First Draft on Politics: A New Congress

View in [Browser] | Add [nytdirect@nytimes.com] to your address book. Tuesday, January 3, 2017 [The New York Times] [NYTimes.com/Politics »] [The New York Times] Tuesday, January 3, 2017 [Paul D. Ryan, the speaker of the House, speaking to the news media after attending a weekly meeting in Washington last month.] Paul D. Ryan, the speaker of the House, speaking to the news media after attending a weekly meeting in Washington last month. Al Drago/The New York Times Good Tuesday morning and happy New Year. The 115th Congress convenes at noon on Tuesday with the usual pomp and circumstance as well as a celebration by House and Senate Republicans who are excited that they will soon have a fellow Republican in the White House.  Thirty-four senators — including seven new ones — and all members of the House will be sworn in to begin what promises to be an action-packed session, with Republicans eager to try to [take advantage of having an ally in the White House] once President-elect Donald J. Trump takes the oath of office on Jan. 20. In the House, Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, is expected to be re-elected as speaker. Democrats also plan to challenge a new rules package that would allow the House sergeant-at-arms to fine members who stream video from the floor — a crackdown after the Democratic sit-in last year to protest a lack of debate over gun control policy. In the Senate, Mitch McConnell, a Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, has promised to make repeal of the health care law the first order of business. The replacement? That will come later. — CARL HULSE  Got a confidential news tip? Do you have the next big story? Want to share it with The New York Times? We offer several ways to get in touch with and provide materials to our journalists. [Learn more »]  What We’re Watching • Mr. Trump will have meetings on Tuesday at Trump Tower in New York. A handful of [cabinet choices] remain to be named, including the director of national intelligence as well as leaders for the departments of agriculture and veterans affairs. • How many, if any, House Republicans will desert Mr. Ryan on the vote for speaker? • Will Mr. Trump disclose his [promised revelation on hacking], and what will he say? • President Obama is back in Washington after his holiday break in Hawaii. Bring on the moving boxes. But before he heads out, he is expected to deliver a [farewell address] in Chicago next week.  ADVERTISEMENT  [Inside the Senate Russell Office Building in the waning hours of the session last month.] Inside the Senate Russell Office Building in the waning hours of the session last month. Stephen Crowley/The New York Times Avoiding Recess Appointments The 114th Congress will be meeting up until almost the last minute before the 115th is gaveled into session at noon on Tuesday.  Why exactly is that? Two words: recess appointments. Wary Republicans do not want to provide the Obama administration the slightest opening to try to ram through a series of last-minute nominations as allowed by the Constitution in the break between the end of one Congress and the start of the next. They particularly want to avoid any attempt to appoint Merrick B. Garland to the vacancy in the Supreme Court created last year after the death of Antonin Scalia. Republicans ignored President Obama's nomination of Mr. Garland and Democratic activists have urged the administration to at least try to make a recess appointment. Such a move would be unlikely, particularly since [a 2014 Supreme Court ruling] suggested that any appointment made during a recess of 10 days or less would be invalid under the recess appointment power granted by the Constitution. Some have questioned how binding that language would be. Republicans are leaving nothing to chance. The Senate is scheduled to convene in a brief session of a few minutes beginning at 11:55 a.m.and presumably will try to leave the shortest amount of time possible between the old and the new. Still, at some point there will be a gap between the two sessions of Congress, even if it is momentary. Will the White House try to slip someone through? — CARL HULSE [Representative Robert Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia, in 2014. Mr. Goodlatte announced on Monday that the House Republican Conference had approved a change to weaken the Office of Congressional Ethics.] T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images [With No Warning, House Republicans Vote to Gut Independent Ethics Office] By ERIC LIPTON The move by emboldened Republicans on the eve of a new Congress would strip power and independence from an investigative body and give lawmakers control over ethics inquiries. [The Washington Monument seen from Capitol Hill last month. Republicans will control the White House and the Congress for the first time since 2006. That, said Senator Cory Gardner, Republican of Colorado, is a “tremendous opportunity to make real progress.”] Al Drago/The New York Times On Washington [Republicans Stonewalled Obama. Now the Ball Is in Their Court.] By CARL HULSE The Republican Party will control Congress and the White House, but the biggest arguments to come could be between Capitol Hill and the White House. [President Obama during his year-end news conference on Dec. 16 at the White House.] Al Drago/The New York Times [Obama Plans Farewell Speech From Chicago] By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT In an email to supporters, President Obama said the remarks, set for next week, would give him a chance “to offer some thoughts on where we all go from here.” [Gen. James N. Mattis, center, with two of his commanders in Iraq in 2003. When a prisoner was brutalized and died at a detention center there that year, he convened an inquiry and banned the harsh techniques used at the prison.] Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times [Inside Trump Defense Secretary Pick’s Efforts to Halt Torture] By SHERI FINK AND HELENE COOPER James N. Mattis, a retired general, has long been an outspoken critic of torture. His handling of the death of a prisoner that occurred on his watch during the Iraq war reflects his views. [Kim Jong-un, center, in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, last week. Mr. Kim said that his country might soon test an intercontinental ballistic missile.] [‘It Won’t Happen,’ Donald Trump Says of North Korean Missile Test] By MAGGIE HABERMAN AND DAVID E. SANGER Mr. Trump takes office in less than three weeks, and a successful long-range-missile test would present one of his first big national security tests. [President Richard M. Nixon in 1970. His campaign’s intervention in peace talks in 1968 has captivated historians for years.] [Nixon Tried to Spoil Johnson’s Vietnam Peace Talks in ’68, Notes Show] By PETER BAKER Richard M. Nixon feared that progress toward ending the war would hurt his chances for the presidency. [Observers during a military exercise involving multiple nations at Camp Adazi in Latvia in 2015.] [U.S. Lending Support to Baltic States Fearing Russia] By ERIC SCHMITT Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are keen to accept help and are shoring up their own modest defense capabilities. But what happens when President-elect Donald J. Trump takes power is an open question. [Carbon capture equipment at the Petra Nova plant southwest of Houston.] [Can Carbon Capture Technology Prosper Under Trump?] By JOHN SCHWARTZ Progress has come in fits and starts, but supporters believe a new plant in Texas may provide a clear economic argument for fighting global warming. The 2016 Race [The Ad That Moved People the Most: Bernie Sanders’s ‘America’] By LYNN VAVRECK It was the campaign advertisement from 2016 that was rated the happiest and the most hopeful.  The Obama Era [Dr. Arthur C. Coffey performing a coronary artery bypass grafting at Indiana University Health’s Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.] Jonah Kessel/The New York Times [After Obama, Some Health Reforms May Prove Lasting] By ABBY GOODNOUGH AND ROBERT PEAR A transformation of the delivery of health care may be an enduring legacy for the president, even as Republicans plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act. [President Obama visited Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day in 2009. Section 60 is where many American soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq are buried.] Luke Sharrett/The New York Times [The Afghan War and the Evolution of Obama] By MARK LANDLER A strategy that went from a “good war” to the shorthand “Afghan good enough” reflects the president’s coming to terms with what was possible in Afghanistan. FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK] [Twitter] [@NYTPolitics] Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »] | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $0.99. [Subscribe »] ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's First Draft newsletter. [Unsubscribe] | [Manage Subscriptions] | [Change Your Email] | [Privacy Policy] | [Contact] | [Advertise] Copyright 2016 The New York Times Company | 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018