Fight over rules grinds the evenly divided Senate to halt
Republicans dismiss Biden’s pandemic and immigration agenda
WHEN President Joe Biden took office last week, he promised sweeping, bipartisan legislation to solve the coronavirus pandemic, fix the economy and overhaul immigration.
Just days later, the Senate ground to a halt, with Democrats and Republicans unable to agree on even basic rules for how the evenly divided body should operate.
Meanwhile, key Republicans have quickly signalled discomfort with – or outright dismissal of – the cornerstone of Mr Biden’s early legislative agenda, a $1.9trn (€1.5trn) pandemic relief plan that includes measures including $1,400 (€1,150) stimulus cheques, vaccine distribution funding and a $15 (€12) minimum wage.
On top of that, senators are preparing for a wrenching second impeachment trial for former president Donald Trump, set to begin on February 9, which could mire all other Senate business and further obliterate any hopes of cross-party co-operation.
Taken together, this gridlock could imperil Mr Biden’s entire early presidency, making it impossible for him to deliver on key promises.
This reality could force Democrats to choose within a matter of weeks whether they will continue to pursue the sort of bipartisan co-operation that Mr Biden – and many senators of both parties – have preached, or whether to pursue procedural shortcuts or rule changes that would sideline the GOP but also are likely to divide their caucus. Much of the current conflict over the Senate rules comes courtesy of veteran Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, who transitioned to minority leader on Wednesday after six years as majority leader.
Just hours after Mr Biden’s inauguration, moments after a smiling Senator Chuck Schumer was first recognised as majority leader, Mr McConnell pointedly noted on the Senate floor that the country elected a smaller House Democratic majority, an evenly split Senate and a “president who promised unity”.
“The people intentionally entrusted both political sides with significant power to shape our nation’s direction,” he said. “May we work together to honour that trust.”
Two days earlier, he had notified his Republican colleagues in the Senate that he would deliver Mr Schumer a sharp ultimatum: agree to preserve the legislative filibuster, the centrepiece of minority power in the Senate or forget about any semblance of co-operation – starting with an agreement on the chamber’s operating rules. The calculations for Mr McConnell, according to Republicans, are simple. Not only is preserving the filibuster a matter that Republicans can unify around, it is something that potentially divides Democrats, who are under enormous pressure to discard it to advance their governing agenda.
“The legislative filibuster is the last rule driving bipartisanship in Washington,” Scott Jennings, a former McConnell aide. The Senate filibuster has evolved over the course of its history into a de facto supermajority requirement, requiring 60 votes to end debate and advance legislation. Rarely has one party held enough votes to defeat filibusters without at least some cross-aisle co-operation.
The rule has been eroded over the past decade. After Mr McConnell led a broad blockade of President Barack Obama’s nominees, Democrats under then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2013 allowed executive appointees and lower-court judges to be advanced with a simple majority vote.
Mr McConnell, in turn, eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees when Democrats threatened to block the nomination of Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and two years later changed the rules to more quickly confirm presidential nominees.
“We’re not going to go along with it,” said Senator Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, who was among those who signed the 2017 letter. “There will be some kind of resolution that does not involve Mitch McConnell getting what he wants.” (© Washington Post)
‘There will be some kind of resolution that does not involve Mr McConnell getting what he wants’