Senate prepares for majority changeover

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger certified the results in the state’s U.S. Senate runoff election. Once Democratic Sens.-elect Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff take their oaths on Wednesday, the chamber will be split 50-50 between the two parties, with Kamala Harris casting a tie-breaking vote as vice president. Five of President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet appointees appeared before the Senate on Tuesday to start confirmation hearings.

What’s happening in the Senate? As outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., opened Tuesday’s legislative session, he promised a safe inauguration and blamed President Donald Trump for the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol. “The mob was fed lies,” he said. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they used fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like.”

Dig deeper: Read Jamie Dean’s report about how Georgia’s runoff results will affect the political landscape in the United States.