Three new senators were sworn in Wednesday afternoon, delivering control of the chamber to Democrats and cementing the party’s grasp on all the reins of political power in Washington for the first time in a decade.
Taking the oath of office were Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, the winners of Georgia’s special elections earlier this month, and Sen. Alex Padilla, picked by California’s governor to fill the seat of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Ms. Harris, who as vice president serves as presiding officer of the Senate, also gives Democrats the tie-breaking vote, and thus control of the chamber, which otherwise is divided with 50 Republicans and 50 members of the Democratic Caucus (two of whom are formally independents).
The change installs Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York as the majority leader and relegates Sen. Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, to the minority leader’s post.
They were in the middle of negotiations Wednesday over how to organize the Senate, including the size of committees. Mr. McConnell was trying to have the organizing resolution include a firm commitment to the existence of the filibuster, a defining feature of the Senate, though one many Democrats appear eager to dispense with in order to push through President Biden’s agenda.
The Senate did confirm Mr. Biden’s pick to be director of national security Wednesday night, though that was the only one of his Cabinet nominees to receive a floor vote.
Every president dating back to Richard Nixon has gotten at least one Cabinet nominee confirmed on Inauguration Day.
Mr. Schumer on Wednesday challenged senators to work toward conciliation.
“We have no choice but to try to work together, every day, to reward the faith the American people have placed in us,” he said.
Mr. McConnell, for his part, pointed out that Democrats’ majority in the House shrank, the Senate is evenly divided, and Mr. Biden ran on a campaign of unity.
“The people intentionally entrusted both political parties with significant power to shape our nation’s direction,” he said.
The last time the Senate was 50-50 was in 2001, at the start of the George W. Bush administration.
The close division didn’t prevent big action. A tax cut was approved, and the chamber made major progress on immigration legislation.
It’s unclear how well the arrangement will work in 2021, though, with Congress more ideologically divided and fewer clear opportunities for bipartisan agreement.
Plus, after the treatment Democrats gave President Trump on usually low-controversy matters like nominations, there’s likely to be some interest in payback.
That may already be playing out.
The Senate, which had still been under GOP control before Wednesday, didn’t hold hearings for the new major nominees until Tuesday, when Mr. Biden’s picks to lead the State, Defense, Treasury and Homeland Security departments all appeared, as did his pick for intelligence chief.
In the Obama and Trump transitions, hearings had begun at least a week before Inauguration Day.
“Look, the transition was delayed far too long by President Trump’s baseless conspiracy theories about how he won the election,” said Sen. Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat.
President Obama saw six of his Cabinet picks confirmed on his first day in office — and he kept on President George W. Bush’s defense secretary, so he had seven members of his team installed. Mr. Trump had two picks — at defense and homeland security — installed on his first day.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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