Pelosi elected to 4th term as House speaker

She’s the third speaker in the last 25 years to win with less than 218 votes.

Last Updated: January 4, 2021, 12:46 PM EST

President Donald Trump is slated to hand over control of the White House to President-elect Joe Biden in 17 days.

Top headlines:

Here is how the transition is unfolding. All times Eastern.
Dec 28, 2020, 6:21 PM EST

House passes bill to boost stimulus checks to $2,000, fate uncertain in Senate

The House narrowly passed a bill that would increase the amount of money Americans receive in a second round of pandemic relief stimulus payments to $2,000, up from $600.

The final vote tally was 275-134, receiving the two-thirds majority it required under the expedited vote. There were 44 Republicans who voted with Democrats. 

Even though Trump supports the measure, a number of Republicans voted against the bill. Its fate remains uncertain in the Senate. 

The House vote comes one day after Trump signed the $2.3 trillion spending and COVID-19 relief bill, which included $600 stimulus checks for Americans who make $75,000 or less. Trump initially threatened to hold up the bill last week and said it was a "disgrace." He spent the next several days calling on Congress to pass a bill that included $2,000 stimulus checks instead. 

The moon rises over the US Capitol Dome at sunset in Washington, D.C., Dec. 28, 2020.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Democrats took up Trump's offer last week and attempted to pass a bill that would send Americans $2,000 checks via unanimous consent but that attempt failed over Republican objections. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed to bring the bill to the floor for a full recorded vote on Monday. 

Even though the bill has now cleared the House, at this point it's unclear if the Republican-led Senate will bring the bill to the floor for a vote. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made no promises in his statement Sunday when he commended the president for finally signing the COVID-19 relief bill into law. 

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi heads back to her office after leaving the house floor on Dec. 28, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Pelosi called on Trump to put more pressure on his party to back the payments.

"Every Republican vote against this bill is a vote to deny the financial hardship that families face and to deny the American people the relief they need," she said in a statement released Sunday.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday that he would try to pass the legislation in the Senate.

"No Democrats will object. Will Senate Republicans?" he tweeted.

-ABC News' Mariam Khan

Dec 28, 2020, 4:54 PM EST

Texas congressman, Arizona GOP electors sue Pence to choose alternate slate of electors

In another far-fetched effort to overturn the election results, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert and Republican electors in Arizona filed a suit in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas on Sunday, attempting to push Vice President Mike Pence into using alternate electors from the battlegrounds in the congressional certification on Jan. 6. 

Representative Louie Gohmert (R) Texas on 'This Week'

The lawsuit argues that Pence has the power as the president of the Senate to choose the alternate electors when Congress formalizes the Electoral College vote. 

Gohmert argues that alternate electors in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin should be tapped "as a result of the extraordinary events and substantial evidence of election fraud and other illegal conduct before, during and after the 2020 general election in these states."

According to filings, there is no response in the docket from Pence thus far, but U.S. Attorney Stephen Cox and acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen have been served with documents. Judge Jeremy Kernodle is presiding.

-ABC News' Meg Cunningham and Political Director Rick Klein

Dec 28, 2020, 4:43 PM EST

Biden speaks on national security, says his team isn't receiving proper transition

Biden took aim at Trump in remarks following a briefing on national security and foreign policy, slamming the current administration for failing to fully cooperate with his agency review teams during the transition -- which Biden argued could leave the country vulnerable.

While commending his own agency review teams for their hard work amid a transition that was already made more challenging by COVID-19, Biden pointedly called out Department of Defense and White House Office of Budget and Management political appointees for, he said, not cooperating for a smooth transition.

President-elect Joe Biden delivers a speech alongside Vice President-elect Kamala Harris after a conference video call focused on foreign policy at his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Del., Dec. 28, 2020.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

"And the truth is many of the agencies that are critical to our security have incurred enormous damage. Many of them have been hollowed out in personnel, capacity and in morale," Biden added.

Later in his remarks, Biden stressed the need for cooperation during the transition, noting that it is a matter of national security to ensure there are no gaps that adversaries can seek to exploit when he takes office.

"We need full visibility into the budget planning under way at the Defense Department and other agencies in order to avoid any window of confusion or catch-up that our adversaries may try to exploit," Biden said. "Right now, we just aren't getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas. It's nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility."

Biden said other "Day One" challenges discussed in the briefing will draw on the skill sets of the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency as they aim to "clean up the humanitarian disaster that the Trump administration has systematically created on our Southern border."

"We will institute humane and orderly responses. That means rebuilding the capacity we need to safely and quickly process asylum seekers, without creating near-term crises in the midst of this deadly pandemic," Biden said.

President-elect Joe Biden delivers a speech after a conference video call focused on foreign policy at his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Del., Dec. 28, 2020.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

As he exited the stage at the Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden was asked if he supports the measure for $2,000 direct payments to Americans for COVID-19 relief, which the House will soon vote on. He responded with one word: "Yes."

-ABC News' Molly Nagle, Sarah Kolinovsky and Beatrice Peterson

Dec 28, 2020, 3:23 PM EST

Deb Haaland meets with tribal leaders in 1st meeting as interior secretary-designee

In her first meeting as interior secretary-designee, Deb Haaland hosted a virtual roundtable with tribal leaders on Monday morning, according to the Biden transition team.

Joined by incoming senior adviser to the president and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement Cedric Richmond and incoming director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Julie Rodriguez, Haaland “reiterated President-elect Joe Biden’s promise to Tribal Nations and indigenous communities to fully honor America’s sacred trust and treaty obligations to Tribal Nations,” the transition said in a readout of the meeting.

Nominee for Secretary of Interior, Congresswoman Deb Haaland, speaks after President-elect Joe Biden announced his climate and energy appointments at the Queen theater, Dec. 19, 2020, in Wilmington, Delaware.
Joshua Roberts/Getty Images

“They also discussed how the incoming Biden-Harris Administration will work in coordination with tribal communities who bear disproportionate harm from long-running environmental injustices and are being adversely affected by the impacts of climate change on their homelands,” the readout continued.

Haaland addressed Biden’s ambitious climate policy during the meeting, discussing the incoming administrations plans to address the inequities of global warming and efforts to address climate change, treating it as an economic opportunity. She also pledged to ensure that the Interior Department engages in "early, frequent, and meaningful consultation" with tribal leaders on decisions that affect indigenous communities, according to the readout.

If the Senate confirms her as secretary of the interior, Haaland would be the first Native American to serve in a presidential Cabinet and would be the first Native person to oversee an agency that's played a major role historically in the forced relocation and oppression of Indigenous people.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle

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