Does that also apply to the GOP staying in control of Senate committees? Because it's Groundhog Day in the Senate on that again, with no organizing resolution yet.
House Democrats make clear to the GOP that they will move to punish Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene R-GA if Republicans don't act. jamiedupree.substack.com/p/biden-meets-…
It's just so normal now for Republicans to still be in charge of Senate committees - even though the GOP lost its majority - that it didn't even merit a mention as Sen. Jim Inhofe R-OK gaveled a nomination hearing to order this morning.
Senate Agriculture Committee now meeting on the nomination of Tom Vilsack to be Ag Secretary. Sen. John Boozman R-AR is running the hearing. Boozman notes the "committee has no official chairman," since Sen. Pat Roberts R-KS retired, and no organizing resolution has been passed
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Before the House Rules Committee, Rep. Ted Deustch D-FL got choked up for a moment as he discussed the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, and said it was flat wrong for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene R-GA to have harassed survivors of that event.
Rep. Jackie Walorski R-IN, the top Republican on the House Ethics Committee, says while she denounces Greene's comments, the move to strip Greene of her committee assignments is wrong. "What are we doing here?" Walorski asked.
Walorski says because many of Greene's comments came before she was a member of Congress, the Ethics Committee should have no jurisdiction over Greene's behavior before January 3, 2021.
Senate panel starts business meeting on the nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas for Secretary of Homeland Security.
Sen. Ron Johnson R-WI still chairing the panel.
Johnson is absolutely ripping Mayorkas, and says President Biden should not have picked him for the DHS post.
Sen. Rob Portman R-OH criticizes Mayorkas, but notes there has not been a Senate confirmed leader at DHS since April 2019. Portman says he will vote to send the Mayorkas nomination to the Senate floor.
Senate hearing underway on nomination of Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo to serve as Commerce Secretary. GOP still in charge of the committee with Sen. Roger Wicker R-MS chairing. Wicker says he expects easy confirmation for Raimondo.
On the Senate floor, Schumer addresses the GOP blockade: "I am glad the Republican Leader finally relented and we can move forward now to organize the Senate."
Unclear exactly when the organizing resolution (just like the 2001 plan for a 50/50 Senate) will be formally approved.
As I wrote this morning, the 2001 powersharing plan - which Schumer offered earlier this month - was approved without any debate or controversy 20 years ago. But this time it took much longer. jamiedupree.substack.com/p/second-trump…
Sen. Patrick Leahy D-VT now in the chair. He will preside over the Trump impeachment trial as the President Pro Tem of the Senate. Senators now coming to the floor for the arrival of the House managers.
The House managers waiting in the Ohio Clock Corridor off the Senate floor, where rioters flooded the halls just a few weeks ago.
A lot more Democrats on the Senate floor than GOP Senators. Lead manager Rep. Jamie Raskin D-MD is reading the impeachment article against former President Trump.
NYT showing again that there was a lot of energy expended by the former President to illegally reverse his election loss in Georgia. nytimes.com/2021/01/22/us/…
Mr. Trump's actions related to Georgia are already part of the impeachment process. One would expect to hear the recording of the Trump-Raffensperger phone call played in the Senate trial.