Counting the Votes

What a difference four years makes! As required by the constitution and on the date prescribed in the law, the Congress met in joint session early this afternoon, with Kamala Harris presiding in her role as President of the Senate, to count the electoral votes for President and Vice President. Like Richard Nixon in 1961 and Al Gore in 2001, it fell to her to announce her own defeat, adding a personal poignancy to what has in the past typically been an essential but simple and straightforwardly uncontentious political ritual.

Last tine, of course, it was anything but simple and straightforward as various Republican members unjustifiably challenged the electoral vote, while an insurrectionary  MAGA mob stormed the Capitol in an effort to prevent the government from transacting its business and undo the peaceful process of constitutional democracy. Perhaps because so many members felt personally endangered, there was a brief bipartisan moment recognizing the wrongness of all this. But that moment as far too brief. Four years later, the election-denying party is set to return to power, in part because constitutional democratic government mattered less to the electorate than the proverbial price of eggs.

This time the only inconvenience in carrying out the constitutionally mandated counting of the votes was the snow, which covered Washington in winter beauty - a naturally induced dramatic contrast to the human and political ugliness on display there four years ago. What turned into an ugly and dangerous 15-hour drama four years ago was all peacefully over and done with in about a half an hour. Of course, there were no surprises as the four tellers took turns reading the vote tallies of each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Donald Trump and J.D. Vance each received 312 votes. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz each received 226 votes.

The Republicans couldn't resist interrupting the announcement of the vote, jumping up to applaud when Harris announced Trump's tally. So, of course, the Democrats had to do the same when she announced her votes, thus highlighting the country's progressive descent into tribalism. That said, the votes have now been counted. We now have a President-elect and a Vice President-elect. The peaceful passage of political power from one party to another has been properly proclaimed and will duly take place in two weeks. All is as it is supposed to be in a constitutional democracy.

But, of course, that is only because those who lost are believers in constitutional democracy  and practiced what they preach. Had the election gone the other way, we might well have seen significant efforts to contest the result. Our national commitment to constitutional democracy has been upheld and maintained, but its broad endorsement and depth of support among the electorate have been sorely tested.

Photo: Vice President Kamala Harris, President of the Senate, and House Speaker Mike Johnson preside at joint session of Congress to count the electoral votes. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Congestion Pricing Comes to Manhattan

 

Sunday, January 5, 2025, it finally happened - almost miraculously, given all the opposition. Today, congestion pricing went into effect in Manhattan below 60th Street, as New York at last caught up with London and other foreign cities in requiring cars to pay for some small share of the damage they cause the environment and the social life of urban spaces. That was, in fact, (according to one eyewitness) written on one of the signs held by some who, despite the cold,  turned out to celebrate the event, "THANK YOU FOR PAYING A TINY SHARE OF THE DAMAGE YOUR CAR CAUSES" (see Christopher Bonanos, "It's On" New York Magazine).

From now on - at least until reactionary forces succeed in rolling it back - most cars coming into the designated congestion-pricing zone (Manhattan below 60th Street) will pay a toll (as much as $9.00). For months, cameras have been set up at the 60th Street boundary point (photo), waiting to be turned on, to monitor the traffic - and bill cars for the privilege of using and abusing New York's streets and neighborhoods.

It is but a small victory in the larger war of returning the city and its streets and neighborhoods to their rightful owners - the people. How many drivers will actually change their behavior in response to this financial disincentive remains to be seen. And, as always, there may be unintended and unforeseen consequences. Meanwhile, the incoming President is unsurprisingly opposed to the program. So efforts to undo congestion pricing will likely continue. And like so much of human progress, it may well be rolled back. But, for now at least, cars are at last being charged for at least some of the damage one of the 20th-century's most destructive inventions has so long been imposing on our society with such impunity.

Photo: Entering the congestion-pricing zone at 60th Street and Columbus Avenue.

  

The 119th Congress Convenes

As prescribed by the 29th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the 119th Congress convened today. Ordinarily a routine and largely ceremonial occasion to which members' families are also invited, the election of a Speaker is the first and fundamental task of the newly elected House of Representatives. What made it less routine and ceremonial was the prospect that, as with the previous 118th Congress, the election of the Speaker (in this case, the re-election of Mike Johnson) was not an automatically foregone conclusion. After seeming to lose three Republican votes, Speaker Johnson managed to recover two of them thanks to Donald Trump's direct support. Thanks to those two vote switches, Johnson got himself re-elected on the first ballot (just barely 218-215). So a repeat of the previous Congress's opening-day circus was avoided.

So Congress can now organize itself for business. Of course, the re-elected Speaker and his Republican Caucus have the slimmest of majorities, which will et even slimmer when some Republican Representatives leave Congress to take jobs in the Trump Administration. So it remains to be seen how much actual governing will effectively take place. Donald Trump's vision of the presidency appears highly personal and autocratic. But, whether he likes it or not, he will need Congress to implement his program, such as it is, whatever it is. Whether this Congress will be able to pass any kind of coherent Trump program remains now to be seen. It is more than obvious that the House Republicans are anything but a unified, functional force.  

The next pressing task for Congress comes, of course, on Monday, January 6, when in accordance with the Constitution, The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted. 

Unlike last time, January 6 will pass peacefully this year. Afterwards, however, Congress will have to fund the government, raise the debt ceiling, redo Trump's tax cuts, and do all sorts of other things, which these Republicans in this Congress will likely find it hard to do.