Gabe Amo’s wild first week in Congress

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, left, speaks with new Representative Gabe Amo at the conclusion of his ceremonially swearing in at the Capitol Monday.Drew Angerer/Getty

US Representative Gabe Amo is officially official.

The newly elected congressman from Rhode Island’s First District was sworn into the US House of Representatives last night, becoming the first person of color to serve in the state’s congressional delegation.

My colleague Ed Fitzpatrick captures the moment in his story here.

Now the real work begins – and fast.

Amo was sworn in on a Monday, but government funding is set to expire at midnight Friday if Congress can’t reach a deal on a temporary spending bill. That could mean a government shutdown before Thanksgiving, one of the biggest travel holidays of the year.

Amo’s first major vote could come as soon as today because newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson told lawmakers that he plans to bring a continuing resolution to the floor that would extend funding through the holiday season, until Jan. 19.

Interestingly, Johnson is expected to need Democrats like Amo and US Representative Seth Magaziner if the stopgap measure is going to win passage. The proposal is controversial because it doesn’t include deep spending cuts – something Republicans have been pushing – but also lacks additional aid for Israel and Ukraine.

Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate have signaled that they may be willing to support Johnson’s proposal, according to NBC News.

Aside from the spending bill, Amo has been assigned to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, one of the same committees that his predecessor, former representative David Cicilline, served on. Cicilline briefly served as chair of the Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, but with Republicans now in charge, that panel is chaired by Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina.

If you want to watch a fun behind-the-scenes moment from Amo’s ceremonial swearing-in, you can watch his brief chat with Speaker Johnson. Amo jokes that he should be in Johnson’s memoir because it was also Johnson’s first time swearing in a member.

This story first appeared in Rhode Map, our free newsletter that also contains links to other important Rhode Island stories, information about local events, and more. If you’d like to receive it via email Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.