- Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell is using as much power as he can to stop Democrats from meeting their agenda.
- Democrats are rejecting McConnell’s demands, now that they are in full control of Congress and the White House.
- The stalemate put the Senate in a stalemate at the beginning of Biden’s presidency.
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Republican Senator Mitch McConnell is wielding as much power as he can to prevent Democrats from fulfilling their legislative agenda, now that they control Congress and the White House.
The Kentucky senator, who was relegated to minority leader, has not yet reached a power-sharing agreement with majority leader Chuck Schumer, which is necessary for the Senate to reorganize and move forward after the Democrats they took the majority on Wednesday.
McConnell’s assault is because of the obstruction. He would you like Schumer must pledge not to touch legislative tactics, which are often used as minority control over the majority, delaying or blocking the passage of a bill, unless it reaches the 60-vote limit. With the Senate evenly divided 50-50 and Vice President Kamala Harris as the tiebreaker, some Democrats have argued that reaching the supermajority can be a major upheaval when trying to pass their policies.
“Legislative obstruction is a crucial part of the Senate,” McConnell said in the Senate plenary on Thursday. “I cannot imagine that the Democratic leader would prefer to suspend the power-sharing agreement rather than simply reaffirm that his side will not break this permanent Senate rule.”
McConnell essentially aims to prevent legislation without the support of Republicans from falling on President Joe Biden’s desk. The self-described “Grim Reaper”, McConnell is no longer the head of the upper chamber for the first time in six years, but he is still trying to bend the rules to his liking and in a chamber that has long given extraordinary powers to someone in law to block the whole body agenda.
McConnell asked Democrats to provide a guarantee that they will protect the obstruction for the next two years, and will not override the 60-vote requirement, which could be done through maneuvers like the “nuclear option”, a procedure that allows approval projects with a simple majority of 51 votes. The moment seems to be linked to the mid-term elections of 2022, when Republicans will have the opportunity to turn the House and the Senate.
Democratic leaders have vowed to back down on McConnell and have already rejected his demands. Schumer did not signal his intentions with the obstruction, but indicated that he is not willing to hand over the Democrats’ new power to the minority leader.
McConnell’s proposal “would remove a tool that the Republican leader himself used only twice in the last Congress,” Schumer said in the Senate plenary on Friday. “Leader McConnell’s proposal is unacceptable – and will not be accepted. And the Republican leader knew it when he first proposed it.”
“The American people want us to work together and overcome the meaningless political struggles and impasses that have plagued us for a long time,” added Schumer. “It’s time to work.”
At the moment, the impasse left the Senate in jail. Schumer was not as influential as he expected in his early days as a majority leader. One of his top priorities – which is also Biden’s – has been delayed to provide financial aid to millions of Americans struggling financially because of the coronavirus pandemic. The $ 1.9 trillion Biden stimulus deal was not brought to the table. Democrats have also not taken up the chairmanship of the committee, which means that Republicans have been leading the Biden Office’s appointment confirmation hearings, creating confusion and slowing down the process.
One area where Democrats have fought is impeachment. McConnell tried to postpone the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump in the Senate until February. However, the Democratic-led House plans to send the impeachment article to the upper house on Monday, Schumer announced on Friday. The Senate is then constitutionally mandated to start the trial the next day at 1 pm.
Still, the narrow margins in Congress are not going to play much in favor of Democrats when it comes to big legislative items, and their new power may depend on how well they can unify against McConnell and his caucus.
Some centrist Democrats may refuse progressive legislation or take steps to relieve obstruction. Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, for example, are likely to defect to the Republican Party on issues like these.
Biden also challenged himself by insisting on crossing the party corridor and eliminating political divisions. He has pledged repeatedly during the campaign and now as president to work in bipartisanship – and that involves working with McConnell.