Following the breach of the US Capitol today, the Senate reconvened several hours later to continue counting electoral ballots for the President and Vice President-elect of the United States. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) announced the House will also reconvene tonight at 9:00pm ET.
Read Speaker Pelosi’s statement here. Watch Senate floor proceedings here and House floor proceedings here.
Amid much national and international attention, the two runoff US Senate elections in Georgia on January 5th decided the (foreseeable) control of the US Senate for at least the first two years of President-elect Biden’s term. Both Georgia seats were flipped after Democrats defeated the Republican incumbents.
Senator-elect Jon Ossoff (D-GA) won election to the Class II seat previously occupied by former-Senator Perdue (R-GA). He will be up for reelection in 2026.
Senator-elect Raphael Warnock (D-GA) won election to the Class III seat previously occupied by former-Senator Loeffler (R-GA). Loeffler was appointed to replace former-Senator Isakson (R-GA) who resigned in 2019. Warnock will be up for reelection in 2022 for a full six year term.
With the Senate split 50-50, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (D) will serve as the tie-breaking vote in her constitutional role as President of the Senate.
Read more.
On Friday, the Senate followed the lead of the House by voting to override Trump’s veto of the NDAA. The Senate margin was 81 to 13, more than enough necessary to overcome the 2/3 majority requirement. This was the first Congressional veto override of the Trump Administration.
Read more here.
As of Wednesday, the US Senate has still not voted on whether to override President Trump’s veto of the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). A final vote, and eventual passage, is expected by this weekend after Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) objected to unanimous consent today. The House already voted to override the veto with bipartisan support.
Sanders’ objection was an attempt to push Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to schedule a vote on the increased, $2000 stimulus payments. The increased payments already passed in the House, and have the backing of President Trump. In a statement, Senator McConnell said the increased payments have “no realistic path to quickly pass the Senate.”
The clock is ticking to finish remaining agenda items before the 117th Congress is sworn in at 12:00pm on Sunday, January 3rd, 2021.
Read more here.
Today the US House of Representatives voted, by a 2/3 majority, to increase COVID-relief stimulus checks from $600 to $2000 per individual. The President has signaled support of this, however it is unclear if it can pass in the Senate.
The House also voted, with significant bipartisan support, to override the President’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an annual piece of legislation setting broad defense policy. If the Senate also votes to override, the legislation can become law without the President’s signature.
Read more here.