Michigan’s 4 new Congress members about to be sworn in: How it works

Jan. 03--WASHINGTON -- The 116th Congress will get underway at noon on Thursday, with Democrats regaining control of the U.S. House for the first time in eight years and divided government returning to the nation's capital.

Democrats picked up 40 seats in the House to take a 235-199 majority, meaning the party and presumptive House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will exercise more oversight, as well as more budgetary and legislative control, during the last two years of Republican President Donald Trump's term.

But even with a Democratic House -- which will include four new Democrats from Michigan, Andy Levin, Elissa Slotkin, Haley Stevens and Rashida Tlaib -- division and government gridlock is near-certain to continue with Republicans adding two seats in the U.S. Senate and gaining a 53-47 majority.

Here's the skinny on the swearing-in

Under the 20th Amendment, the new Congress begins at noon. In the Senate, the vice president -- in this case, Mike Pence -- will preside and call newly elected or re-elected senators to the front of the chamber in groups of four to read the oath of office.

In the House, the new Congress begins with the election of the speaker, which is expected to take a couple of hours. Then the new speaker -- expected to be Nancy Pelosi of California -- will have all the members stand to take the oath since they've all just gotten elected or re-elected (only a third of the Senate seats are up every two years since each term is six years).

"Do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you God?"

The standard response is: "I do" or "I will." After that, in both chambers, officials hold ceremonial swearings-in, especially for the new members. It's at these where the formal photos are taken of members -- some with one hand on a Bible or other religious text -- raising their hand to take the oath.

No book at all is needed, however. It's entirely up to the member who is being sworn in. Some of Detroit's new incoming lawmakers will use the Koran or the Torah.

What's at stake in this Congress:

With many votes on legislation still requiring a 60-vote threshold in the Senate to move forward, that means compromise may be difficult on an array of issues, including:

* Immigration reform, with questions remaining about whether immigrants who came into the country as children should be able to remain.

* Border security, with Trump insisting he'll secure funding from Congress to build a wall along the southern border.

* Health care reform, with a Texas judge finding in a Republican-led lawsuit that the entire Affordable Care Act, including its coverage of pre-existing conditions, should be overturned, though that decision remains on hold.

* Trade, with Trump still engaged in a tariff battle with China, threatening taxes on auto and auto parts imports and congressional approval far from certain on the president's renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement, which is now known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA.

And that doesn't even scratch the surface, with calls for Congress to address rising prescription drug prices, fight climate change, and oversee ongoing probes into Russian meddling in U.S. elections and whether the president's team colluded with those efforts.

Set that against the backdrop of the 2020 presidential campaign getting underway -- with potential candidates jockeying for position and making their presence known throughout 2019 -- you can expect the year to be a wild ride.

Michigan's new members of Congress:

Andy Levin set to take over for his dad

Levin, 58, of Bloomfield Township, takes over the seat currently held by his dad, U.S. Rep. Sandy Levin, D-Royal Oak, who is retiring after 36 years in Congress. He's representing the 9th Congressional District, a predominantly Democratic district that includes parts of Oakland and Macomb counties.

A state department head under former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Levin has a history of activism, working with social justice groups and doing labor union organizing activities.

He's a self-described "hell-raiser" when it comes to social justice issues -- organizing hunger strikes in college, getting arrested while protesting oil drilling in Alaska -- but given his family name and experience, he'll be a somewhat familiar commodity in Democratic circles in Washington.

Levin got here by defeating Republican businesswoman Candius Stearns in the general election, but given the Democratic nature of the district, his bigger task was defeating former state Rep. Ellen Lipton of Huntington Woods in the August primary, which he did 52 percent to 42 percent.

His agenda this coming year: Levin already has been part of efforts to slow General Motors' moves to idle plants in Michigan and Ohio and lay off workers. Given his long-standing concerns about workers' rights, he's expected to have a voice as Congress takes up a vote on the new Mexico-Canada trade deal; he's also a proponent of single-payer, Medicare-for-all health insurance plan.

What to expect at his swearing in: At his swearing-in, Levin is expecting lots of family and friends from Michigan, as well as a guest from Haiti -- human rights activist Pierre Esperance, who decades ago helped Levin as he wrote a paper on that country while in law school. For his photo, he'll lay his hand on a Torah and a Tibetan-Buddhist text.

Elissa Slotkin flips a seat, takes over for Bishop

Slotkin, 42, of Holly comes to Congress having earlier served as an acting assistant secretary of defense and a former CIA officer who did three tours in Iraq. She grew up in Oakland County, graduating from Cranbrook before going to college at Cornell and then beginning her career.

