When American voters chose Republican Donald Trump as the 45th president in November, they also handed his party control of Congress. Republicans maintained a majority in the Senate, with 52 seats to 48 for Democrats. In the House of Representatives, Republicans increased their majority to 241 to 194 for Democrats.
But having one political party control the White House and Capitol Hill doesn’t mean it will be able to pass laws at will.
“The Framers designed a system with extra checks to protect the voices of the minority against what they called ‘the tyranny of the majority,’ ” says Costas Panagopoulos, a political scientist at Fordham University in New York.
To make matters more complicated, President Trump comes into office with an unclear mandate. He won the Electoral College decisively, 306 to 232, but he lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes. It remains to be seen how forcefully Republicans in Congress will support his agenda and translate his proposals into law—and how hard Democrats will battle against Trump’s plans.
Here’s what you need to know to follow the action in Washington as Trump begins his four-year term.