Coronavirus altered most things in society. And constituting the House of Representatives to launch the 117th Congress in January is no different.
The pandemic could drastically impact how the House conducts opening day and swears in its members. Under the Constitution, the new Congress is supposed to begin at noon on Jan.
3. But the 20th Amendment to the Constitution allows the preceding Congress to move the day if it makes a new law to do so. For instance, Jan.
3 fell on a Saturday in 2015. So the 114th Congress didn’t start until Jan. 6, 2015, after Congress passed a law. Jan. 3, 2021, falls on a Sunday.