WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has announced an agreement with Republicans to organize the evenly split chamber. The Senate approved the agreement by unanimous consent. The deal with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell ends a weekslong standoff that prevented the new Democratic majority from setting up some operations. It also soured relations at the start of the new Congress. Schumer says senators can now promptly “get to work, with Democrats holding the gavels.” Organizing the Senate is typically a routine procedure at the start of a new Congress. But Republicans refused to relinquish power without first trying to extract concessions from Democrats.
