With few congressional races left to call, it appears Trump will have the benefit of the governance trifecta with the White House, the Senate and likely the House held by Republicans.
The Senate has long been decided after Republicans flipped four seats to take control with a three-seat majority.
House races in 10 districts are undecided, but the House is trending toward the GOP, most major news outlets show.
NBC News shows Republicans holding 215 of the 218 seats necessary for control and leading in six of remaining races.
Newsmax early Tuesday officially called the House for Republicans as it projected the GOP with 219 seats after calling the California 41st District for Ken Calvert.
House Speaker Mike Johnson was confident enough of GOP control to go ahead and write a letter to his colleagues over the weekend asking for their continued support as party leader.
Both chambers understand the need for quick action on Trump’s agenda.
Trump will strengthen the border with an executive order on Day One, Johnson said.
“We have very detailed plans," Johnson told Washington Watch host Tony Perkins over the weekend.
"In that letter," the House Speaker shared, "I summarized how I’ve been explaining this on the campaign trail in a very simple football metaphor. What you have to do to win the game is put points on the board.
“For the last year we’ve been working methodically behind the scenes to develop and design that playbook. It is well-designed and well-thought. A lot of work and hours have gone into this,” Johnson said.
Trump choosing 'quality people' for administration
The Senate, after years of frustration from a Democrat majority, is equally prepared.
Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Nebraska) says he likes what he sees from Trump’s early appointments in quality of people but also in the sense of urgency they represent.
Approximately one-third of the Senate is up for re-election every two years.
“Not only is he picking really quality people that will do a great job of fighting for us, it also demonstrates that his administration is going to be ready to hit the ground running when they come in. That’s very important. We’re only guaranteed two years here, so we’ve got to move very very fast to get his agenda done,” Ricketts told Perkins Monday.
Praise for Lee Zeldin as EPA pick
Trump on Monday announced former four-term House rep Lee Zeldin, a New York Republican, as his pick to lead the Environmental Protection agency.
Zeldin has said rolling back the regulations of the Biden administration, which he says hurt business and limit economic growth, is among his first priorities.
He will also promote energy production in the U.S. and revitalize the automobile industry.
Ricketts says Zeldin will be a great pick for the EPA, whose actions under Joe Biden he describes as borderline illegal.
“I’ve seen firsthand how they have really been stretching beyond the bounds of law," the Senator said. "Their tailpipe emissions require two-thirds of all cars being sold by 2032 to be electric vehicles. That is driving up costs for Americans.”
The 5,000 regulations put in place by the Biden-Harris administration add $3,300 annually to the costs for American households, Ricketts said.
“The amount of over-regulation is burdening American households, it’s jamming a big-government socialist agenda down our throats, and we’ve got to put an end to it,” Ricketts said.
Zeldin predicts 'great four years for America'
Trump is itching to get started. He rattled off “15 to 20” different priorities to Zeldin when he called and asked him to lead the EPA, ” Zeldin told Fox News.
“He wasn't reading off of some sheet, it's the top of his head," Zeldin said of that conversation. "And if I challenged him to give me 50 more ideas of what to do with this agency to improve the economy, I'm confident he would have done that."
Zeldin, (pictured at left), who lost the New York governor’s race to Kathy Hochul in 2022, predicts unprecedented success for Trump’s second term.
"This is going to be a great four years for America," he said. "It's not just about a great day one, or a great first 100 days, I have a feeling that we're on the verge of what could be the greatest the years we've ever seen of any president in the White House."
Mandy Gunasekara, a former EPA chief of staff, likes Trump's pick.
"Lee Zeldin is a great pick," Gunasekara told AFN. "He's made major progress advancing 'America First' principles in New York, and I have no doubt he will do the same at EPA."
In addition to the border and rollbacks of Biden administration regulations, Trump has laid out an ambitious first-day schedule in which gender and Critical Race Theory in schools, the energy sector, and Russia-Ukraine could all get his attention.
“We’ve got to secure the border on Day One, and we will," Johnson assured the Washington Watch audience. "There will be an executive order to do that, followed by legislation that will seal and secure the border. Then we deal with the fallout of the madness that has ensued over the last four years with regard to all that.”
About those tax cuts
Another early priority will be extending the tax cuts from Trump’s first term that are set to expire in 2025.
“We’ve got to do that,” Johnson said.
That and much more.
“We have a lot of work to fine tune and ensure that we have the right conditions in the economy to spur on a pro-growth economy. That’s what’s desperately needed right now to turn the economy around. The regulatory reform, the energy policy are key to this. All these things work together to ensure the formula to move forward,” Johnson said.
