Kamala Harris’s inauguration makes historical past

Together with her inauguration, Vice President Kamala Harris has made historical past: She’s the primary lady — and first Black and South Asian individual — to serve within the position, and now the highest-ranking lady in US authorities.

However past these firsts, Harris is poised to have a vice presidency not like few others, largely due to the singular position she’s anticipated to tackle.

Harris will probably be one among only a handful of vice presidents to preside over a 50-50 Senate, making her a pivotal tiebreaker within the higher chamber. And given her experience as a lawmaker, she’s set to be an impactful voice because the US continues to fight ongoing public well being and financial crises. President Joe Biden has additionally stated Harris will probably be his high adviser — “the final individual within the room” — with the power to strongly affect White Home coverage.

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“The way in which she’s approaching the vice presidency is similar to the way in which Joe Biden approached the vice presidency with Barack Obama,” Harris press secretary Sabrina Singh beforehand advised USA At this time. “She’s strolling into this workplace as a full governing accomplice to Joe Biden and is totally aligned and supportive of his priorities.”

Within the Senate, Harris’s 51st vote could possibly be a key one: On all the things from resolutions rolling again Trump-era guidelines to confirmations for Cupboard nominees to laws that’s accredited through finances reconciliation, her vote could be wanted to achieve a easy majority. And whereas breaking tie votes is nothing new for vice presidents — Mike Pence did it 13 instances throughout his tenure — it’s sometimes much less frequent, with Democrats’ extremely slim margins suggesting that Harris could possibly be doing it much more usually.

“Vice President Harris will probably be in a comparatively distinctive position amongst trendy vice presidents,” Joel Goldstein, a St. Louis College legislation professor and skilled on the vice presidency, tells Vox. “The even division of the Senate, the polarization of the events, and the demise of the filibuster relating to appointments signifies that she might have event to solid some vital tie-breaking votes.”

Harris could possibly be a serious tiebreaker on key votes

Previous to this time period, Dick Cheney was the final vp to preside over a 50-50 Senate — although that cut up solely lasted for just a few months in 2001 earlier than Sen. Jim Jeffords (R-VT) determined to modify events.

On the time, Cheney solely broke two ties whereas the Senate was divided on this method — each of which have been on finances amendments.

Harris may need to do the identical far more often, each as a result of the Senate has grown extra partisan since then, and since the edge for approving Cupboard nominees and most judges has been diminished to a easy majority.

“If there’s going to be a tie vote, it may simply come throughout nominations,” says George Washington College political science professor Sarah Binder.

And although he by no means presided over an evenly divided Senate, Pence’s tiebreakers may present a glimpse into the themes Harris might need to step in on: His vote helped verify former Training Secretary Betsy DeVos, superior a number of judges, and allowed Republicans to roll again Obama-era laws that enabled abortion suppliers to obtain federal grants.

Normally, Harris may doubtlessly break ties on few several types of votes:

• Cupboard nominees and judges: These nominees require 51 votes to be confirmed, and relying on how a lot GOP help they garner — may wish a tiebreaker to maneuver ahead.
• Congressional Evaluation Act votes: Utilizing the Congressional Evaluation Act, Senate Democrats are capable of undo company guidelines made throughout the final 60 legislative days if they’ve 51 votes to take action, and help within the Home. Democrats may take this path to roll again Trump-era laws, together with modifications to environmental protections.
• Funds decision: A finances decision, which could possibly be used to cross extra formidable laws, together with extra Covid-19 reduction, solely wants a easy majority of votes to cross — slightly than 60 votes, the edge most laws should clear. The method for approving this measure is called reconciliation.

Simply what number of instances Harris might have to make use of this energy will depend upon the opposition Senate Republicans put forth on points like Cupboard picks and efforts to make use of the Congressional Evaluation Act to undo the insurance policies of the Trump administration. One issue is how united Democrats keep throughout legislative priorities and nominees: Due to the Senate numbers, each Democrat within the caucus will probably be wanted to approve just about something that requires a easy majority for it to achieve success.

“The 2 variables are the response of the Republicans and whether or not the measures on the ground can garner [moderate support],” says Binder. If Democrats can persistently maintain their caucus collectively and peel off a number of reasonable Republicans, tie-breaking could also be much less mandatory, for example.