She worked for President Barack Obama and his predecessor, George W. Bush, taking up intelligence work after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Slotkin won the toughest-fought congressional battle in Michigan in 2018, beating two-term U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, in the state's 8th Congressional District, which stretches across Ingham and Livingston counties and across northern Oakland County. While the district has traditionally been Republican -- it was formerly represented by U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Howell -- Slotkin won 51 percent to 47 percent.

Her agenda this coming year: Campaigning as a moderate, she won't be a vote for Nancy Pelosi for speaker: She has already said that while she respects the former speaker, she believes it's time for a change. Throughout her campaign, she made clear that her top issues include reforming and strengthening the Affordable Care Act, providing a buy-in option for Medicare and looking at reining in prescription drug costs.

What to expect at her swearing in: Slotkin will be serving hot dogs -- in honor of her grandfather's connection to the company that gave Tiger Stadium and the world Ball Park Franks -- at an open house for her new congressional office in Washington. And helping to host a party for her Thursday night will be her old boss -- former Defense Secretary (and U.S. senator from Nebraska) Chuck Hagel.

Haley Stevens to take over for Rep. Trott

Stevens, 35, of Rochester Hills, like Slotkin, is returning to Washington, having worked as the de facto chief of staff to the auto task force created by former President Barack Obama that put in place the rescue effort many credit with having saved General Motors and Chrysler in 2009.

Also like Slotkin, Stevens -- who grew up in Oakland County and graduated from Seaholm High School before attending American University in Washington, D.C. -- comes to Congress having flipped a formerly Republican district. In her case, it was the 11th, which covers western Wayne and southeastern Oakland counties, and for the last two terms was represented by U.S. Rep. Dave Trott, R-Birmingham, who is stepping down.

Stevens split a large field in the Democratic primary and went on to defeat businesswoman Lena Epstein 52 percent to 45 percent. Epstein had previously been best known for serving as cochair of Trump's winning 2016 campaign in Michigan.

Her agenda this coming year: Stevens campaigned from the start on the need for training and additional resources for workers, especially those that can move them into high-tech jobs. And she wants to see money pumped into new and rebuilt roads and bridges in Michigan and across the U.S.

What to expect at her swearing-in: After her swearing-in, she'll be holding an open house at her new offices in the Cannon House Office Building, serving Vernors ginger ale. She's also decorating the office with some oil paintings done by her mother, Maria Marcotte, a retired advertising executive who also served as board chair of the Birmingham Bloomfield Hills Art Center.

Rashida Tlaib making history in replacing Conyers

Tlaib, 42, of Detroit, is taking over a Democratic seat in the 13th District, which includes part of Detroit as well as several Downriver and western Wayne communities -- a seat empty for nearly a year. U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, stepped down last December amid accusations that he mistreated female staff members over the years. Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones was sworn in to serve out the brief remainder of his term last month.

Tlaib won the full term that begins Thursday and will make history when she's sworn in as Congress' first Palestinian-American female member. Along with Minnesota's Ilhan Omar, she will be one of the first two Muslim female members in Congress.

A former state representative, Tlaib is a lawyer and a civic activist, and anyone who knows her expects to hear more from her in Congress. A self-described "girl with a bullhorn," she has been known to block streets as part of protests against trucks rumbling through Detroit streets, and she was escorted out of the Detroit Economic Club for shouting that the nation's children "deserve better" than Donald Trump when he was giving a speech there as a candidate in 2016.

As she was meeting other new incoming members of Congress this fall, she gifted her new colleagues a copy of a book that makes the case for Trump's impeachment. And she has been known to take a hard line against anyone -- developers, corporations and such -- whom she feels does too little for what is one of the most impoverished congressional districts in the country.

Her agenda this coming year: Tlaib already has made some noise: She has proposed taking new members of Congress to the West Bank to see human rights conditions there. Typically, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel group, hosts a trip to the Middle East. But more than foreign issues, Tlaib has said she will concentrate on helping her district and anything she believes will help raise the standard of living. She supports single-payer Medicare-for-all, a $15-an-hour minimum wage law and battling pollution in southeastern Michigan and elsewhere.

What to expect at her swearing-in: She'll take her oath of office in a traditional Palestinian robe made by her mom. Her ceremonial swearing-in will be with her hand on Thomas Jefferson's copy of the Koran from the Library of Congress. And her open house will be at her new offices on the sixth floor of the Longworth House Office Building. Getting a good draw in the lottery for offices, she took one of the largest spaces available. "It's enough space for civil disobedience training," she says.

Contact Todd Spangler: 703-854-8947 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @tsspangler.

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