Tag: Mitch McConnell

If Chuck Schumer and his Senate Democrats choose a path of obstructing President Trump’s agenda, they will have learned from the best.

Rebuked by the Senate majority leader, Warren wound up reading the 10-page letter outside the chamber on Facebook Live, which has been seen by more than 8 million people—exponentially more than routinely tune into C-SPAN 2.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) was elected Wednesday leader of the Senate Democratic minority, making the seasoned senator from Brooklyn a key check on Republican control of Congress and the White House. As Senate minority leader, Schumer is up against a 51-48 GOP majority that will likely gain one more seat in a Louisiana runoff election next month. But because Senate rules require 60 votes to end debate on bills before legislation can be passed with a simple majority vote, Schumer and the Democratic caucus are effectively the last stand against President-Elect Donald Trump’s agenda.

Judge Merrick Garland has won bipartisan praise in the past but that might not even merit him a Senate confirmation hearing this presidential election year. The 63-year-old Chicagoan—as both he and President Barack Obama pointed out—is currently the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which Obama said is often regarded as “The Second-Highest Court In The Land.” Legal observers have called Garland a "centrist" and a "moderate" jurist.

When push came to shove, and his party was literally up against the wall, his inability to communicate viscerally will have profound political repercussions in the months to come.