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In early 2021, The New York Times’ Charlie Savage predicted that Vice President Kamala Harris would “crush the record books for all-time number of tie-breaking votes cast,” since the Senate would be divided 50-50. I was, at the time, a little skeptical.
Yes, the Senate was evenly divided, but thanks to the routinization of the filibuster, most bills don’t advance without a 60-vote supermajority. I figured Harris wouldn’t necessarily cast that many tie-breakers.
More than three years later, it looks like Savage was onto something. NBC News reported:
Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday broke the record by casting the most tie-breaking votes in the Senate in U.S. history. She has now broken 32 ties, beating the previous record of 31 that was set by John C. Calhoun, who was vice president from 1825 to 1832. Harris’ tie-breaking vote on Tuesday came on the nomination of Loren Alikhan to be a U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia.
It’s hard not to wonder whether President Joe Biden is a little jealous: He was vice president for eight years, and in that time, he didn’t break any ties at all.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who knew this was coming, wasted little time in celebrating Harris’ record-breaking vote.
The New York Democrat also delivered prepared remarks on the Senate floor, explaining, “The record Vice President Harris sets today is significant not just because of the number, but because of what she’s made possible with tie-breaking votes.
“Without her tie-breaking votes, there would be no American Rescue Plan, no Inflation Reduction Act, and we would not have confirmed many of the excellent federal judges now presiding on the bench. Every time duty has called, Vice President Harris has answered — more than any other vice president in our nation’s long and storied history.”
The California Democrat briefly celebrated, too.
“I’m honored. I am truly honored. And history, the history we have made, all of us, when I think about the tie-breaker votes … whether it be the Inflation Reduction Act and what that meant in terms of an historic investment in addressing the climate crisis, and what it has meant in terms of capping insulin at $35 a month,” Harris said. “What it has meant supporting small businesses and small-business owners. And of course today, what it has meant in terms of confirming our 161st judge to the federal bench.”
This post updates our related earlier coverage.