With a 50-50 senate split thanks to a victory from Georgia s Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock, Joe Biden is entering is presidency with a lot of power. Here s what
Vice President Harris also swore in now-senators Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff of Georgia, who earlier this month won a tight runoff race against Republican incumbents, turning the state blue for the first time since 1992. Warnock is the state s first Black senator, while Ossoff is the state s first Jewish senator and the youngest Democratic senator since Joe Biden was elected almost 50 years ago.
Their hard-fought victories which are undoubtedly owed to voting rights activists and organizers like Stacey Abrams gives the Senate a 50-50 split, but with Harris s role as president of the legislative body, Democrats have the majority.
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A member of the Proud Boys wearing a t-shirt that reads death to liberals stands with other Proud Boys in Freedom Plaza during a protest on December 12, 2020, in Washington, DC (Getty Images)
On January 20th, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris respectively took the oaths to become the 46th President and the 49th Vice President of the United States. Soon after, Vice President Harris swore in Alex Padilla, Jon Ossoff, and Reverend Raphael Warnock as Senators, giving Democrats the control of the Presidency, the House, and the Senate for the first time since 2010. One of the leading messages of Biden s inauguration address was unity, and moving forward without disparaging anyone regardless of whether they supported Biden s presidency bid or not.
By Amy Goodman & Denis Moynihan
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris leapt into action after taking the oath of office on Wednesday. Biden signed 17 executive orders, dismantling many of Donald Trump’s signature policies. Biden rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization, ended the Muslim travel ban, halted most deportations and construction of the border wall, fortified DACA, rescinded the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, implemented a nationwide mask mandate on federal property, and more.
Kamala Harris is the first woman, first African American, first Asian American, first Indian American and the first Caribbean American to hold the office of Vice President. As President of the Senate, she swore in Alex Padilla, California’s first Latinx U.S. Senator, appointed to fill the Senate seat she vacated, as well as Georgia’s two new Democratic Senators, Jon Ossoff, the first Jewish Senator from Georgia, and Reverend Raphael Warnock, t
Kamala Harris will step into the United States vice presidency on Wednesday, making history as the first woman and the first person of colour to assume the role of second-in-command.
Upon being sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the steps of the US Capitol, Harris will also be entering the next step in her political journey as President-elect Joe Biden’s deputy – and an early contender to be the next US president.
“Harris is a brilliant, dynamic woman and policymaker, who has shown she can gain the trust of a large swath of the Democratic Party,” Derrick Plumber, a Democratic strategist, told Al Jazeera. “That solidifies her in her own right, not only as vice president but into the future.”