RUFUS – Early this morning Congress resumed after a nearly three-week break. The 85th Congress was opened by House Speaker Gregory Harks who delivered the opening remarks to members both old and new members who were sworn in nearly two months ago.

Speaker Harks also laid out the what the next session would look and the upcoming issues that are set for floor votes in about a week following the resumption of Congressional activity. Speaker Harks says that this session will also see major legislative activity, focusing on Immigration legislation, votes on statehood, and economic and domestic policy.

“I would like to welcome you all back to the brand new 85th Congress. This year we will focus on deliver more results for the Jesstopian people, a goal of this legislative body since its founding,” said Speaker Gregory Harks. “As we begin this new Congress, we devote ourselves to delivering on the promises made that elected us to the majority in September. We will continue to provide legislative floor votes on a regularly, and this term, we will host bi-weekly votes on major legislation that is proposed. We will continue to deliver a Jesstopia envisioned by President Laylin who will meet us in this great chamber on February 7, to deliver an update on the state of our union. We will continue to work on other items including our federal budget and appropriations. Let’s get to work, together. Welcome to the 85th Congress.”

President Laylin delivered his 2026 New Year’s Speech and said that this year is “a time to better ourselves, and better each other.” Speaker Harks says that he is taking that as a personal mission to provide Jesstopians with the programs and services that they need, and to deliver President Laylin’s strong administrative agenda. House Majority Leader Jared Gaetz said that he is working on several proposals to change the terms of Representatives and House leadership and officials. He said that he will work to push through dozens of President Laylin’s anti-LGBTQ proposals, including a reverse to the 2002 Same Sex Marriage law that makes it legal for two men or two women to marry.

“The President has his priorities set, and we have the majority. We will get to work to push through votes on major legislation including the Recission Of The 2002 Same Sex Marriage Act, removing transgender from the list of genders in applications nationwide. We will also work with the President to get passed, all of his anti-LGBTQ policies that he promised the Jesstopian people back in 2024 when he was running for President,” said House Majority Leader Jared Gaetz. “As the majority, we should be child, and constituent focused in our legislating. We owe it to our children to quickly get President Laylin’s child protective legislation passed without delay and we can do it as long as we work together to achieve this. We have a lot of work to do and Republicans are rolling up our sleeves as the new Congress begins.”

With Congress not back to work, we expect to see many more funding packages and bills to be signed and voted on in the coming weeks and months. The new session of Congress will also be a major turning point for Gay rights and LGBTQ rights as Republicans work to strip major legal protections from same sex marriage couples. Republicans are also looking at criminalizing the transgenderism that has plagued Jesstopia under Nationalist leadership.

Officials of the Nationalist Party say they will not stop defending LGBTQ rights and say they will work to block as many anti-LGBTQ policies as physically possible and say that Republicans will not win in the fight against good versus evil. They say the will work to vote in numbers against policies and bills that target specific groups negatively.