Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will spend part of President Trump’s final morning as commander in chief at church with President-elect Joe Biden.
In an act of bipartisanship before he becomes the Senate’s minority leader Wednesday afternoon, McConnell will join Biden for a service at St. Matthew’s in downtown Washington, D.C., an aide confirmed with the Washington Examiner.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, will also attend, according to Punchbowl News.
McConnell will lose the power to control the Senate’s floor time after Vice President-elect Kamala Harris takes her oath of office Wednesday at noon.
Harris will then, in turn, swear-in three new Democratic senators: Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, the victors of the Jan. 5 Georgia runoffs, and California’s Alex Padilla, her replacement in the Senate. The new senators create a 50-50 seat tie in the chamber, which can be broken by Harris as vice president.
McConnell accepting Biden’s invitation represents a cordial pause in a busy week on Capitol Hill.
The parties are still hammering out a power-sharing arrangement to deal with the Senate tie. The delay in reaching an agreement has hindered the confirmation of Biden’s top Cabinet members, which may be further complicated by Trump’s looming impeachment trial.
