1820 sinking of the ship following the attack in the ships crew and at 8:00 p.m. eastern on the presidency we look back at farewells and inauguration appreciate under previous presidents bill clinton, george w. bush, dwight eisenhower, john kennedy and ronald reagan exploring the american story watch american history tv this weekend on c-span3. earlier today senator chuck schumer began his first full day as majority leader by listing biden administration initiatives and contrasting them with the trump administration following with his remarks we will hear from senate minority leader mcconnell who congratulated the new majority leader before turning the talk about negotiations regarding a power-sharing agreement. >> nice to see you back in that position. okay yesterday mr. president we begin a new chapter in the history of our nation on the

same steps stored by domestic terrorist two weeks ago we held a ceremony to the enduring power of our democracy. it was a symbol to the world that america is back in a message to those domestic terrorist that they will never prevail. even as the festivities were in full swing our new president and this new senate commenced the work of rebuilding our country and healing its wounds, with the stroke of a pen president biden started the process of rejoinine the united states to the paris accords. loan payments putting into the muslim travel ban, reinstalled safeguards for our nation streamers and put a halt on the ineffective border wall. crucially president biden had a member of orders to refocus the federal government's efforts on fighting the coronavirus

pandemic. the u.s. has rejoined the world health organization a mask mandate has been issued for all federal property and president biden has named a new coronavirus response coordinator to manage vaccine distribution which is desperately needed in such a failure under thest trump administration. our country has suffered deeply from a chaotic incompetent federal response to covid-19. as we crossed the grim milestone of 400,000, 400,000 american fatalities from covid the biden administration is wasting no time inon marshaling the resours of the federal government into action and today released ara national strategy to defeat the pandemic, what a concept a president who actually takes the defining crisis over time seriously, what a change.

and how great is the need. here in the senate the first a order of business is to fulfill our classical duty to advise and consent on the presidents appointments to his cabinet, last night the senate confirmed the president selection for the director of national intelligence april haynes we appreciate the bipartisan cooperation together confirmed in her confirmation done yesterday and we should continue in that spirit today. traditionally the senate has confirmed several national security nominees for an incoming administration during the first few days. even as power changes hands from one administration to the other the work of keeping our nation safe must not be paused or be disrupted. foreign adversaries will seek to exploit this period of transition and we cannot allow

america's military intelligence and national security policy to be disrupted by staffing delays. in 2017 president trump had his defense secretary and secretary of homeland security in place on inauguration day president biden deserves his national security team in place as soon as possible. as well as key officials in charge of responding to the current health and economic crisis. with the cooperation of her republican colleagues we can and should confirm the secretary of defense state homeland securityr and treasury without much delay. while national security is paramount i remind my colleagues were in the middle of an economic crisis the sooner we confirm a treasury secretary the better. as we begin the process of bringing our country back