With the belated passage of the Senate organizing resolution, Democrats are finally able to take over as committee chairs.
Thirty-one days into the new Congress and weeks after the Georgia Senate runoffs gave them 50 seats, Democrats now officially control the functioning of the Senate. It took weeks of negotiation between party leaders to decide how Democrats and Republicans would share power and resources in the evenly divided Senate, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stonewalled the process, trying to extract promises from Democrats about retaining the filibuster. That obstruction left Republicans chairing committees, despite the seating of a 50-50 Senate, in which Democrats, through Vice President Kamala Harris, hold the tie-breaking vote. But on Wednesday, the Senate finally passed an organizing resolution largely sharing power. The resolution was adopted by unanimous consent. “Committees can promptly set up and get to work, with Democrats holding the gavels,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday morning, announcing the deal. “Senate Democrats are not going to waste any time taking on the biggest challenges facing our country and our planet.
