Year in Review: Divided we stand

Name: WORLD
Price range: $

Washington’s year of furor

WASHINGTON—In Congress, Democrats used their new majority in the House of Representatives to pursue investigations and ultimately the impeachment of President Donald Trump. On the campaign trail, candidates in the largest, most diverse Democratic contest for president ever tangled over the future of their party. Republicans worked with the White House to add more conservative judges to the federal courts, support religious liberty, and push for pro-life policies. Meanwhile, they’ve left behind fiscal conservatism, Kurdish allies in northeastern Syria, and a robust refugee program. Here are the top political stories of the year.

Impeached

On Dec. 18, the House approved two articles of impeachment against President Trump, making him the third president in U.S. history to be impeached. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., previously ruled out impeachment if it wasn’t “bipartisan,” but the only lawmakers to cross the aisle in the impeachment vote turned out to be three Democrats who voted against it.

After winning control of the House, Democrats opened multiple investigations of the president. A few months after special counsel Robert Mueller said he found no evidence of collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia, an anonymous whistleblower report from within the administration sparked the inquiry that led to impeachment. Democrats said Trump leveraged military aid to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into investigating Hunter Biden, the son of current Democratic presidential hopeful and former Vice President Joe Biden, a move that could benefit the president politically in the 2020 election. Republicans and Trump said it was all within what’s considered protocol. Ukraine remains caught in the middle, and voters are divided. Political scientists warn that as divided governments become more common, impeachment could become more common too.

Pelosi is waiting on sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate, saying she wants reassurance that Republicans will hold a fair trial. The Senate expected to begin a trial in early January. —H.P.

Primary blues

The historically large slate of Democratic candidates for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination have wrestled over the direction of the party, questions of electability and age, and the best way to defeat President Trump. The field has an unprecedented amount of diversity, with multiple women, several African Americans, a Hispanic American, an Asian American, and an openly homosexual man running.

Spurred on by a progressive base, candidates, on the whole, have moved farther to the left. Proposals to achieve net-zero carbon emissions, a single-payer “Medicare for All” system, reparations, and a wealth tax gained traction. Candidates also doubled down on support for abortion. Even Biden rescinded his long-standing support for the Hyde Amendment that prevents taxpayer funding of abortion. Some candidates are working hard to appeal to left-leaning religious voters.

With the Iowa caucuses less than six weeks away, Biden, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts are showing strength in the polls. —H.P.

NAFTA 2.0

After months of ironing out the details, Democrats handed President Trump a legislative win by approving his replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement. The House approved the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement on Dec. 19 and referred it to the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., plans to bring it to the floor of the upper chamber in the new year. Conservative lawmakers probably won’t delay ratification despite sexual orientation and gender identity language that Canada snuck into the agreement. The U.S. International Trade Commission estimates the deal will raise the U.S. gross domestic product by $68.2 billion within six years of taking effect. —H.P.

Keeping the lights on

President Trump and congressional leaders agreed on a mammoth spending plan for the 2020 fiscal year, with the president signing it hours before current government funding ran out. The two “minibus” spending bills together amount to a $1.43 trillion package. A few Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, complained that the bills represented another massive omnibus, though Trump said in 2018 he would “never sign another.” The budget, which lasts until Sept. 30, 2020, will increase government funding by nearly $50 billion over the previous year’s budget. —H.P.

In memory

A number of politicians and political influencers died in 2019, but their statesmanship and service left an indelible mark. Among them:

John Dingell, 92, died on Feb. 7. The Democrat from Michigan became the longest-serving member of Congress, with more than 59 years in the House of Representatives. Birch Bayh, 91, died on March 14. The three-term Democratic senator from Indiana helped draft the 25th and 26th amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings, 97, died on April 6. The long-serving Democratic senator from South Carolina reversed his segregationist views during the civil rights era. Richard Lugar, 87, died on April 28. He was Indiana’s longest-serving U.S. senator, with 36 years in the upper chamber. Thad Cochran, 81, died on May 30. The former Republican legislator from Mississippi served six years in the House and 39 in the Senate. Kathleen Blanco, 76, died on Aug. 18. The former Louisiana governor’s political career was roiled by Hurricane Katrina. Elijah Cummings, 68, died on Oct. 17. The civil rights leader and Democrat from Baltimore served in the House since 1996. John Conyers Jr., 90, died on Oct 27. The African American congressman from Detroit served 53 years before resigning over sexual misconduct allegations. Kay Hagan, 66, died on Oct. 28. She was North Carolina’s first female Democratic U.S. senator. William Ruckelshaus, 87, died on Nov. 27. He was the first administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and deputy attorney general under President Richard Nixon. —H.P.