That’s because between them and their agenda stands McConnell, an acknowledged master of Senate procedures, famed for his ability to block presidential agendas.Įven as McConnell has seen some of his power ebb away-losing his Senate majority on the clay fields of Georgia, breaking with Donald Trump in the final days of his presidency-he still finds himself an essential figure in Biden’s Washington. Nonetheless, they seem destined to be bargaining for half a loaf, at best, for anything that requires 60 votes in the Senate, the level necessary to defeat a filibuster. Unlike 2012, they have a slim majority in the House, as well. They control the White House and Senate, albeit by the slimmest possible margin. Once again, their party wields most of the levers of government. Now, eight years later, Biden and McConnell are entering a new phase of their 36-year relationship, and the Democratic left fears a repeat of the 2012 dynamic. The Democratic Party had been running against that for 10 years.” It extended the Bush tax cuts permanently. Michael Bennet of Colorado called it “a complete victory for the Tea Party. McConnell did, crowing to his fellow Republicans that “in a government controlled two-thirds by the Democrats, we got permanency for 99 percent of the Bush tax cuts.”īiden did, boasting in a June 2019 debate that “I got Mitch McConnell to raise taxes $600 billion by raising the top rate.”īut many Democrats weren’t celebrating at all and still haven’t gotten over it. The outcome-a continuation of the Bush-era tax cuts with a relatively modest hike of 1.8 percent, weighted toward higher earners-was the kind of deal both negotiators could celebrate. In a move that angered Reid, Biden took over the negotiations with Obama’s blessing. Obama and Biden, however, feared an adverse reaction from the markets and a potential recession. Reid reasoned that if taxes were to rise automatically, McConnell would have to negotiate from a weakened position. The Democratic Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, was willing to go over the cliff if McConnell didn’t agree to tax increases for the highest earners, one of Democrats’ signature campaign promises. president to two four-year terms.Īlso Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden took the oath of office on a Bible that his family has used since 1893.A cascade of deadlines on December 31, 2012, set up a world economy-level battle known as the “fiscal cliff.” Without any action by Congress, the next year would bring about $700 billion in combined tax hikes and budget cuts-extreme austerity measures that could cripple the recovering economy. Obama is the first president since Franklin Roosevelt to take the oath of office four times. So the oath was given again one day later. Supreme Court, John Roberts, stumbled over one of the words while administering the oath. He was sworn-in twice for his first term in 2009 when the chief justice of the U.S. Monday's swearing-in was the fourth time Mr. Tradition holds that when Inauguration Day is on a Sunday, the president is sworn-in privately and a public ceremony is held the next day. The presidential term ends on the Constitutionally-mandated date of January 20, which was on a Sunday this year when courts and public offices are closed. Obama repeated the oath for the public Monday, where he also made his inaugural address. President Obama was officially sworn-in for a second term Sunday during a brief, private ceremony at the White House, where he used his wife Michelle's family Bible. Monday is the official government holiday honoring King who was assassinated in 1968. The second Bible was the so-called "traveling Bible" used by slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Junior. The first was the Bible used by former President Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, when he took the oath for his first term in 1861. President Barack Obama took the oath of office Monday, he placed his hand on two Bibles.
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