pelosi also faces a difficult task ahead as she looks to maintain a cohesive Democratic party and avoid the fracturing that was seen after the conservative Tea Party wave washed through Washington in 2010 and let establishment and centrist Republican leaders with little room to manoeuvre in the face of hard line members of their caucus.
To maintain that cohesion, Ms Pelosi has promised to limit her speakership to four years in order to help usher in a younger generation of leadership in the party.
Ms Pelosi has also faced pressure from the party's ascendant progressive wing, with popular candidates like New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez among those leading the push for causes like a transformative and ambitious Green New Deal programme that would eliminate the United States' reliance on fossil fuels — but would require massive investment and political will to be made into law.
Please read along for our coverage of the day's events, as they happened
A lot of Democrat Representatives and Senators have been looking forward to the return to Congress. There has been much cheer about the increase in women members across the two chambers.
Ms Pelosi has been speaking to other media about the House of Representatives and has said Donald Trump will face a "different world" with stiffer oversight as Democrats take over the majority.
“He was used to serving with a Republican Congress, House and Senate that was a rubber stamp to him. That won't be the case,” Ms Pelosi told USA Today. "Oversight of government by the Congress is our responsibility."
Ms Pelsoi will become the first legislator in recent history to hold that office twice when the 116th Congress convenes around midday local time (5pm GMT).
As Congress returns, the biggest issue is ending the government shutdown - which started over Donald Trump's demand for $5bn in funding to build a wall on the US-Mexico border. The Democrats have refused to sanction such a move, leading to the president blaming them for the stoppage.
Now Mr Trump is claiming it is all to do with the next presidential election in 2020 - which he says the Democrats "can't win".
In accepting the speaker's gavel in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi will give a nod to the new era of divided government with a pledge to "reach across the aisle in this chamber and across the divisions in this great nation," according to excerpts of her prepared opening address.
"The floor of this House must be America's Town Hall: where the people will see our debates and where their voices will be heard and affect our decisions," she will say.
Outside of the shutdown, Mr Trump is touting the progress of the tariffs he has levied against China and other nations. He has offered no evidence of the money he says the US is taking in.
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