WASHINGTON – The Senate unanimously passed an organizational resolution that sets the ground rules for a chamber equally divided between the two parties and officially gives control of the committees to the Democrats after two weeks of negotiations.
In comments on the Senate floor on Wednesday morning, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., NY) said Democrats are “ready to start work” on President Biden’s agenda.
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“Senate Democrats are not going to waste time facing the biggest challenges that our country and our planet face,” said Schumer, adding that he has already instructed Democratic presidents of relevant committees to start holding hearings on major climate legislation.
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), Said the agreement is almost identical to a 2001 agreement and “will allow the Senate to be administered fairly as an equally divided body.”
Leaders from both parties had previously indicated that they would use the Senate’s last power-sharing agreement in 2001 as a model. In this agreement, each party had an equal number of seats in the committees, but the majority party occupied the chairmanship of the commissions and controlled the agenda, setting the timetable for nominees and the legislation to come to the vote, even if the committee’s votes were up. tied.
As in 2001, Democratic and Republican leaders on Wednesday also entered a colloquium, or informal understanding, on the record. This conversation addressed one of the final points of the negotiations: the party leaders’ ability to “fill in the amendment tree” – a process that restricts the offer of amendments.
In the conversation, Mr. Schumer noted that, in recent decades, senators have been prevented from actively participating in the legislative process because their ability to offer and receive votes on amendments has been severely restricted. He pledged “to drastically increase the number of member-initiated amendments offered at the 117th Congress” and added that he also opposes limiting amendments by “filling the tree” unless the obstruction prevents the Senate from taking action, leaving leaders with no alternative.
Initially, McConnell suspended the resolution – which is usually a routine step – until the Republicans obtained a commitment from Democrats to preserve legislative obstruction, a Senate rule that requires 60 votes to move most of the legislation forward, giving members minority party’s influence on the Senate agenda. But he withdrew his objection last week, after Democratic moderates Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona reaffirmed their longstanding support for the obstruction.
Democrats sens. Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, and Kyrsten Sinema, of Arizona, may have more influence with a Senate divided equally between the two parties. Gerald F. Seib of the WSJ explains how they could determine the fate of the Biden government’s agenda. Photo: Reuters
While negotiations dragged on, Republicans still ran most of the committees. In some cases, Republicans with limited terms for presidents still held the hammer. In other cases, the committees had no seats because of Republican pensions. The limbo also left freshman senators without committee assignments.
This made it difficult for Democrats to do things without the unanimous consent of all 100 senators or the cooperation of fellow Republicans who still run the committees.
The setup created headaches for Democrats, caught in negotiations with Republicans to hand over the keys to the Senate.
On Monday, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked outgoing Republican President, Senator Lindsey Graham, to hold a timely confirmation hearing for Biden’s attorney general candidate, Merrick Garland .
Although Graham said he favors Garland, he denied Durbin’s request, saying in a letter that there was no time for a thorough examination before former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. Mr. Graham signed the letter “Lindsey O. Graham, President, Judiciary Committee”.
Following the announcement of a Schumer deal on Wednesday, Durbin told reporters that he wants to hold Garland’s hearing by Monday, but that may not be possible without Republican approval, as he must give a week’s notice .
Trump’s second impeachment trial is scheduled to start in effect in the Senate next week.
Write to Lindsay Wise at [email protected]
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