Gavel to Pen
Updated Tue Nov 10, 2026, 9:50 pm CT

A tracker of what the House and Senate say, move and pass, and what the President signs or vetoes. Sourced, dated and nonpartisan.

119th Congress, lame duck session. Republicans hold the gavels until the 120th is sworn in on Jan 3, 2027.

Democrats won the House. Republicans hold it until Jan 3.

254Democrats
18Uncalled
163Republicans

Seats in the incoming House. AP count via Yahoo News, Nov 9.

The short version
  • Who is in charge today: Republicans, until Jan 3. Democrats won but have not taken over yet.
  • What the new majority has passed: nothing yet. Its plans are pledges until the 120th Congress starts on Jan 3, 2027.
  • What checks the majority: the President's veto. Democrats will hold a majority but not the two thirds needed to override one.

New to this? Read the two minute guide, or tap any row to open it.

The Clock

Days left, counted from today

The Whip Count

Seats in the incoming 120th

Who has the votes. Blue is Democrats, red is Republicans, striped is still being counted.

House, 435 seatsD 254 · 18 uncalled · R 163
218
290
218 to pass a bill290 to beat a veto
Senate, 100 seatsD 54 · 2 uncalled · R 44
51
60
67
51 majority60 to end a filibuster67 to beat a veto
Majority in both chambers Not veto proof: 36 short in House, 13 in Senate 6 short of cloture in Senate

House count per the Associated Press as relayed by Yahoo News, midday Mon Nov 9. Senate races in Mississippi and Alaska are uncalled. Even a sweep of every uncalled House seat would leave Democrats at 272, below the 290 needed to override a veto. A lead is not a call.

Where Things Stand

Open the full docket

How many tracked items sit at each step, from talk on the left to law on the right.

Each tracked item sits at exactly one stage. Items move right only when the official record shows it.

Sectors in Play

Open all sectors

Industries that a pending or passed measure would touch directly. The number is how many tracked items affect it. Tap one to see them.

Latest Floor Action

Lame duck

The most recent vote by the full House.

Bills President Trump has rejected in his second term (2025 to 2029), and whether Congress beat the veto.

Lame Duck Must Pass

Old Congress, unfinished business

Work the outgoing Congress has to finish before it leaves.

The Chatter

Said, not done

What leaders are saying. None of this is an action yet. To see how outlets on the left, center and right cover the same stories, compare coverage on Ground News.

Who Holds the Gavel

Leadership for the 120th

Who will run each chamber and each party in the 120th Congress, which starts on Jan 3, 2027.

House Democrats vote by secret ballot on Nov 18. The full House elects the Speaker by roll call when the 120th convenes.

The Docket

Every promise and every live measure, one row each. The bar shows how far it has moved. Tap a row for details.

Sectors

Find your industry, then see every bill, deadline and veto that would affect it and how far each one has moved.

Sector tags are our own classification of the industries a measure touches directly, based on what the measure says. They are not forecasts and they are not investment advice.

The Veto Pen

47th presidency, 2025 to 2029

A veto is the President saying no to a bill. Congress can make it law anyway, but only with two thirds of both chambers.

Counts come from the Senate's official veto record. No bill from the new majority has been vetoed, because none has been sent yet. The first could come after Jan 3.

The Override Math

Votes needed to beat a veto
House: 290 needed36 shortDemocrats hold 254 called seats. With every member voting, they would need 36 Republicans, or fewer if uncalled seats break their way.
Senate: 67 needed13 shortDemocrats hold 54 called seats, with two races uncalled.

Two thirds is counted from members present and voting, so absences can lower the number.

Veto Watch

Threats and signals

Where the White House stands on each item before any bill arrives. Strongest signal first.

The Veto Log

Every veto, newest first

How a Veto Works

Four steps
  1. Congress passes a bill. Both chambers approve the same text and send it to the President.

  2. The President has ten days, not counting Sundays. Sign it, veto it, or do nothing. If Congress is in session, doing nothing makes it law.

  3. A veto sends the bill back with a written message to the chamber where it started.

  4. Congress can try to override. If two thirds of each chamber vote yes, the bill becomes law without a signature. If either falls short, the veto is sustained and the bill is dead.

Oversight

Planned. Subpoena power starts Jan 3

These are probes that incoming Democratic chairs have said they plan to open. None has started. Chairs are presumptive until the caucus and the full House approve committee rosters. Jim Jordan, the incoming Republican leader, says his own oversight experience prepares him to answer them. The source for all planned probes is ABC News, Nov 4, 2026.

Sources: ABC News, Nov 4 · AP via PBS News, Nov 10

The Calendar

Hard dates and handoffs

Filled dots have happened. The brass diamond marks what comes next. Dates are as reported and can slip.

