WASHINGTON — On Friday, Republicans took control of the U.S. Senate under the leadership of John Thune of South Dakota, who pledged to maintain the legislative filibuster, which is a process that requires 60 votes for major legislation that some Democrats had targeted for repeal.
As Republicans are ready to seize control of the Senate, House, and White House once President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20, Thune continues the legacy of Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, the Senate GOP’s longest-serving leader.
As the body pursues an aggressive agenda to overhaul immigration and extend 2017 tax cuts, in addition to actually funding the government, albeit months late, once temporary measures expire in March, Thune stated in his first opening remarks as leader that he would restore the upper chamber as a venue for discussion and deliberation.
In order to accomplish as many of the party’s political objectives as may be supported in the one-per-fiscal-year budget resolution, Republicans are looking to the budget reconciliation process as a legislative tool that enables the Senate to escape the 60-vote filibuster. During their unified government in the 117th Congress, Democrats employed reconciliation on two occasions.
Nevertheless, Thune emphasized in his introductory remarks at the beginning of the 119th Congress that the Senate must continue to be the more steady, deliberate, and careful legislature.
On the floor, Thune stated that many people today regrettably wanted to see the Senate become a replica of the House of Representatives.
Furthermore, he added, that is neither what our nation needs nor what our founders intended. Making sure the Senate remains the Senate will be one of my top goals as leader. This entails keeping the legislative filibuster in place.
According to Thune, the 60-vote rule has the biggest influence on upholding the US Senate’s founding principles.
On Friday, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who has been a member of the Senate since 1981, took up his previous position as Senate president pro tempore, which he held from 2019 to 2021.
On the floor Friday, New York Senator Chuck Schumer, who is currently the body’s minority leader, stated that he is eager to collaborate with Thune and wants to keep reaching across the aisle.
In order to continue that bipartisan trend in the upcoming year, I wish to collaborate with the newly appointed Republican leader. Schumer stated, “I don’t expect us to agree on everything or even many things.” However, if we are prepared to cooperate, there are still chances to make the lives of Americans better.
Several Republicans who had previously held Democratic seats were among the ten new senators sworn in on Friday.
These included Republican Sen. David McCormick, who defeated longtime Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania; Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy, who defeated Democrat Jon Tester in Montana for the Senate seat; and the GOP’s new Sen. Bernie Moreno, who defeated longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio for the Senate seat.
Jim Justice, the governor of West Virginia, was not one of the lawmakers who took the oath on Friday. The outgoing independent Joe Manchin III’s seat was won by Republican Justice, who will serve as the state’s governor until January 13 before entering the Senate.
The first two Black women to serve concurrently in the upper chamber were newly elected Democratic senators Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, who made history on Friday.
Republicans Jim Banks of Indiana and John Curtis of Utah, together with Democrats Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Ruben Gallego of Arizona, were among the other senators who were sworn in on Friday.
In December, Democratic Senators Andy Kim of New Jersey and Adam Schiff of California took their oaths.
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