That deed, with 11 months remaining in Obama’s presidency, helped set the stage for the Supreme Court’s ruling last month overturning Roe vs. McConnell’s most notable move was refusing to even hold a hearing in 2016 for then-Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama’s nominee to succeed Justice Anthony Scalia, who had just died. “If things go well and Biden has all of his people in place, that may not serve that goal.” “It gets back to what Mitch said openly: He wants to block every element of the Biden agenda,” Ornstein said. The only thing most voters see is gridlock, which they often blame on the president. But Ornstein said Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) maximized the strategy during the Obama administration - sucking up time on procedure that could have otherwise been used for governing. In all, 20 of Harris’ 23 tiebreaking votes have involved confirmations, some of which required her to break ties on “discharge petitions,” ensuring a would-be official or judge could get a Senate vote after a committee had deadlocked on the nomination.īoth sides have increasingly obstructed in recent decades. Leahy’s (D-Vt.) office announced he would need hip surgery, throwing Democrats another potential absence in the coming weeks. Schumer (D-N.Y.) took a last-minute procedural action that ensured Democrats could more quickly bring up Gomez’s nomination again, when Harris was around to wield the gavel. The vote would have been 50-50, resulting in Senate rejecting the nomination of Lisa Gomez. In early June, when Harris was in Los Angeles for the Summit of the Americas, Democrats were surprised when it became clear they were not going to muster enough votes to pass the nomination to fill an obscure Department of Labor position. It can also take up time in the Senate that could be used on more substantive issues. A miscalculation can set plans back weeks, grounding the administration’s work and consuming even more time for lawmakers. That dynamic has put enormous scheduling pressure on Harris and all 50 members of the Senate majority. “And now, just for purposes of obstruction, to force the vice president to come to the Senate to cast that tiebreaking vote.” “You’re getting all Republicans voting against a lot of these confirmations - confirmations that in years past would have breezed through,” Ornstein said. Harris’ vote has also been crucial in ensuring a liberal and diverse cast of nominees got key jobs in regulatory agencies.īut the fact that Democrats have needed Harris for the most basic elements of governing - filling top administration jobs - reveals how badly the Senate has been damaged by the nation’s polarization, said Norm Ornstein, who has studied Congress and is co-author of “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism.” Harris’ shining moment as tiebreaker came when she cast the deciding procedural vote in last year’s $1.9-trillion stimulus bill known as the American Rescue Plan, a signature Biden administration achievement. Not all agree that endorsements from national Democratic figures would help. Karen Bass wants to frame her mayoral campaign as part of a national partisan battle. Politics Would endorsements from Biden, Harris or Obama matter in the L.A.
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