The NPR Politics Podcast - The US Senate Has A Lot To Do

Episode Date: January 19, 2021

The Senate is back in Washington today. The lawmakers will need to consider President-elect Biden's cabinet nominees, weigh his coronavirus relief proposal, and consider President Trump's impeachment. This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, congressional reporter Claudia Grisales, and senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro.Connect:Subscribe to the NPR Politics Podcast here.Email the show at [e-mail] the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Listen to our playlist The NPR Politics Daily Workout.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.Find and support your local public radio station.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hi there. This is Claire calling from Washington, D.C., where I am starting the first day of my first full-time job out of college. This podcast was recorded at 2.03 p.m. on Tuesday, the 19th of January. Things may have changed by the time you hear this. All right, here's the show. Well, congrats to her. Yeah, somebody else is starting a new job this week. One Joseph Robinette Biden. Oh, that's who you were talking to. I was like, which job?

Yeah, who's starting a job? Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House. I'm Claudia Grisales. I cover Congress. And I'm Domenico Montanaro, senior political editor and correspondent. So, yes, tomorrow is the inauguration, but today there are confirmations.

Well, confirmation hearings. Five of Biden's cabinet picks are before various Senate committees today for their confirmation hearings. Let's go through the list of who is testifying and who's getting asked questions. First, you have Alejandro Mayorkas, the nominee for the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. He is before the Senate Homeland Security Committee. The principles of homeland and security have been tremendously important in shaping my life. My father and mother brought me to this country to escape communism and to provide me with the security, opportunity, and pride that American

citizenship brings to each of us. Yeah, and it's safe to say that the Biden administration is going to have a very different immigration approach to immigration than the Trump administration, which was really a foundational issue for Trump in this cultural divide, really playing on white grievance and trying to keep the other out. That's not what we're going to see from the Biden administration. So he's someone to keep an eye on as Republicans are likely to go after him in the coming years. Yeah. And Avril Haines is the nominee for the director of national intelligence. She is testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Also, Janet Yellen, the nominee for Treasury Secretary. She is speaking to the Senate Finance Committee. Neither the president-elect nor I proposed this relief

package without an appreciation for the country's debt burden. But right now, with interest rates at historic lows, the smartest thing we can do is act big. Yes, it was interesting today. She said the smartest thing that the country can do now is act big when it comes to addressing coronavirus relief aid. This is the same theme we've heard from the federal chair, Jerome Powell. And she said the damage has been sweeping. And as Biden said, the response must be too. So this is a different tune than what we heard during the Trump administration to have both the Treasury Secretary and the Fed chair on the same page pleading for more aid to address this pandemic. Also worth noting that this nominee to be Treasury Secretary

is a former Fed chair herself. Right. Also up later today is Anthony Blinken, the nominee for Secretary of State. He'll be testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. And retired General Lloyd Austin is the nominee for Defense Secretary. He will be appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Austin will need a waiver because of his previous military service. He would also be the first African-American defense secretary he's confirmed by the Senate. This waiver needs to be approved by both the House and the Senate chambers because he hasn't been out of uniform for the required seven years. And just yesterday, the House Armed Services Committee

chairman, this is Adam Smith, who was initially skeptical of issuing a waiver, issued a very broad statement urging his members to support this and clear the way for him to be confirmed in the coming days or more. Let's just note something. It is January 19th. Biden is being sworn in tomorrow, and this is the first day that any of his cabinet picks are getting confirmation hearings. So this is a bit late. Yeah, it's really late. But if you think about how much has been taken up because of President Trump's falsehoods about the election being stolen or rigged or vote counting having to take place, all because he couldn't accept losing, we wind up all of this winds up being pushed back. And we're even still going to

be talking about Trump after Biden is sworn in because there's going to be a Senate impeachment trial. Yeah. And Claudia, isn't there also an issue, though, because we didn't know which party was going to control the Senate? Exactly. The Senate has been in limbo with these Georgia runoff races that decided the Democrats will take control of this chamber. So that's supposed to be sorted out this week, perhaps, and then they need to do a lot of shifting. For example, Chuck Schumer will go from minority leader to majority leader, and all the chairs are going to swap and Democrats are going to take over those panels. So yeah, that was part of the limbo that they're going to have to,

they're going to have to address with a lot of catch up work in the coming days. So today, the Senate is back. Current, at least for this moment, majority leader, that they're going to have to address with a lot of catch-up work in the coming days. So today, the Senate is back. Current, at least for this moment, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke on the Senate floor, and it was really striking how he talked about the violence just a couple of weeks ago at the Capitol. The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government, which they did not like. But we pressed on. We stood together and said an angry mob would not

get veto power over the rule of law in our nation, not even for one night. I thought this was a remarkable moment. We had seen these initial reports that McConnell could be open to a conviction for the president in a Senate impeachment trial. And this sounds like someone who's keeping that option open and could swing other members of his caucus that way. We are talking about, and we don't know

the exact timeline, but at some point soon, the House is going to transmit those articles, articles of impeachment over to the Senate. So there will have to be a trial. As we've mentioned, there are all of these confirmations that need to happen so that there can be a functioning government. And Biden has already said that he wants a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. And his team says that he's going to roll out an immigration reform bill tomorrow, I think. So that's a lot of stuff. Yeah, and you really have a president coming in who's facing dual crises with the coronavirus pandemic and the economy because of the effects of the coronavirus. In addition to the racial reckoning that, you know, there was so much conversation around over the summer, there's a lot on the plate of the incoming administration and only so much time in the day. All right. Well, yes, that is a lot. And we will

be watching for all of it. But right now we are going to take a quick break. And when we come back, one last poll about President Trump. No Compromise. It's NPR's podcast about fringe groups on social media shaping the real world. And see, what the others are like, well, y'all are terrorists. No, you're the ones initiating the violence. We're just going to stop you. That's it. Are you concerned that we're close to that? Yes.

