Congress welcomes winners to Washington

WASHINGTON—Newly elected members of the House of Representatives began arriving in Washington, D.C. for freshmen orientation on Tuesday afternoon, making their way in and out of a hotel a few blocks south of the U.S. Capitol.

Orientation gives new members their first look at the legislative process and prepares them to participate in their party’s leadership votes. Republicans will hold their votes on Wednesday, with Democrats following next week. So far, the freshman class and its orienter-in-chief, House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, have stressed a need for increased bipartisan dialogue even as Republicans ready for a likely trifecta of control in the Senate, the White House, and the House of Representatives.

“We got in here yesterday,” said Bob Onder, a newly elected Republican out of Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District. He said he was “looking forward to getting oriented to the 119th Congress and getting to work in January. We have a chance to make history in the first hundred days. It will be an exciting time with President Trump in the White House. We’re going to make our country great again.”

But that’s for January. Right now, he is just trying to learn the ropes.

“We’re getting our technology—our phones, our laptops,” Onder said. “At this point, I’m just learning where the bathrooms are.”

Republicans are expected to narrowly hold on to their majority but haven’t officially won back the House yet. There are 17 outstanding races a week after Election Day, with Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Oregon, and Washington still tabulating in one district each. California has nine undecided districts. In cases where races remain uncalled, both candidates attend House orientation.

Not all Democrats are giving up on the idea of a majority. With 205 seats secure, they would need to win 13 more to capture control of the House. Freshman lawmaker Gil Cisneros from California's 31st District pointed out that it’s not impossible. Republicans need to win four seats more to secure their hold.

“I kind of still hope that we can take back the majority,” Cisneros said. “I’m not going to hold my breath on that one. But you know I think there’s going to be a lot of work ahead. We need to go back out there and communicate to the American people why we think our policies work.”

Most Democrats milling in and out of the orientation site on Tuesday afternoon said they were looking ahead to what they could do in January.

“It’s exciting, but it’s also bittersweet. Obviously, wish we were coming into a majority,” said Suhas Subramanyam, a newly elected Democrat out of Virginia’s 10th District. “I vowed during my campaign to work with everyone, including Republicans and President Trump. I look forward to seeing what I can do for my constituents.”

Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., echoed elements of the bipartisan tone struck by Subramanyam. Steil chairs the Committee on House Administration that oversees member services.

“This orientation in particular, there are a lot of aspects to it that are nonpartisan in nature,” Steil told reporters. “There is an institutionalization of partisanship in Washington, D.C., that is problematic for the country. There are issues that are going to be partisan in nature and that’s OK. Orientation has many aspects where we’ve really addressed that.”

He noted that when he joined the House in 2016, small things like separate lounges and separate buses for members-elect from the two parties had subtly encouraged partisan divisions. That’s changed under his leadership, Steil said.

He did not mention whether new members would meet with Trump, who will visit House Republicans on Wednesday. He did say Republicans would hold an organizing meeting tomorrow morning to brief freshmen before the vote for party leadership.

“A lot of information is coming at new members from an array of backgrounds,” Steil said. “We have a lot of work to do to get this country back on track. It’s going to be an eventful few weeks ahead and then a very productive two years in front of us.”