Can Someone Explain To Me Why We Are The Majority In A Tied Senate?

[ChoppinBroccoli]

Yes, I know the Vice President breaks all ties, but how does that apply to the selection of Majority Leader, etc., if there IS no majority. What is the procedure which determines who is the Majority leader in a tied Senate? Does each Party nominate a leader and then have a vote, wherein the VP breaks the tie and Schumer wins? Or is the procedure different? I guess what I'm asking for is for someone more educated than myself on the moving parts to explain the procedure by which we take over the Senate in a 50-50 tie situation. I know we ARE the majority and Schumer IS the Majority Leader. What I want to know is HOW that happens.

[msongs]

1. because kamala harris is the 51st vote in case of ties nt

[ChoppinBroccoli]

3. But Again, How Does That Apply To Selection Of Majority Leader, Committee Chairs, Etc.?

Is that something that's voted on?

[Dave in VA]

4. Yep!

[ADK]

6. 51:50

Counting Kamala. Does that make sense?

[msongs]

8. no but we have 51 possible votes and repubs can not have more than 50 so we WIN :-)

[CottonBear]

9. We have a Democrat in the White House.

[Demsrule86]

11. No, If Trump had won and the Senate was 50 50 McConnell would be the leader.

[tritsofme]

15. Committee structure and membership is laid out in the organizing resolution.

That is the “power sharing” agreement being negotiated between Schumer and McConnell you may have seen mentioned elsewhere.

[CaptainTruth]

17. I don't think there's a need to vote, 51 is greater than 50.

And it appears to be done on a caucus basis, not party basis, because Angus King & Bernie Sanders are Independents who caucus with Democrats & they are counted in the "50 Democrats" total.

[dchill]

2. Kamala Harris, tiebreaker.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

10. But Tiebreaker Of WHAT?

The VP can only break ties as to VOTES. Is there an actual vote on who Majority Leader is? For example, do the Republicans nominate McConnell and we nominate Schumer and then all 100 Senators vote? Because I always just assumed the Party in the Majority just NAMED their leader.

[Demsrule86]

13. If there was a vote which there will not be clearly Kamala would be the deciding vote.

[dchill]

14. In a 50-50 Senate, White House has the edge for party in power.

The vice President is the president of the Senate.

[Bleacher Creature]

21. Yes, there is a vote on a resolution to organize the Senate. The VP breaks that tie as well.

[sazemisery]

5. We have a Democratic President

That is what makes the difference.

[nocoincidences]

7. because a democratic President

and VP were elected. That is what determines the majority in a tie.

[StarfishSaver]

12. That's one result of the so-called "power sharing" negotiations that some here are freaking out over

Having the Vice President as a tiebreaker gives the Democrats an advantage in negotiating how the split party Senate will operate. So they are able to use that leverage to secure the Majority Leader position and committee control, among other things.

[AirmensMom]

16. If I understand your question,

The majority leader is the one of the president’s party. If the president were republican, it would be McConnell. Since Biden is a Democrat, Schumer becomes majority leader.

[RockRaven]

18. There's actually a very long answer but the short answer is that if the side without the tiebreaker

didn't agree to rules which function in that way, every single day for the next two years would be a giant pain in the ass for every single Senator, even the Repuke ones. So they cut out the pain-in-the-ass-procedures-which-will-yield-the-same-results-anyway and just agree that the side with the VP gets Majority Leader equivalent powers.

[Deuce]

19. This might help...

https://www.nhpr.org/post/ask-civics-101-who-senate-majority-leader-5050-split#stream/0

[enough]

20. Thanks. NT