Exclusive — Rep. Beth Van Duyne Walks Through First Day of 119th Congress

The 119th Congress has a busy day ahead as it convenes for the first time Friday, Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) told Breitbart News Daily.

The 118th Congress closes out at 11 a.m. ET, and the first order of business for the new Congress is electing a Speaker at noon. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) can only afford to lose two Republican votes — one of which is already gone as Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) made it clear that he will not support him. However, Duyne said she will be supporting Johnson, asserting that his hands were tied because he had to worry about packages that would pass in the Democrat-controlled Senate. That, she continued, will no longer be a problem in the new Congress.

“It always irritated me when it seemed like we were negotiating from a place of weakness and what we were going to lose, where Democrats were negotiating for a place of strength and what they were going to gain on. Therefore any gain that they made was a win. Any loss that we didn’t have was a win. And like, that’s the bad way to look at it. … I think that has changed with 119th Congress,” she said.

The House Speaker vote begins at noon eastern, following by voting on a rules package. The congresswoman explained that the majority essentially writes the rules package.

“So, for example, when Nancy Pelosi became speaker, one of the things that she had changed was it had historically just been one person could make a motion to vacate to change the Speaker of the House. It just took one person. Nancy Pelosi changed it to five. During the big fight with McCarthy a couple of years ago, we changed it to one. This time, the new rule package has, they’ve got to have nine that support it, but, you know, it’s a lot of administrative issues dealing with how you vote,” she said, noting that Democrats had proxy voting.

“Under the Democrats, and the part of the rules package was that you could get fined if you did not wear a mask on the floor,” she said, providing another example. … “Those are all sorts of things that were included in the Democrat rules package that are obviously not included in this one.”

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A lot of it is administrative, she continued, noting “they’re also looking to continue the power of the Judiciary Committee.”

“But those investigations that were start, you know, began under this conference, are going to be able to continue into the next,” she said, noting they are also changing the names of committees and forming new ones.

After that, she said, they will be sworn in and the “work begins.”

“One of the first things that I’m hoping to be able to do is get a reconciliation package passed,” she said. … “We’re trying to figure out how we’re going to continue focusing on dollars.”

Beth Van Duyne also said she hopes they will be looking at a border bill “and making sure that Tom Homan has the resources that he needs to be able to get our border under control.”

Ultimately, she said Republicans will have to “work” to function as a well-oiled machine.

“I’m a realist. You know, we’re going to have to — we’re going to have to work. We’re going to have to negotiate. But I think, you know, we’re fairly clear on what we’re prioritizing. I think the American people in November were fairly clear: It’s the economy, stupid, and it’s the border. It’s our safety,” she added.

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