WASHINGTON – Three new Democratic senators were sworn in after President Joe Biden took office on Wednesday, taking control of Mitch McConnell’s Senate after six years.
The election of Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia and the appointment of Senator Alex Padilla of California – who will serve the remaining two years of Vice President Kamala Harris’s term in the Senate – give Democrats 50 seats. As vice president, Harris is now the president of the Senate and has the ability to vote for the tiebreaker in the House, giving Democrats control. She swore an oath to new lawmakers within hours of taking her oath of office on Wednesday. Harris laughed at reading his own name when announcing that Padilla would take his place.
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer will now assume the Senate as the majority leader.
“America is turning a new page. We have been turning the page over the past four years and to bring the country together, defeat COVID-19, hasten economic relief for the people, ”Ossoff told reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday morning, while participating in the inauguration. “That’s what they sent us here for. And, you know, Georgia sent a young Jewish man and a black pastor to represent our state in the U.S. Senate. It is a sign of generational and historical change for our state. “
At 33, Ossoff is one of the youngest elected senators and Warnock is the first black senator to represent Georgia. Padilla also made history, becoming the first Latin senator to represent California.
Harris also swore in Sen. Pat Leahy of Vermont as the president of the Senate pro tempore, a position that ranks third in line for the presidency and is historically given to the longest-serving member of the majority party. Leahy takes over from Republican Senator Chuck Grassley
In the half decade that Republicans controlled the Senate, McConnell had a strong influence: he blocked ex-President Barack Obama’s final Supreme Court candidate and confirmed three of former President Donald Trump’s nominees to court. He blocked COVID’s relief, undid the main aspects of the Affordable Care Act and disrupted legislation against armed violence.
Now, he lost his job. With Democrats in control of the chamber, McConnell will be the minority leader, and now Schumer will lead the majority and take control of the legislation that reaches the Senate floor.
Although he did not call McConnell by name, Schumer said in his first speech as head of the House that the Senate will now “do business differently. The Senate will face the challenges that our country faces head-on and without delay, not with timid solutions, but with boldness and courage. “
Schumer said the Democratic Senate will work to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, racial and economic justice and “the biggest threat to this country and this planet, climate change”.
“To my Republican colleagues, whenever and wherever we can, the Democratic majority will strive to make this important work bipartisan,” he added. “The Senate works best when we work together. We have no choice, the challenges we face are great, the divisions in the country are real. We have no choice but to try to work together. “
Schumer said earlier that his first priority as a leader will be $ 1,400 coronavirus stimulus checks. “It is one of the first things we want to do after our new senators are in office. They campaigned about it, ”he said at a news conference earlier this month. (Both Ossoff and Warnock campaigned to give Americans a second round of $ 2,000 stimulus checks; with the $ 600 checks passed by Congress in late December, Democrats want to quickly approve another $ 1,400).
Schumer also said that he plans to prioritize vaccine development.
“We have the opportunity to work with our colleagues in the House and a new government to defeat the virus, provide the relief that the American people need and bring the country together,” he said in a recent statement.
Although Democrats have the tiebreaker power, however, Republicans will still retain some power in the Senate, largely due to the obstruction rule, which allows any member to block a vote, unless 60 senators vote to end the debate. . Some Democrats have expressed support for removing the obstruction, but the entire party would need to vote together to do so and Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has repeatedly said he does not support removing the obstruction. During negotiations with Schumer on how to deal with the equally divided Senate, McConnell stepped in to defend the rule.
“McConnell expressed his longstanding view that the crucial, old and bipartisan Senate rules regarding legislative obstruction remain intact, specifically during the division of power for the next two years,” said McConnell’s spokesman, Doug Andres, in communicated after the two party leaders met earlier this week. “Discussions on all aspects of the power sharing agreement will continue in the coming days.”
In addition to filling the Biden Cabinet and addressing the issues Democrats hope to address, the Senate will also have to conduct an impeachment trial in the early days of the new government, following Trump’s second impeachment just a week ago.
Ten House Republicans joined the Democrats to vote for the former president’s impeachment, accusing Trump of inciting insurrection after the Capitol riot two weeks ago. It was the most bipartisan impeachment in history, Trump – who was only the third president to be impeached – became the first president to be impeached twice.
During the first impeachment, and almost relentlessly throughout his presidency, McConnell defended Trump on all occasions. But now that Trump is no longer in power, his tone appears to have started to change, as the New York Times reported earlier this month that he said in particular that Trump has committed impeachable crimes.
In an interview with the New York Times this week, Padilla listed “increased access to health care, combating climate change, comprehensive immigration reform, [and] bridging the education gap ”, among the big issues that Democrats will have to tackle at the start of the 117th Congress.
“Here’s what breaks my heart,” Padilla told the newspaper. “You know you catch the morning news and hear about the Dow Jones record label. But if you go to the COVID test sites or the food banks, you will see increasingly long lines. This contrast is heartbreaking. “