Biden focuses on the economy on second day in office

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said he doesn’t think Republicans should agree to split impeachment trial days to also consider other legislative business, such as Covid-19 relief and confirming President Biden’s cabinet nominees, for the duration of the trial.

He also said he’s hopeful Schumer and McConnell will reach an agreement “fairly quickly” on how to proceed to the trial, after the New York Democrat announced this morning that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will send over the article of impeachment on Monday.

After Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's announcement earlier today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement confirming that the article of impeachment will be transmitted to the Senate on Jan. 25. 

Her full statement says:

The Senate Homeland Security Committee will hold a vote on the nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas, who President Biden has selected to lead the Department of Homeland Security, at 11 a.m. ET Tuesday.

The Cuban-born Mayorkas, 61, was among President-elect Joe Biden's earliest announced nominees and would be the first Latino and immigrant to serve at the helm of the department.

If confirmed, he'll be expected to swiftly begin rolling back Trump administration immigration policies, while juggling a response to a global pandemic, threats to the homeland, and restoring a department that's been rattled by leadership turnover and vacancies for the better part of the last four years.

The Senate just voted on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis to confirm President Biden's Defense secretary nominee, retired Gen. Lloyd Austin. The vote was 93-2.

That makes Austin the first African American to run the department.

The epic nature of Austin's journey – from a childhood in deeply segregated Alabama, through a military still plagued with racial inequity, to the pinnacle of US national defense – might be matched only by the scale of the challenges that now face him there.

Austin will be one of the most prominent members of Biden's Cabinet. The secretary of Defense is in control of the nation's largest government agency, commanding troops around the world and the complicated internal workings of the Pentagon that make it one of the world's most formidable bureaucracies.

Defense Department data shows that while Black service members represent 19% of all enlisted personnel, they make up only 9% of the mostly White, male officer corps. Biden noted in The Atlantic that Austin was "the 200th person ever to attain the rank of an Army four-star general, but only the sixth African American."

Biden vowed his Cabinet would look like the country picking leaders that if confirmed, will make history as the most diverse group ever to lead federal agencies.

Take a look at what Biden's Cabinet looks like here.

Watch the Senate's vote:

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, considered a swing vote in the upcoming impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, would not say if she’s already made a decision on how she will vote.

The Senate voted on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis to confirm President Biden's Defense secretary nominee, retired Gen. Lloyd Austin. The vote was 93-2.

Austin will be the first African American to run the department.

Austin, who retired in 2016, had to be granted a waiver from a law requiring a defense secretary to wait seven years after active-duty service before taking the job. The House approved the waiver Thursday afternoon, followed by Senate approval of the measure later that same day. 

Confirmation of the Defense secretary gives Biden another key department chief in place. The Senate confirmed Biden's first Cabinet nominee Wednesday evening, voting to approve his pick for director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, on his first day in office.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the House's article of impeachment will be delivered to the Senate on Monday, triggering the start of the Senate's impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.

"I have spoken to Speaker Pelosi who informed me that the articles will be delivered to the Senate on Monday," Schumer just said on the Senate floor.

The House's transmission of the impeachment article on Monday would mean that the Senate trial would begin at 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday – unless the Senate reaches an agreement that would push back the trial itself

Here's an outline of what would happen next on impeachment, according to multiple Democratic sources. 

How long will the trial last? That is an open question. Most believe it will be a shorter trial than in 2020, which lasted 21 days. But it will depend on questions from senators and whether there will be witnesses or not.

It’s possible that arguments could be delayed if there’s a deal between Schumer and McConnell.

Also, the Senate has to adopt a resolution to set the rules of the trial. That will happen at the beginning of the week. Schumer’s goal is to do this on a bipartisan basis, but they can adopt it by a simple majority of 51 senators. 

After Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Speaker Pelosi will send over the article of impeachment on Monday, top GOP Sen. John Cornyn made it clear, absent an agreement, the Senate would not conduct any business other than the impeachment trial once it begins. 

He said Republicans haven’t given consent to divide the trial days between impeachment and other business, “no, it’s not gonna happen.”

The Texas Republican also said he thinks there will likely be a vote on Biden's Treasury nominee Janet Yellen this afternoon.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested the impeachment trial begin days later than planned, urging the Senate to grant former President Donald Trump “due process.” 

“This impeachment began with an unprecedentedly fast and minimal process over in the House,” McConnell said Friday morning. “The sequel cannot be an insufficient Senate process that denies former President Trump his due process or damages the Senate or the presidency itself.”

McConnell suggested that the House transmit the article of impeachment on Thursday, rather than Monday.

“That timeline would have provided the Senate some more floor time before we step up fully into the unknown of a trial, which by the way would have been a substantial benefit to the incoming administration and allowed them to get more of their Cabinet confirmed, which we are cooperating as best we can to expedite,” McConnell said.

McConnell was responding to the announcement by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer just moments ago, announcing the House would send the article of impeachment to the Senate on Monday.

“I have spoken to Speaker Pelosi, who informed me that the articles will be delivered to the Senate on Monday,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.

The Democratic leader said there would be a “full” trial.