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• The 118th Congress is gathering in Washington and GOP minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is struggling to get the votes to become speaker.
• McCarthy has made several concessions to far-right House members, but they still won’t back him.
• Republican representative-elect George Santos of New York is facing fraud charges and his vote for speaker is crucial.
• The Democratic-controlled Senate is confirming judges and rebalancing the Supreme Court, while the Biden administration will be traveling around the country to highlight the laws passed in the last two years.
• The January 6th committee’s transcripts revealed an email from rally organizer Katrina Pierson showing that Trump’s invitation to supporters to march on the Capitol was part of the plan, and Hope Hicks and Ivanka Trump’s chief of staff Julie Radford exchanged horrified texts after the riot.

Published January 2, 2023. Visit Letters from An American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post.

• On January 1, 2023, the out-of-pocket cost of insulin for Medicare recipients will be capped at $35 a month.
• Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued the 2022 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary, which makes no mention of the leak of the Dobbs decision, popular demands for justices to have a code of ethics or Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife Ginni’s involvement in attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
• Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was inaugurated as the new president of Brazil today, replacing Jair Bolsonaro. A 33-year-old garbage collector, Aline Sousa, presented the sash to Lula as a symbol of the peaceful transfer of power.

Published January 1, 2023. Visit Letters from An American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post.

• In 2022, the U.S. and its allies successfully pressured Russia to prevent an invasion of Ukraine and defended the country with money, armaments, and humanitarian aid.
• At home, the Biden administration and Congress passed major legislation that included the American Rescue Plan, the bipartisan infrastructure law, the PACT Act, the CHIPs and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Respect for Marriage Act, the Violence Against Women Act, and the most significant gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years.
• The Supreme Court handed down the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision, overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that recognized reproductive healthcare as a constitutional right.
• The January 6th committee’s public hearings exposed the deliberate plan to overthrow our democracy, and in the midterm elections, Republicans only gained control of the House by four seats and the Democrats actually picked up one seat in the Senate.
• Despite the growth of authoritarianism, global post-lockdown inflation, and gerrymandering, the U.S. ended the year with a sense of progress and hope.

Published December 30, 2022. Visit Letters from An American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post.