A Good day for Democrats in Congress and the country….
Republicans take several steps back…
Democrats swore in three new senators on Wednesday, officially handing the party the Senate majority for the first time since losing the chamber in the 2014 elections.
Newly minted Vice President Kamala Harris swore in Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff (D) and Raphael Warnock (D), who defeated Sens. David Perdue(R.) and Kelly Loeffler (R.) in Georgia’s runoff elections on Jan. 5.
Harris also swore in her successor as California senator, former California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who will hold the seat through the scheduled end of Harris’s term in 2022.
Swearing in the three senators, in addition to Harris’s own swearing-in earlier Wednesday at the Capitol, officially gives Democrats control of the Senate.
The Senate is now split 50-50, but because Harris in her capacity as vice president is also president of the Senate, it allows her to break any ties and officially tips control of the chamber in Democrats’ favor.
“We have turned the page to a new chapter in the history of our democracy,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said from the floor after the new senators were sworn in.
Harris, speaking to reporters as she left the Capitol, described presiding over the Senate as “amazing.”
Democrats have pledged to tackle a bold agenda, as they have total control of government for the first time since 2010, when they lost the House in a Tea Party wave.
Schumer, speaking from the Senate floor, pledged that the chamber under his leadership would be “active, responsive, energetic and bold.”…
After falling short in 2016 and again in November, Schumer has finally ousted his nemesis, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who raised tens of millions of dollars himself to stave off the Democratic takeover.
“What a good morning it is. We sure did not take the most direct path to get here but here we are,” an exultant Schumer said the Wednesday morning after the Georgia runoffs shortly after issuing a statement declaring that Democrats would recapture control of the Senate after six years in the minority.
“As majority leader, President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris will have a partner who is ready, willing and able to help achieve a forward looking agenda,” he said in a victory statement at the time….
Top image…Now Habersham
Bottom image….Time Magazine