Related
WASHINGTON (NewsRadio 1020 KDKA) — An historic 116th Congress convened Thursday with a record number of women.
Among the 102 in the House and 25 in the Senate are the nation's first Muslim and Native-American women to be elected.
Nearly one quarter of the federal legislature is now female.
Congressman Mike Doyle tells KDKA the unprecedented diversity is a good thing.
“What it says it me is the United States Congress is starting to look like America,” Congressman Mike Doyle tells KDKA Radio.
“We’re the great melting pot. That’s been the success of the American story, and it’s now being reflected in the people we’re electing to office.”
Democrats regained control of the House following today’s swearing-in.
They plan to pass bills that would end the partial government shutdown, now in its 13th day.
They would temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 8 and the other departments currently closed through September as negotiations continue.
“I think that’s the smart thing to do,” Doyle said. “That would reopen 95 percent of the government as we continue to have discussions on what’s the most effective way to provide border security for our country.”
Doyle says there is bipartisan support for six of the seven bills at the center of the shutdown in the House and Senate. The impasse centers on the funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
He says President Donald Trump is holding the other bills hostage for more money for his long-promised border wall.
“Why inconvenience the American people, and why have 800,000 federal employees — many of them working without getting paychecks — when this argument is over border security and wall and not those other six bills?”
Departments impacted by the shutdown include the departments of Agriculture, Interior, Housing and Urban Development.
___Follow KDKA Radio: Facebook | Twitter | InstagramListen to KDKA Radio on the RADIO.COM App - Download Now