Failure to Launch: Democrat-controlled Senate Off to Painfully Slow Start

AA House Republicans spar with the Biden administration and pass a bevy of messaging bills, the Democratic-controlled Senate It is getting off to a slower start. Just four weeks into the 118th session CongressAlthough the chamber took only a few votes, it is just now organizing its committee rosters. This could signal a slow start to what could prove to be a productive two years.

Sen. John McCain appears to be less optimistic about a session of legislative sessions in which the chamber will not be able to pass any bills beyond the must-pass ones, like raising the debt limit or the National Defense Authorization Act. This could be a stark contrast to the previous session in which Democrats achieved a number of legislative achievements when they controlled both chambers.

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“The fact of the matter is, other than nominations, it’s going to be a slow couple of years, I think, unless we can find some areas where we can work on in the House and the Democratically controlled Senate and Democrats in the White House,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)An adviser to the GOP leadership group. “It remains to be seen if folks have an appetite to do that.”

Thursday’s resolutions organizing committees will be approved by the Senate. Mitch McConnell, Republican-KY Minority LeaderNearly one month into the new year, ) released Senate GOP committee assignments.

Partly, the delay was due to a Senate Republican Conference Precedent prevents senators from different states from sitting together on the same committee without one getting a waiver. The conference rejected a proposal from a freshman last week Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) To be granted a waiver to serve with Missouri colleagues on the Judiciary Committee Sen. Josh Hawley (R).

Sens, a senior member of the staff, would have been able to make the move. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN Or Thom Tillis, R-NCThe prestigious panel.

Republican Whip John Thune (R-SD) It was admitted that there were “several hiccups” during the process but didn’t elaborate on what played out. The Republicans decide their assignments by having senators rank their preferences. Seniority and rankings are also taken into consideration.

“It has to do with how they rank their committee choices, A, super A, B, C. It’s a fairly complicated and heavily weighted process. So, when somebody decides to make a decision at some place, it re-triggers the entire chart. So, that’s had to happen a couple of times now,” Thune gave an explanation to reporters Tuesday afternoon.

The Senate took a two-and a half week recess immediately after swearing-in members to compound the slow start.

The light floor schedule hasn’t stopped senators from holding press conferences and a few hearings. Senate Intelligence Committee has been receiving briefings. New members joined in even before the leadership officially announced their assignments.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will likely move quickly to prepare the floor votes for the holdover nominees, now that Schumer has a clear majority. Kamala Harris is Vice President Break any 50-50 tie

The drama surrounding Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), speakership bid led to a slow start in the House. However, the Republican leadership has passed several bills on everything, from China to closing down the COVID-19 Pandemic door. Oversight and Judiciary are currently engaged in a back and forth with the Biden government over the president’s mishandlings of classified documents.

Senators are outraged by stonewalling at the Justice Department. Intelligence Committee members demand more information about document scandals that have implicated not only President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and former Vice-President Mike Pence.

The Senate floor has not received much substance. The Senate cast its ballot. Fourth vote of this year Wednesday saw the approval of a resolution designating January as National Trafficking and Modern Slavery Prevention Month. Senators also voted in favor of two nominations to designate January National Stalking Awareness Month. It unanimously congratulated Georgia’s football team for winning the NCAA Football Championship. NCAA Recognized and champion “the contributions of Catholic schools.”

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Schumer told reporters that the slow pace of growth is not indicative about the future.

“It’s only our second week in session since we didn’t come back until the 19th. The Republican processes are a little bit more cumbersome than ours,” He said. “We’ve been ready for a week and a half.”

In the final session, Democrats were able pass legislation to Congress such as the Inflation Reduction Act (Bipartisan Bill on Gun Control) and the Inflation Reduction Act (Inflation Reduction Act).

Behind the scenes, several Senate staffers claim it will be difficult to get any meaningful legislation passed through the upper chamber this term on issues that are dividing legislators along party lines. Some said they don’t intend to draft or introduce certain bills without some kind of buy-in from the House and may wait and see what the lower chamber is able to pass.

“That’s a practical answer because it doesn’t make any sense for us to do something with 60 votes over here that the House won’t take up,” Cornyn reiterated the strategy, Washington Examiner.

“It makes more sense if the House is able to move something; then we can see how we can get 60 votes over here and get something to the president. I remain hopeful we will be able to do that,” He concluded, “maybe not on a big sort of, you know, change-the-fate-of-Western-civilization type of legislation but a more narrow shot.”

Thune said the slow pace of the upper chamber’s work is a dynamic that comes with divided government. He believes that the Democratic leadership might not be willing to take legislative risk ahead of 2024’s difficult election cycle, in which nearly half of the Democratic caucus will be up for reelection.

“The more legislation they put on the floor, the more opportunity to offer amendments and the more tough votes those folks have to take,” Thune spoke to reporters Tuesday. “I think there’s a political dynamic here that is certainly also a factor in Democrats’ calculations about what they want to do here.”

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Jon Reinish, a Democratic strategist and former aide to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), said he doesn’t think Democratic leadership would sacrifice their legislative agenda just to protect vulnerable incumbents.

“The Senate isn’t exactly grease lighting — it always tends to be a game of hurry up and wait. Yes, there are vulnerable Democratic senators in red states who are up for reelection. That said, there are parts of Senate Democrats’ legislative agenda that are broadly popular and that transcend partisan affiliation,” He said.

Reinish also said that Schumer is extremely purposeful and has a strong command over his conference.

“He famously speaks to every one of them on his flip phone every day,” Reinish said. “He has run the political arm of the caucus enough times to know what’s a good vote for Sherrod Brown and what’s a good vote for Jon Tester and for Joe Manchin. He is extremely receptive to those concerns.”