DailyMail.com breaks down what to expect in the new Congress 

Tuesday will bring the return of divided government to Washington – featuring intensive probes of the President Biden’s family and administration to the fore while his legislative agenda slams into Republican opposition.

Republicans are preparing to use new investigatory tools to batter the Biden administration from the House while continuing to try to stall his remaining agenda in the Senate.  

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is preparing to hand over her gavel to Republicans inside the House chamber, bringing a return to a split in party control of the White House and at least one chamber that has happened eight times this century.

If recent examples are a guide, that division will bring about angry clashes between the White House and Congress, with unknown consequences.

When House Republicans took the House in 2010 riding a Tea Party wave, it set the table for furious fiscal fights with the Obama administration that soon had the nation confronting a ‘fiscal cliff.’

House Republicans have vowed to probe Hunter Biden’s business dealings, armed with subpoena power information from his infamous laptop

When House Republicans seized control in 1994 on the heels of New Gingrich’s attacks on a ‘corrupt’ Democratic establishment, it helped set up a presidential impeachment, which brought with it an implosion in the GOP leadership ranks.

House Republicans have already made clear they intend to probe President Biden and his family – starting with first son Hunter Biden and his business dealings, armed with revelations from his infamous laptop.

But before they can do that they must sort through a messy potential series of votes to try to elect a speaker – with Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy facing opposition from conservative holdouts. If he doesn’t win on the first ballot, it would be the first time that hasn’t happened in 100 years.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee, said he wants to identify ‘waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement and corruption within the federal government.’

‘The one thing that we can do in a divided Congress is put the brakes on runaway spending,’ he told Fox and Friends on Monday. ‘Our investigations start tomorrow,’ he said.   

‘We’ve been working on it for over a year.  We’ll start tomorrow with hopefully bringing people in to do interviews,’ he said – when asked specifically about past claims of probing Hunter Biden and Big Tech. 

‘If Mr. Biden’s family members have deals with foreign adversaries, it could compromise his decision-making as president in a way that threatens national security,’ he wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed – although freewheeling hearings could allow Judiciary members to probe a whole cast of characters who turned up in communications found on Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Comer also dismissed the Biden administration’s gambit of saying it would not respond to prior requests for information from Comer and incoming House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), because they were made while in the minority. That was taken as an early sign the White House was prepared to play hardball.

‘Tomorrow we’re going to be in the majority and we’re simply going to resend every one of those requests. We expect the White House to work with us to do our job,’ said Comer. 

Republicans have said they will probe the administration’s border policy with thousands streaming across the southern border each day, as well as the origins of COVID-19 – having telegraphed plans to bring back coronavirus chief Anthony Fauci from retirement for questioning.

But before they can start firing off subpoenas, Republicans must elect a new speaker. 

Gingrich, who rose to power through scathing attacks on former GOP minority leader Bob Michel, on Monday chastised rank-and-file Republicans for failing to back up Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who was hunting to cobble together 218 votes to become speaker out of the GOP’s narrow 222-vote majority.

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., must persuade a handful of conservatives to back him for speaker

Republicans have vowed to scrutinize U.S. aid for Ukraine

Rep. James Comer, R-KY., has vowed to probe wasteful spending – and Hunter Biden. Rep. James Jordon, R-OH, is taking over the Judiciary Committee 

Biden signed a stack of legislation before leaving town after Christmas. Now he must contend with a divided Congress

‘The choice is Kevin McCarthy or chaos. And there’s nobody going to replace Kevin, because he has far more people totally dedicated to him than this handful of never-enders,’ Gingrich told Fox News.

On the other side of the Capitol, Senate Democrats are planning to make use of their own expanded 51-seat majority. 

Although the Republicans are ending the House January 6th Committee – McCarthy is vowing to probe failures to secure the Capitol instead – the Senate plans to pick up some of the slack.

‘I think we will have strong oversight in the Judiciary Committee with potential hearings,’ Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a senior member of the panel, told DailyMail.com. 

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) signaled that the Senate Finance Committee he chairs will continue carry forward the efforts of the House Ways and Means Committee, which on Friday finally published Donald Trump tax return information after a four-year battle.  

President Biden sent a signal about where he wants to focus, with a planned trip to Kentucky on Wednesday to once again tout the bipartisan infrastructure law – this time with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to view the $1.64 billion in funding awarded to for the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project.

‘It’s a giant bridge, man. It’s a lot of money. It’s important,’ he said, asked while returning to the White House Monday why it was important to go with McConnell, whom he calls a longtime friend. 

Even though it is an area for fierce partisan debate, Big Tech could be a potential area for compromise, USA Today predicted. That’s because members of both parties warn of its potential risks and vow to hold it accountable. 

Republicans claim it has been biased in favor of Democrats, and want to probe new revelations from Elon Musk’s Twitter Files about suppression of news bout Hunter’s laptop, while Democrats warn of monopoly and consolidation and how platforms can get used to spread white nationalism. 

Biden’s ability to run a successful reelection campaign will depend in part on his ability to navigate divided government. Past Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have gained politically from GOP brinksmanship.

His White House has staffed up for potential conflict in previous months, even while Hunter Biden retained the legal services of prominent lawyer Abbe Lowell. 

Biden said he would spend part of the holidays talking with family about his political future, but hasn’t revealed if he has made any progress.

There is more at stake than politics. After Democrats punted on trying to jam an increase in the statutory debt limit in a $1.7 trillion omnibus appropriations bill, the next standoff will once again put international faith in U.S. credit on the line.

The omnibus provided billions for Ukraine to battle Russia’s invasion, but McCarthy has vowed not to provide a ‘blank check,’ and Republicans are demanding greater oversight of appropriated funds.