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Open thread Jan. 19, 2021

Dan Crawford | January 19, 2021 6:00 am

Comments (4) | Digg Facebook Twitter |
4 Comments
  • Fred C. Dobbs says:
    January 19, 2021 at 2:38 pm

    Rules of the last 50-50 Senate might not bind this one

    A lot has changed in the 20 years since the Senate was last tied at 50-50.

    The 2001 power sharing agreement is sure to serve as the template for what the Senate looks like after President-elect Joe Biden takes office. But the world, and the chamber, has changed since that agreement was in effect.

    “On January 20, the hope will be to adopt an organizing resolution for the upcoming 50-50 Senate and for committees,” a Senate aide said Monday. “As of now, the 2001 organizing resolution is serving as the basis for negotiations, but the hope is that there may an opportunity to improve upon the agreement.”

    Democrats will have the narrowest of possible majorities, with New York Democratic Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York becoming majority leader and enabling Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., to be elected as president pro tempore, the senior member of the majority party.

    The 2001 agreement provided for equal numbers of members on Senate committees, with a process for discharging bills and nominations that deadlock, effectively giving the Republicans at the time a narrow advantage on setting the agenda on contentious issues.

    That could be all the more advantageous for Democrats in the current Senate, since a filibuster of a nomination can be cut off with a simple majority of senators, which was not the case in 2001. …

  • Fred C. Dobbs says:
    January 19, 2021 at 2:58 pm

    http://McConnell says Trump ‘provoked’ Capitol siege and ‘fed lies’ to Trump-supporting mob https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/01/19/nation/mcconnell-said-trump-fed-lies-mob-about-biden-election/?event=event25 via @BostonGlobe

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday explicitly placed blame on President Donald Trump for the deadly riot at the Capitol, saying the mob was “fed lies” and that the president and others “provoked” those intent on overturning Democrat Joe Biden’s election.
    McConnell’s remarks as he opened the Senate were his most severe and public rebuke of outgoing President Donald Trump. The Republican leader vowed a “safe and successful” inauguration of Biden on Wednesday at the Capitol, which is under extremely tight security.
    “The mob was fed lies,” McConnell said. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like.”

    McConnell said after Biden’s inauguration on the Capitol’s West Front — what he noted former President George H.W. Bush has called “democracy’s front porch” — “We’ll move forward.”
    Trump’s last full day in office Tuesday is also senators’ first day back since the deadly Capitol siege, an unparalleled time of transition as the Senate presses ahead to his impeachment trial and starts confirmation hearings on Biden’s Cabinet.
    Three new Democratic senators-elect are set to be sworn into office Wednesday shortly after Biden’s inauguration at the Capitol, which is under extreme security since the bloody pro-Trump riot. The new senators’ arrival will give the Democrats the most slim majority, a 50-50 divided Senate chamber, with the new vice president, Kamala Harris, swearing them in and serving as an eventual tie-breaking vote.
    McConnell and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer are set to confer Tuesday about the arrangements ahead, according to a person familiar with the planning and granted anonymity to discuss it. …

  • Ron (RC) Weakley (a.k.a., Darryl for a while at EV) says:
    January 20, 2021 at 6:40 am

    I just heard on the news that Donald Trump in his own words was the first POTUS in decades that had started no new wars. My accounting of it is a little different. For sure though that Donald Trump was the first POTUS since Obama that has started no new wars.

  • Ron (RC) Weakley (a.k.a., Darryl for a while at EV) says:
    January 20, 2021 at 6:42 am

    Happy Inauguration Day!

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