Democrats turn to Biden’s agenda after impeachment trial

With impeachment in the rearview mirror, congressional Democrats are directing their full attention toward President Joe Biden's agenda as they return to Washington this week.

House Democrats unveiled their full $1.9 trillion stimulus bill on Friday, which is expected to move through the House Budget Committee and to a House floor vote this week. Senate Democrats are preparing to tackle the bill with the narrowest of majorities while Senate committees ramp up confirmation hearings to approve key Biden administration nominees.

The pivot to the White House's legislative agenda comes after the first month of Biden's presidency was often overshadowed by former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, both in the public spotlight as well as in the Capitol, with the trial halting any other business being taken up by the Senate while it was ongoing.

Some confirmation hearings were put on hold during the trial earlier this month, and the initial idea of a "bifurcated" Senate that could do two things at once was quickly abandoned because it would have required unanimous support from Republicans. Instead, Senate Democrats implored House impeachment managers to abandon their desire for deposing witnesses since hearing from them could have delayed the trial for weeks.

Now Democrats can turn their full attention to passing Biden's Covid-19 relief proposal, and navigating the tricky politics of the Senate's budget reconciliation process.

They're doing so for the first time in a decade that they control the White House and both chambers of Congress, although they have just a narrow majority in the House and a 50-50 split in the Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris is the tie-breaking vote.

Still, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a letter to Democratic senators Friday that the Senate would move forward on the Covid relief package after it passes the House, vowing to pass the bill ahead of a March 14 deadline when expanded unemployment benefits are set to expire.

"Make no mistake: the era of Mitch McConnell's legislative graveyard is over," Schumer said.