Lisa Mascaro | Associated Press

Republicans have taken the Senate majority and are fighting to keep control of the House. A unified Republican grip on Washington would set the course for President-elect Donald Trump's agenda.

President Joe Biden has urged his supporters to stay unified during a series of Sunday stops in critical Pennsylvania.

House Republicans are plowing through the second day of the new Congress, with no clear off-ramp from their political chaos over electing a new speaker.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will not seek a leadership role in the new Congress. Pelosi’s decision Thursday comes after Democrats lost the House majority to Republicans in the midterm elections and after the brutal attack on her husband, Paul, by an intruder at their San Francisco home.

The House Jan. 6 committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump for his testimony about the 2021 Capitol attack. The panel voted unanimously to compel the former president to appear.

The enthusiasm for Donald Trump’s unique brand of nationalist populism has cut into traditional Democratic strongholds in places such as Monongahela in western Pennsylvania. That's where House Republicans recently outlined their election-year campaign agenda, called “Commitment to America.” They're hoping they can tap into the same political sentiment Trump used to attract voters.

Pennsylvania’s Republican governor nominee Doug Mastriano has appeared briefly before the Jan. 6 committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has quickly set in motion a pair of firearms background check bills in response to the school massacre in Texas. But the Democrat acknowledged Wednesday the refusal for years of Congress to pass any legislation aiming to curb a national epidemic of gun violence.

The White House is floating new plans for ways to pay for President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion proposal for expanding social services and tackling climate change. The ideas include shelving a proposed big increase in corporate tax rates though also adding a new billionaires’ tax on the investment gains of the very richest Americans. The abrupt changes in suggested “pay-fors” on Wednesday came as Biden returned to his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, to highlight what he says are the middle class values in the plan.

Senators are racing to seal a bipartisan infrastructure deal as soon as Monday. Pressure is mounting on all sides to show progress. It's a make-or-break week on President Joe Biden’s top priority.