The Game is Afoot
The Chicago Tribune is reporting that President-elect Obama will resign his Senate seat this Sunday. That is earlier than I expected but I suppose it is necessary with the lame duck session of Congress beginning next week, and with President-elect Obama stating that he will not be returning to Washington or to the Congress anytime soon. To avoid the prospect of him missing votes during this lame duck session, it was smart to resign now.
The question now becomes whether Vice President-elect Biden will follow suit, for the same reasons would apply. Biden was very emotional concerning his service as Delaware’s Senator during Veteran’s Day ceremonies on Tuesday. Hmmmm….
RESIGNATION IMMIMENT?
If Biden resigned now, wouldn’t the Democrats lose their majority in the upcoming lame duck session at least until his replacement is actually in place?
Second, unlike Obama, if Biden acts now, wouldn’t he be required to submit two resignations: one to resign from his seat under his current term ending Jan. 2, 2009 and a second for his seat for the new term to begin Jan. 3, 2009? And could Minner now make an appointment for the future Jan. 2009 term or must she wait until the Jan. 3 date and vacancy to occur before acting and submitting the necessary certificate?
The senator would fulfill Senator Bidens term of which he was just re-elected. Therefore he would not have to wait until the next class to resign and actually it would be in his interest to resign prior to preserve seniority for the new senator
The Senate is controlled by a resolution, so control won’t change with Obama’s resolution. When the control changed before, it was because this mechanism was included in the resolution (why Republicans agreed to it, IDK). That is my understanding of how it works.
Two points:
1. No, the Democrats will not lose their majority if Biden resigns. Indeed, with Obama resigning, they have officially lost their majority numerically, in that there are now 48 Democrats, 2 Independents and 49 Republicans. If Lieberman wanted to, he could caucus with the GOP right now, giving the GOP a 50-49 majority. However, in the organizing resolution for the 110th Congress, there is a provision that does not allow a change in the controlling majority, thus even if the Democrats lose numerical majority, they still control the committees and Reid is still Majority Leader.
2. Yes, if the appointee takes office before the next class on January 3rd, they will have more seniority.