Thirty-one days after the start of the new Congress and weeks after the second round of the Georgia Senate gave them 50 seats, the Democrats now officially control the functioning of the Senate.
It took weeks of negotiation between party leaders to decide how Democrats and Republicans would share power and resources in the divided Senate equally, while Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell blocked the process, trying to extract promises from Democrats to maintain the obstruction. . This obstruction left Republicans chairing committees, despite having a 50-50 Senate, in which Democrats, through Vice President Kamala Harris, hold the tiebreaker vote. But on Wednesday, the Senate finally passed an organizing resolution sharing power. The resolution was adopted by unanimous consent.
“The committees can readily establish themselves and get to work, with the Democrats holding the hammer,” majority leader Chuck Schumer said in the Senate plenary on Wednesday morning, announcing the deal. “Democratic senators are not going to waste time facing the biggest challenges that our country and our planet face.”
SCHUMER: “I am happy to report this morning that the leadership of both parties has finalized the Senate’s organizational resolution.”
Democrats take control of Senate committees, while McConnell and Schumer agree on how to run a 50-50 Senate after weeks of negotiations. pic.twitter.com/iB6lz8HUCq
– Zach Purser Brown (@zachjourno) February 3, 2021
Under the agreement, Schumer will control the legislation that will be presented and the Democrats will chair the committees. But due to the uniform division, the committees will have an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, as explained by Li Zhou of Vox.
Schumer and McConnell also offered a written colloquium emphasizing a new beginning for bipartisanship in the Senate, promising to promote a substantive debate about administrative obstruction through processes such as “filling in the amendment tree”.
Now it is official: the Senate has just approved S.Res.27, the organizing resolution, by unanimous consent, together with resolutions naming the Democratic and Republican committees. Democrats are now chairmen of all Senate commissions.
– Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) February 3, 2021
The late approval of the organizing resolution eliminates the problem that Democrats faced in trying to confirm President Joe Biden’s cabinet nominees without being technically represented by the majority. On the Senate Judiciary Committee, for example, the new president, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), had to ask Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to schedule a hearing for Biden’s appointed attorney general, because Graham still held the hammer. Graham rejected the request, stressing the backward bets on the organizing resolution.
McConnell had already suspended negotiations because he wanted a Schumer pledge that Democrats would not use the majority to blow up the obstruction, an advantage that Schumer was not willing to give up. Because the organization’s resolutions can be obstructed and therefore need 60 votes to pass, McConnell could effectively block its approval. He agreed to move on last week after two Senate Democrats – Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) – announced their support for maintaining the obstruction.
Democrats can now proceed with confirming Biden’s nominees, scheduling supervisory hearings and passing legislation. But the organization’s struggle for resolution can foreshadow how much difficulty they will face while in control.
How the Senate Organizational Resolution Will Work
With the resolution in place, Democrats can put their new members on committees and assume leadership roles.
As Li Zhou of Vox reported, the resolution reflects the 2001 agreement between Sens. Tom Daschle and Trent Lott, who chaired the last 50-50 Senates.
“Since Democrats have a majority with the vote of Vice President Harris, they will occupy the positions of chairman of each committee, but the resolution would divide the members of the committee equally, as well as office space and funding. Any measure that receives a tie in the vote in the committee may also receive some consideration to be promoted in plenary.
As a majority leader, Schumer will still control the plenary schedule for legislation and when to proceed to the polls. “As for controlling the agenda, Democrats will ensure that they have the standard majority power of the party because, in essence, they do,” Josh Ryan, political scientist at Utah State University, told PolitiFact. “
The organizing resolution takes into account possible ties in the committee, allowing these bills to reach the floor.
Six years have passed since the Democrats last occupied the Senate. Some senators will return to the presidencies they previously held, while others will take the hammer for the first time. Democratic Senate seats include:
- Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI), Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
- Sen. Patrick Leahy (VT), Appropriations Committee
- Sen. Jack Reed (RI), Armed Services Committee
- Sen. Sherrod Brown (OH), Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
- Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT), Budget Committee
- Sen. Maria Cantwell (WA), Committee on Commerce, Science and Transport
- Sen. Joe Manchin (WV), Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
- Sen. Tom Carper (DE), Environment and Public Works Committee
- Sen. Ron Wyden (OR), Finance Committee
- Sen. Robert Menendez (NJ), Foreign Affairs Committee
- Sen. Patty Murray (WA), Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
- Sen. Gary Peters (MI), Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs
- Sen. Mark Warner (VA), Intelligence Committee
- Sen. Dick Durbin (IL), Judiciary Committee
- Sen. Amy Klobuchar (MN), Rules and Administration Committee
- Sen. Ben Cardin (MD), Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee
- Sen. Jon Tester (MT), Veterans Affairs Committee
- Sen. Bob Casey (PA), Special Committee on Aging
- Sen. Chris Coons (DE), Select Ethics Committee
- Sen. Brian Schatz (HI), Indigenous Affairs Committee
- Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM), Joint Economic Committee