And whereas this procedural position is one which vice presidents have lengthy held, Democrats’ naked majority within the Senate — and the expansive objectives they’d like to attain beneath the Biden administration — may put a highlight on Harris.

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“It definitely underscores the significance that she brings to the legislative agenda and can showcase her position,” former Sen. Tom Daschle, who was a minority chief within the final 50-50 Senate, advised Vox.

As a tiebreaker, the vp’s focus is extra to help the social gathering to get to a selected vote threshold than to form the laws itself — although Harris may doubtlessly additionally tackle the latter job.

Harris, in a current op-ed within the San Francisco Chronicle, stated she would embrace this duty however urged lawmakers to search out frequent floor. “Since our nation’s founding, solely 268 tie-breaking votes have been solid by a vp. I intend to work tirelessly as your vp, together with, if mandatory, fulfilling this Constitutional responsibility,” she wrote.

There are completely different coverage areas that Harris may prioritize

A lot of the position of the vice presidency will depend upon how Biden and Harris choose to construction their partnership, and his feedback up to now counsel that she could possibly be fairly influential.

“Totally different presidents construction the duties of the vp in numerous methods,” former Democratic Senate staffer Jim Manley advised Vox. “Each Joe Biden and Al Gore had a seat on the desk for each main choice.”

Biden has spoken about being how vital it was for him to be the “final individual within the room” when Obama made key selections on all the things from the Restoration Act to troop withdrawals in Iraq, and he’s dedicated to having the identical kind of relationship with Harris.

“I advised him I wished to be the final individual within the room earlier than he made vital selections. That’s what I requested Kamala. I requested Kamala to be the final voice within the room,” Biden has stated. Harris, too, stated she appears ahead to being a “full accomplice” to the president.

“Vice presidents are solely as highly effective as their presidents allow them to be,” says Jody Baumgartner, a political science professor at Japanese Carolina College and skilled on the vice presidency. This implies the dynamic between the 2 leaders is commonly a deciding think about how they coordinate governance duties.

Precisely how Biden and Harris will share labor isn’t but clear. However given Harris’s work as a senator — and her place as a tiebreaker — one position she may fill is because the administration’s liaison to Congress. When he was vp, since he’d served within the physique for many years at that time, Biden labored closely with legislators. “At any time when [then-Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid had an issue with Republicans, one among his telephone calls he would make could be with the vp, who had good relationships with Capitol Hill,” says Manley.

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Due to Biden’s personal background in Congress, this could possibly be a continued focus for him as effectively. Harris has in depth expertise she is going to convey on the legislative entrance and on particular points. She was a number one creator of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, the Senate’s anti-lynching measure and the LIFT Act, which might broaden tax credit for middle-class households.

Throughout her 4 years as a senator, Harris served on the judiciary and intelligence committees. Earlier than that, she spent greater than twenty years as a California prosecutor, each because the state’s legal professional normal and San Francisco district legal professional.

She comes into her new position with deep experience and a broad ability set. And because the first Black lady and first South Asian lady on this position, she’ll even be ready to raise the voices of girls of coloration on completely different coverage topics.

“I’m to see whether or not and the way her id shapes her strategy to this partnership,” Howard College political science professor Keneshia Grant advised Vox. “I’m hopeful that she is ready to translate her lived expertise on the intersection of race and gender into insurance policies which might be delicate to the lives of on a regular basis folks.”

Together with her background in felony justice reform, this could possibly be among the many areas that Harris continues to give attention to, with progressives prone to hold pressuring the administration on their stances.

Spokesperson Symone Sanders beforehand advised the Related Press that the Biden administration hopes to benefit from Harris’s wide-ranging experience by having her be concerned in each main situation the administration tackles. The 4 pillars the brand new administration has laid out up to now to give attention to are Covid-19, financial restoration, racial justice, and local weather change.

“She has a voice in all of these. She has an opinion in all these areas. And it’ll most likely get to a degree the place she is concentrating on a number of the areas extra particularly,” Sanders stated. “However proper now, I feel what we’re confronted with on this nation is so large, it’s all palms on deck.”