January 21, 2021
2 mins read

Now Senate is under Democrats’ control

The Democratic Party has taken control of the US Senate after Vice President Kamala Harris swore in three party Senators as new members of the upper chamber.

Stepping onto the Senate floor for the first time as Vice President, which also makes her the President of the Senate, Harris on Wednesday swore in Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock from Georgia, as well as her replacement from California, Alex Padilla, reports Xinhua news agency.

The party breakdown in the Senate is 50-50 now, with Harris having the power to cast the tie-breaking vote.

Warnock, 51, and Ossoff, 33, won runoff elections in Georgia earlier this month that determined the control of the Senate.

Padilla, 47, was picked by California Governor Gavin Newsom to fill Harris’s Senate seat when she resigned to become vice president.

Meanwhile, Democratic leader in the chamber, Chuck Schumer, became the Senate Majority Leader.

“We have a lengthy agenda, and we need to get it done together… This will be an exceptionally busy and consequential period for the US Senate,” he said in the first speech in his new role.

“The divisions in the country are real. We have no choice but to try to work together every day,” Schumer said in remarks to Republican Senators.

Mitch McConnell of the Republican Party became the Minority Leader.

Mitch McConnel (Wikipedia)

Schumer and McConnell will have to reach a power-sharing deal in the coming weeks on how the business of the Senate will be run, with issues remaining to be resolved including the number of Senators each party will have on committees and the mechanism to break ties in the panels.

McConnell in a floor speech noted Joe Biden, who was sworn in as the 46th President of the US earlier in the day, “made unity the major thing of his inaugural address”, acknowledging that both Biden and Harris are alumni of the Senate and pledging cooperation with the new President “wherever possible”.

The Democrats have now controlled the White House, the Senate and the House, but the evenly-shared senate seats and the shrinking majority they have in the House, the slimmest in decades, show just how divided the country is.

Also Read-Covid death toll passes 2.07mn worldwide

Read More:Biden Halts Nation’s Withdrawal From WHO

Previous Story

Biden Halts Nation’s Withdrawal From WHO

Next Story

China sanctions top Trump officials

Latest from -Top News

Pak Army Chief Targets India Again

This is not the first time that Munir has indulged in loose talk, exhibiting conduct unbecoming an officer….reports Asian Lite News Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir on

Yunus Must Be Treated Like Hasina, Warn Islamists

Islamist group made these warnings to the interim government, terming the women’s reform body proposals as “anti-Islamic…reports Asian Lite News The radical Islamist group in Bangladesh, Hefazat-e-Islam, has issued a threat, stating

UN: Bring Pahalgam Terrorists to Justice

The members of the Security Council “stressed that those responsible for these killings should be held accountable..reports Asian Lite News The Security Council has “condemned in the strongest terms” the Pahalgam terrorist

Vatican Hosts Final Rites for Pope Francis

The Argentine-born pontiff, the first from Latin America, died less than a month after returning home from a prolonged five-week hospitalisation for double pneumonia….reports Asian Lite News In an outpouring of global
Go toTop