After an unprecedented inaugural caused by the pandemic newly sworn in President Biden began with a flurry of Executive Orders. The orders were headlined with the US rejoining the WHO and the Paris Climate Accord; but other orders included many parts of the Biden program to attack the coronavirus.
Here is a link to a list of Executive Orders compiled by CNN which the President has issued in his first 48 hours as President.
Today the Senate approved Lloyd Austin to be the Secretary of Defense. The vote was 93 to 2. Senator Josh Hawley is clearly positioning himself as the leader of the Trump opposition by being one of the two votes against Austin. Janet Yellen was unanimously approved by the Senate Finance Committee and should be approved by the Senate either today or early next week. Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken also seems likely to be confirmed in the next few days.
Impeachment is the 900lb gorilla in the room as Pelosi announced that the House will send the formal impeachment legislation over to the Senate on Monday. Under existing rules, the trial would need to begin on Tuesday, but there are several moving pieces that will impact the process. President Biden wants the Senate to move ahead with his nominees, and many believe that to win some bipartisan support the impeachment process needs to be deemed as fair. Hence, there is a growing belief that the two leaders, Schumer and McConnell, will reach some sort of agreement to delay the trial. But at some point, the Republicans are likely to move to dismiss the charges as unconstitutional – impeaching a former President. While this is unlikely to succeed it will be the initial position taken by Senate Republicans.
Watch this weekend for what could be an important meeting at the White House between leaders of the new Administration and a bipartisan group of 16 Senators, eight Republicans and eight Democrats, to see if there may be some areas of agreement on a Covid Relief package. The group that is being referred to as the “Sweet 16” could come up with the outline for an initial stimulus bill that could move quickly. There appear to be measures such as vaccine money and another targeted stimulus check that could move outside the process of the Biden $1.9T package that has gotten little Republican support.
Another issue that will be the focus of much discussion in the coming days is a set of rules to govern a Senate divided 50/50. Republican Leader McConnell wants a commitment to maintain the filibuster as part of the rules package, but Schumer has been clear he wants the leverage to stop filibusters as Biden legislation moves through Congress. While rules may be arcane it is in many ways the lifeblood of how the Senate works so these discussions are worth watching.
