In the seventh part in an Egyptian Streets article series under the name of East-West Chitchat that aims to spark increased dialogue between Americans and Egyptians, Abdelrahman Amr and Michael Matthiesen explore how the 116th Congress may or may not affect political relations with Egypt. January 3rd, 2019 was a historic day for the United States as the new U.S Congress became the most diverse in history. Most of the media attention has been focused on the over 110 new women members that have been elected, but that’s not the only thing that’s historic. Egyptian readers would be interested to learn that there are eight Arab-Americans, two Muslim women, the first Palestinian woman, and the first Somali woman ever elected to this new U.S Congress. As the cherry-on-top, Nancy Pelosi returned as the first and only woman Speaker of the House. However, despite all the historical significance, the 116th Congress also ushered in a Democratic House of Representatives and a Republican Senate, the first divided government of the Trump Administration. Divided governments are known for being dramatic and not very productive. Usually, a divided government means that the focus of the Congress, President,…
