Democrats take narrow control of U.S. Senate

Democrats take narrow control of U.S. Senate

Democrats now have majority of the U.S. Senate after Vice President Kamala Harris swore in three members on Wednesday to give the party a narrow grip on both houses of Congress as well as the White House for the first time in a decade.

Bryan Wood reports.

Democrats took the majority of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, giving the party control of both houses of Congress and the White House for the first time in a decade.

Vice President Kamala Harris swore in three junior Senators hours after the inauguration, Georgia Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, and Alex Padilla, a Democrat from California.

Harris, a Democrat, will now hold a decisive tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

Warnock and Ossoff won upset victories in a runoff election earlier this month, splitting the Senate 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, while Padilla was appointed by Harris to become California's first Latino senator after Harris resigned to assume her new role as Vice President.

"The resignation of former Senator Kamala D.

Harris of California... Yeah, that was very weird, OK." The new arrangement gives Democratic President Joe Biden a narrow advantage to push policies through Congress.

Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer became majority leader and Republican Mitch McConnell was demoted to minority leader.

Both have pledged to work together.

McConnell even congratulated President Biden, a former Senator he's known for years.

The new Senate is poised to hold the second impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump on a charge of inciting a deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month.

It's unclear when that trial will begin.