I think it's a call to action for people to use violence. How'd we get here? What's next? Listen to No Compromise wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. And Domenico, we have a new NPR PBS NewsHour Marist poll out. Among the questions, Domenico, that you guys asked was how they think, how Americans think President Trump will be remembered by history.

Yeah. And this was a key question. And, you know, this question has been asked for a very long time of Americans. And, you know, what was notable in this poll was you had 60% of Americans saying that President Trump would go down as either below average or one of the worst presidents in US history. A full 47% of Americans said that he would be remembered as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history. That is only, you know, since this question has been asked, the only person who polled worse than that was Richard Nixon. And he resigned in disgrace.

Yeah, he certainly did. He would have been likely impeached, and you had Republicans telling him that he had to step down. That didn't happen in this administration. But, you know, President Trump is going to be remembered as a subpar president by most Americans, even though there are still very strong, intense supporters on his side, as we have seen. Yeah, I mean, I think that this poll, to me, going through the results, it's just the example five million of the just absolute intense polarization right now. You can go through the questions all through this. People have put the T-shirt on. They believe in President Trump. They have their own information silo. They believe what he has to say. You even look at a question like, was Joe Biden legitimately elected? Two thirds of people say that he was legitimately elected.

70% of Republicans, on the other hand, don't think so. An important question that you guys asked as Biden is preparing to take office is how Americans feel about the direction of the country as a whole. And it's not good. No, three quarters of Americans, 75% say the country's headed in the wrong direction. That's the highest since 1992, the highest in three decades. The last time we asked this question was in February of last year, which feels like a completely different universe, given that was before really the coronavirus was dominating everyone's lives. And that was a lifetime ago.

It really was. And back then 41% of Americans thought the country was headed in the right direction, which had been the highest in eight years. So people were starting to feel better about the country. And this past year has really taken a toll on a lot of people. And I think we're also in this moment where Democrats still feel pretty bad about the direction things are going. And you have Republicans who have done a huge reversal from 15% in last February saying that they thought the country was heading in the wrong direction to over 80% now saying it's heading in the wrong direction with Biden about to be sworn in. Yeah, I mean, you talk to people who voted for President Trump, and they are very freaked out about a Biden presidency. Claudia, more than half of Americans say that they expect Biden will do more to unite than divide the country. And most think that vaccine distribution and pandemic

response should be his top priorities. Those do appear to be his top priorities. Yes. And one of those key, key plans is this $1.9 trillion relief legislation that he's hoping to see Congress take up rather quickly. He wants to see this more, as you mentioned, the more robust vaccination plan. He also wants to see more direct payments to Americans. We saw a wave of those in the last wave of legislation last month. This was the $600 in direct payments. He wants that up to the $1,400 mark that would complete this kind of $2,000 plan in terms of direct payments for Americans. And this legislation, he's calling it the American Rescue Plan, also includes goals to fund $160 billion to a national vaccine program, including $20 billion for distribution,

another $50 billion for expanded testing. It also calls for investments into K-12 schools, higher education, so schools can safely reopen. And he also, Biden wants to see a minimum wage of $15 per hour, assistance for child care, federal nutrition programs, rental assistance. And then there's additional funding for state and local governments. So a lot of issues that Congress has already addressed in some earlier versions of coronavirus relief aid. But he's hoping to take up more and just spend more to try and tackle this issue for the economy and for Americans. One last thing that showed up in this poll that I think is important and is something that we're going to keep watching and tracking is the share of people who say that they are planning to get the coronavirus vaccine. Yeah, so far, we've had 4% of Americans say that they've

gotten a vaccine at this point. But what we're seeing is that more than 6 in 10 say that they will either get vaccinated once a vaccine is available to them or have already gotten one. That's up a bit. But Democrats are 30 points more likely than Republicans to say that they will get vaccinated. And Republicans are pretty evenly split on it. Communities of color, which, of course, have been historically mistreated by the medical system, they tend to be more hesitant, but they're only slightly less likely than whites to say that they will get a vaccine. Politics really is the biggest divider. You know, Biden voters are among the likeliest groups to say that they will get vaccinated. Trump supporters among the group that says that they are most unlikely to get one. All right. Well, we are going to leave it there for today. We will be back tomorrow for the inauguration, maybe a little bit later than usual. To follow live coverage of the inauguration online and get the latest updates and our analysis, please subscribe to the NPR

Politics newsletter at npr.org slash politics newsletter. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House. I'm Claudia Grisales. I cover Congress. And I'm Domenico Montanaro, senior political editor and correspondent. And thank you for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.