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4 February 2010, Day 807 of the New World. The twenty-sixth Congress of the eUnited States is in session, now completed with the necessary beginning-of-term bureaucracy. The Congressional elections on 25 January were marked by a large effort in Belgium by United States and EDEN citizens. Consequently, many voters that would have appeared in the Wasteland races were absent from the domestic scene, and vote totals of the biggest battlegrounds did not increase this month.

Just as it was last month, fifty of the United States’ fifty-one original regions were represented. Delaware remains a region of Canada. The United States was also in possession of one region originally belonging to China and four originally belonging to India. They are represented in this Congress.

The United States was apparently the target of a political takeover of unknown intensity. At least two and as many as five regions are represented by hostile individuals, and others were defeated by a coalition of parties that formed in the last half-hour of the day.

Only eight parties are represented in this Congress, down from nine the month before and ten from two months before. The Green Party did not run a candidate this month, but otherwise the parties are all the same. America’s Advancement Party won fifteen seats, the United States Workers Party won twelve, the Libertarian Party won eight, and the Democratic Republicans and the Federalist Party won five each. The United Independents won three seats. The Socialist Freedom Party and Bull Moose Party won one seat each, and five seats were won by candidates not sanctioned by a party.


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The loss of regions to China since last election caused many incumbents to move if they wanted to remain in office. This includes Robert Loggia, who represented Delaware before it was lost to Canada, then Jiangxi before it was returned to China. He now represents Missouri. Cesog fillireb moved from Zhejiang to Hawai’i, and Iasov moved from Chongquig to Andhra Pradesh.


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All of the unsanctioned or political takeover Congressmen are first-term Congressmen. seeker1 returned to Congress to join the ranks of the longest-serving representatives this month. They are: Killing Time (USWP – AR), 12 terms, AidenAstrup (USWP – MA), 11 terms, Cromstar (DR – PA) and Zcia (USWP – FL), 10 terms, Panther (AAP – T😵, 9 terms, ligtreb (USWP – NC), 8 terms, seeker1 (AAP – TN), 7 terms, Evan Feinman (AAP – VA), 6 terms, and sydiot (Lib – NV), Rheinlander von Phalz (AAP – MI), and Devoid (Lib – NH) with 5 terms.


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Two non-incumbents earning office pushed Cromstar out of the list of the five oldest Congressmen. They are now Robert Loggia (UIP – MO), born Day 258, Panther (AAP – T😵, born Day 268, Killing Time (USWP – AR), born Day 304, AidenAstrup (USWP – MA), born Day 329, and Joe DaSmoe (DR – Sichuan), born Day 349. Sebastian Locke (USWP – LA), now serving his first term, is the sixth-oldest, being born Day 363. Cromstar (DR – PA) ranks in at number seven, being born Day 370. Some of the unsanctioned/PTO winners are among the youngest citizens in this Congress. They are lora devis (unknown – IL), born Day 778, Esmond_GR (unknown – DC), born Day 775, Chestermac (Fed – ID), born Day 743, Syrup (Lib – MT), born Day 728, NoMistake (AAP – IA), born Day 725, Ike Falcon (USWP – Chhattisgarh), born Day 716, Amilcar Demetrio (unknown – RI), born Day 709, and qubert18 (Fed – SC), born Day 705.


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After the election results were finalized and the proper people were granted access to the halls of Congress, nominations began for Speaker of the House. The official nominees were Rheinlander von Phalz (AAP – MI), Fionia (USWP – NY), and Cromstar (DR - PA).


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With the Speaker of the House decided, the next step was for Congress to organize itself into standing committees. These are the committees as of the beginning of the 26th Congress.


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The full Congressional leadership team is:

Speaker of the House: Rheinlander von Phalz (AAP – MI)
Deputy Speaker of the House: Fionia (USWP – NY)

Congressional Whip: Stormin (BMP – WA)
Deputy Congressional Whip: Eotrick (Fed – SC)

Domestic/Internal Committee Chairman: DanielCD (Lib – WI)
Government Oversight Subcommittee Chairman: Stormin (BMP – WA)
Citizen Affairs Subcommittee Chairman: eliwood_sain (Fed – OK)
Infrastructure Subcommittee Chairman: Aersidius (AAP – KS)

International/External Committee Chairman: Devan Kronos (USWP – Karnataka)
Armed Services Subcommittee Chairwoman: Angelini (DR – GA)
Foreign Relations Advisory Subcommittee Chairman: Herrn Sterling (AAP – VT)

Budget and Finance Committee Chairman: sydiot (Lib – NV)

Final Tidbits

The extent to which certain elected officials do not have the best interests of the e-nation in mind is unknown. Some candidates who challenged universally-supported Congressmen had previously fought for PEACE/Phoenix nations and received citizenship through an unknown method. The impact of five votes in-game is small but not inconsequential, especially if an impeachment proposal needs to be passed. The Federalist Party and the Libertarian Party lost two seats each to unsanctioned candidates, and the United States Workers Party lost one. As a result, if the five are counted as Congressmen without a party, this is the first time in several months that America’s Advancement Party and the United States Workers Party combined do not constitute a majority coalition. If the five are excluded from consideration, the sixth parties combined only won as many seats as the smallest caucus of the big five this month, a considerably smaller market share than sixth parties in the eUnited States usually receive.