How to Read This

Two minutes
  1. Start with the Whip Count. Power in Congress is arithmetic. A majority passes a bill in the House. A veto takes two thirds of both chambers to beat. The bars show how far the incoming majority sits from each line.

  2. Read each docket row left to right. The pips are the path from talk to law. Dark pips are stages cleared. The tall brass pip is where the item sits today. The word next to it names the stage.

  3. Check the evidence tag. On the record means a named official said it in public or a document shows it. Reported means the press has it from sources. Neither one means it happened.

  4. Open the row. State of play says what moved last. The math says which vote threshold matters. Then come the Republican position and the White House position, each with its source.

  5. Check the sectors. Each row lists the industries the measure would touch directly, such as health care, energy or defense. The Sectors tab groups everything by industry.

  6. Follow the veto. Passing Congress is not the finish line. The Vetoes tab logs every bill the President rejects and whether Congress had the votes to override.

  7. Mind the phase. Until Jan 3, 2027 the 119th Congress is still in session. Rows tagged 119th are live votes under Republican control. Rows tagged 120th are pledges for the new majority.

The Nine Stages

Talk to law
StageWhat it means

The Numbers That Matter

Thresholds
NumberChamberWhat it unlocks
218HouseA majority when all 435 members vote. It passes bills, elects the Speaker and impeaches.
290HouseTwo thirds of the House. It overrides a veto or passes a bill under suspension of the rules.
51SenateA majority. It confirms nominees and passes budget reconciliation bills.
60SenateCloture. It ends debate on most bills, which is how a filibuster is beaten.
67SenateTwo thirds of the Senate. It overrides a veto or convicts in an impeachment trial.

Hill Speak

Glossary

Plain definitions of the terms used on Gavel to Pen. For the history behind fights like the filibuster, war powers and vetoes, Retro Report has short documentaries.

How This Tracker Is Made

Method

Gavel to Pen follows federal lawmaking from the first promise to the final signature or veto. It uses only public sources: the official record of Congress and the White House, race calls from the Associated Press, and reporting from established news outlets.

For history and background we point to nonpartisan explainers such as Retro Report, the Congressional Research Service and GovTrack. Background sources add context and never change the status of a row.

Research and drafting are assisted by AI. Every entry links to its source so that you can check it yourself.

What It Tracks, and What It Does Not

  • It tracks measures that the House or Senate majority has pledged, floated or brought to a vote, the must pass business of the current session, planned oversight, leadership elections and every presidential veto.
  • It does not track every bill in Congress. Thousands are introduced each year, and Congress.gov is the complete record.
  • Sector tags are our own classification of the industries a measure touches directly. They describe scope and are not predictions or investment advice.
  • It does not predict. There are no odds, forecasts or anonymous whip counts. Talk is shown in The Chatter and is labeled as talk.
  • It does not take sides. The page holds no position on any measure, party or person.

The Four Checks

Every entry
  1. Find. We scan the official record and the congressional press for new pledges, bills, votes and vetoes.

  2. Confirm. A row moves to a new stage only when the official record shows it: a bill number on Congress.gov, a committee notice, a roll call from the House Clerk or the Senate, a signature or a veto message. Until a roll call is posted, a vote total is attributed to the outlet that reported it.

  3. Attribute. Statements need a named speaker on the record or reporting from an established outlet. Each row carries an evidence tag that says which one it is.

  4. Balance. Each row states the pledge, the vote math, the Republican position and the White House position in the same plain terms before it is published. We compare coverage across left, center and right outlets, using tools such as Ground News, to catch a story that only one side is telling.

Numbers

  • Seat counts follow calls by the Associated Press. An uncalled seat stays uncalled no matter who leads.
  • Vote totals come from the House Clerk and the Senate once posted, and from named outlets before then.
  • Veto counts come from the official list kept by the Senate.
  • Countdowns are calculated on your device from today's date.
  • Unknowns stay blank. If a figure is unclear or disputed, the row says so and no number is shown.

Updates

This page is a dated snapshot and does not pull live feeds. The stamp at the top shows when it was last checked. News can move faster than the page, so follow the source links for the latest.

What We Never Store

  • No article text. We do not copy or display headlines or stories from publishers. We keep only facts, such as who, what, the vote and the date, with a link to the source.
  • No accounts. There is no sign up, no login and no email list.
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  • No private individuals. Entries name public officials acting in their public roles and nobody else.

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Corrections and Takedowns

If an entry is wrong, out of date or unfair, tell us. Include the title of the row and a link to the official record or the reporting that shows the error.

Contact: gaveltopen@gmail.com

We typically reply within 7 days. When we correct an entry, we fix the row and add a dated note to the log below.

Corrections log: no corrections have been made yet.

Sources

Ranked by authority

Where the information comes from. For how entries are chosen and updated, see Method.

Cited in This Snapshot

Through Nov 10, 2026