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Bottom line: When Biden takes the oath on Wednesday, we still may not know some of the basics of how Capitol Hill operated in its first two years. There is still no organizing resolution setting out the rules that will govern the 50-50 Senate over the next two years. We still don’t have an official word on when there will be an impeachment trial, and the fight to speed up Biden’s nominees has already begun.
Overview: A normal rhythm isn’t happening anytime soon. Sources have repeatedly told CNN that the coming days and weeks will test both parties and the institutions in which they reside. Disputes over the constitutionality of the impeachment of a former president are already beginning. Slow-motion Biden nominees are already underway. And in addition to the daily business of government, each party has its future. Republicans must recalibrate and decide what their party stands for in the wake of Trump. Democrats – finally in power – must decide how much they want to advance their grassroots agenda while being ruled by a president who has always valued compromise.
In a few hours, the US Senate will change hands. After Biden is sworn in at 12 p.m. ET, three new U.S. Democratic senators will be sworn in at 4:30 p.m., formally cementing a change of power in the chamber. There is no big vote or changing of the guard. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York will become the majority leader. Senator Pat Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, will become President Pro Tempore.
Biden nominees face Senate slog
The appointments will not necessarily be easy. Republican Missouri Senator Josh Hawley made it clear on Tuesday that he would slow down the appointment of Biden Home Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, a potential sign that Biden’s fight, even for his security-related appointments, was going to be fought hard. In his statement, Hawley said his reason was that Mayorkas had not “sufficiently explained how he will enforce federal law and secure the southern border given President-elect Biden’s pledge to reverse key enforcement measures and security”.
So far, no other senator has publicly stated that he will oppose Biden’s candidates in other key agencies like Defense, Treasury or the State or Director of National Intelligence. The tone and tenor of those nomination hearings on Thursday made it clear that these nominations are likely to move faster. But we still don’t have an official word that none of those nominations will come up on Wednesday either.
On Thursday, the House will vote on a waiver of Lloyd Austin’s appointment as Secretary of Defense, a process that will only add a day or two to his potential confirmation. Hawley’s decision highlights the fact that any member can disrupt – or at least delay – Biden’s agenda, and with a handful of Republican senators training to run for president in 2024, expect these moments recur from time to time.
The organizing resolution
Schumer and current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell met on Tuesday to iron out the resolution to organize the next Senate. Schumer offered McConnell a resolution that seemed almost identical to the 2001 resolution between Republican Trent Lott and Democrat Tom Daschle that split committee members and budgets, set out a protocol on how to take things off the committee when they were blocked because of a tie and allowed. members of both parties to chair the chamber.
McConnell wants to cement another change: a pledge to keep the legislative obstruction alive. In practice, filibuster goes nowhere with or without organizational resolve. With a slim majority, Schumer is expected to have all of its members and Vice President Kamala Harris sever the tie to “go nuclear.” We know from comments from moderates like Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia who opposes the end of filibustering, that Schumer would not have the votes for it.
Yet it is a strategic move on McConnell’s part and a way to enshrine minority rights. Putting him in the organization resolution would also put Schumer in a tough spot with his base. This would set a precedent for future organizing resolutions and make it more difficult for Democrats to remove the 60-vote threshold on the legislation. As with all these negotiations, remember that the staff are still working on it. Just because McConnell and Schumer aren’t sitting in a room to sort this out doesn’t mean that negotiations aren’t ongoing.
Accused
The timeline for a trial has not materialized since the House voted a week ago to impeach Trump for the second time. On Wednesday, Democrats want to make this moment on Joe Biden. Don’t expect any announcements. The aides and members we speak to have made it clear that nothing about the timing of an impeachment trial should be settled until Schumer and McConnell finalize their organizing resolution. And Democrats would also like to ensure that at least some of Biden’s candidates are confirmed before locking themselves into a static schedule that comes with the pitfalls of a trial.
At the end of the day, it’s always the calling of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but if anyone understands a political moment, it’s her. The extent to which members and assistants tell me they don’t know what’s to come is amazing for a city where people love to talk. The effort has clearly been made to ensure that this day and this week is devoted to Biden and not to the impeachment of the last president.
The fact that Republicans are sending signals that they are unlikely to agree to let Biden speed up nominees the morning before a Senate trial begins is complicated by the fact that Republicans are sending signals that the Senator John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, complicates the timing of a trial. and a member of management, told reporters on Tuesday that the day’s double-monitoring “will not be possible.”
“It’s Nancy Pelosi’s choice because once she sends the article of impeachment, it supersedes all other cases,” said Cornyn. “If she wants to delay confirming President Biden’s Cabinet nominees and prevent President Biden from seeking and receiving further help for Covid-19, that would be one way of doing it, so they have a big decision to make. . “
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