On Sunday, the 117th Congress was sworn in amid the worsening coronavirus pandemic and Trump’s attempts to overturn the election. Cori Bush, a Black Lives Matter activist and formerly unhoused single mother, was sworn in to represent Missouri’s 1st Congressional District. She tweeted, “I’ve survived sexual assault, police abuse, domestic violence, and being unhoused and uninsured. That’s not a unique pain I carry. It’s one that so many of us live with each day.

Today, I take my seat in Congress to fight for a world where nobody has to endure that pain.”

Nancy Pelosi was reelected as House speaker by a narrow margin, with Democrats holding the slimmest majority in 20 years with 222 seats to Republicans’ 211, with two seats undecided.

In its last major act, the 116th Congress voted on New Year’s Day to override President Trump’s veto of the $740 billion military budget bill. Senate Republican leaders did not allow an up-or-down vote on a House bill to increase coronavirus stimulus checks to $2,000 per person.