Vice President Kamala Harris offered her first Twitter message to America on Wednesday shortly after her swearing in, marking a brisk departure from the vitriol that former President Trump and his allies consistently spread on the platform. Once the ceremonial proceedings associated with the inauguration were complete, newly inaugurated President Joe Biden was slated to take a number of executive actions, including extensions of national moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures. Meanwhile, over on Twitter, Harris said that she was “ready to serve.”
Ready to serve.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) January 20, 2021
Harris took over the @VP Twitter account, and ex-Vice President Mike Pence’s tweets were transferred to an account with the handle of @VP45. On her own agenda, later on Wednesday afternoon, Harris was slated to administer the oath of office for new Democratic Senators Alex Padilla, Raphael Warnock, and Jon Ossoff — Padilla was slated to replace Harris in the Senate, while Warnock and Ossoff were set to represent Georgia in the chamber. Warnock and Ossoff’s presence in the Senate was set to hand control of the chamber to the Democrats, with Harris herself slated to break any ties.
In his inaugural address, Biden pledged to represent the interests of all Americans while president, whether or not they supported his campaign. Among other comments, Biden poignantly shared as follows:
‘To all those who did not support us, let me say this: hear me out as we move forward. Take a measure of me and my heart. If you still disagree so be it. That’s democracy… Yet hear me clearly: disagreement must not lead to disunion. And I pledge this to you, I will be a president for all Americans. All Americans. And I promise you I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.’
In the near future, Congress will apparently be taking up a COVID-19 relief package that the Biden team has already put forward. This relief package includes provisions like an expansion of unemployment assistance, money for state and local governments, and direct payments for many Americans — including adults claimed as dependents on tax returns, who were left out of direct cash assistance in previous rounds of relief. With Democratic control of the Senate, Democrats could apparently pass at least some of the relief proposals through a method called budget reconciliation, which would only require the support of a simple majority of the chamber.
