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

Counts follow Associated Press calls as of Tue Nov 10. The AP reported 255 Democratic seats that evening, and the Fox News results page, which displays AP calls, showed 167 Republican seats. Senate races in Mississippi and Alaska are uncalled, and the Democratic challenger led in each by about 2,500 votes on Tuesday. Even a sweep of every uncalled House seat would leave Democrats at 268, below the 290 needed to override a veto. A lead is not a call.

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.

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

The most recent vote by the full House.

The most recent recorded votes in each chamber, pulled from the House Clerk and the Senate twice a day.

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

Work the outgoing Congress has to finish before it leaves.

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 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.

Look up a senator or representative, a bill or a topic. Results link straight to the matching entry.

Search covers the people, bills and topics tracked on Gavel to Pen. It is not a directory of all 535 members of Congress. For any member, use the official list at Congress.gov.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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