Schumer and McConnell try to cut a deal on a 50-50 Senate

Senate leaders Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell have yet to strike an agreement on how to run an evenly split Senate, with a meeting on Tuesday afternoon between the two leaders expected to set the tone at a critical moment in Washington, D.C.

Schumer is likely to formally become majority leader on Wednesday, wielding an effective 51-50 majority after his new Democratic senators are sworn in and Kamala Harris becomes vice president and Senate tie-breaker, according to a source familiar with the schedule. But the Senate will still need to pass an organizing resolution and work out committee ratios and other rules of the road.

Schumer told reporters on Tuesday that “we hope we can come to an agreement.” McConnell is currently the majority leader and will still have major sway over incoming President Joe Biden’s agenda.

“They’re both pragmatists in that they have to get this done for us to move forward. I think they will. I don’t get the sense McConnell is going to hold out for weeks or anything like that,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who attends GOP leadership meetings with McConnell.

“Given what we’ve been through as a country: a pandemic, and an attempted coup, this relationship simply has to work,” added Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who helps run the party’s whip operation. “The normal political calculus about maximizing advantage in the next election has to be set aside.”

Schumer (D-N.Y.) and McConnell (R-Ky.) are largely expected to operate the Senate in a similar fashion to how former Senate leaders Trent Lott and Tom Daschle devised the last 50-50 blueprint. That allowed for committee memberships to be evenly split, with bills that receive tied votes advancing to the floor; the party controlling the White House would still set the Senate schedule and determine which legislation would get taken up.

But there’s so much to be negotiated this time around beyond just the operations of the Senate. Among the unanswered questions: When will President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial start and how long will it go? Can Biden get any of his Cabinet nominees confirmed before or during the trial? And will Republicans work with Democrats on a Covid-19 relief package or will Democrats have to move unilaterally?

“Obviously there’s a lot of suspicion and doubt on our side given the history of McConnell in the minority under the Obama administration. A lot of reasons for skepticism and cynicism,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “It should be a reset moment for all of us. Not just Schumer and McConnell.”

Rank-and-file senators were largely in the dark on how close — or far — the two leaders are from cutting a deal on all those critical items. Schumer said bluntly: “We’ve got three things we’ve got to do quickly, impeachment, nomination, Covid.”

In a Senate speech on Tuesday afternoon, McConnell said the "marching orders from the American people are clear. We’re to have a robust discussion and seek common ground."

And senators are eager to see how that all shakes out at a historic time, with an outgoing president’s impeachment trial set to start amid a devastating pandemic and an evenly divided upper chamber.

“It’s gonna be interesting. We’ll just have to wait and see. People are excited about getting going,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who was among the eight Republicans who objected to certification of Biden’s Electoral College win in two states hours after the pro-Trump riot. “Everybody’s kind of excited about putting it all behind us and going forward.”

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