Democratic candidate Joe Biden is President Elect and will take the oath of office on January 20th 2021. He is followed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives but a Republican Majority in the Senate led by Mitch McConnell.
On January 5th 2021 the people of Georgia will vote on two Republican Senate seats coming up for re-election. This election will determine the course of the Joe Biden Presidency. If the Republicans keep the Senate it is presumed that any programs that the new administration will want to implement will be stymied. If the Democrats win these two seats the Joe Biden Presidency will be able to pass new legislation and we will move forward as a country. But in what direction? Do we as a nation, want to re-elect Republican Senators, and restrain the Biden Presidency? That a Republican win in the 2021 Georgia Senatorial election will keep the status quo and make Mitch McConnell almost as important as the President of the United States.
Keeping the status quo will be no new taxes to corporations or the wealthiest of earners. The green new deal and absolution of student loan debt will be off the table. The idea of expanding Obama Care was always met with skepticism among Republicans however they never did come up with their own answer to the health care behemoth. One could argue that a McConnell win would be the Trump Presidency but with a more friendly, tariffless approach to China and a tendency toward globalization rather than the America First Policy.
In 2008 Obama and the Democrats had both houses of congress. Obama was able to “address the global financial crisis which included a major stimulus package, legislation to reform health care (ACA) and the end of a major US military presence in Iraq” 1. In 2010 he lost the House of Representatives but retained the Senate.
In 2017 Trump and the Republicans had both houses of congress. During the first two years Trump was able to reduce corporate taxes from 35 to 21 percent and give tax breaks to ordinary Americans. With both houses of congress, he eliminated regulations that he felt were an obstruction to business, was able to renegotiate trade deals, enforce a travel ban, reduce immigration, and partially build a boarder wall. In 2018 he lost the House of Representatives.
In both cases a lot was accomplished in the first two years of their presidencies. After that almost nothing could be accomplished. We’ve never gotten infrastructure. Our grids, our bridges are falling apart nothing is being done. Just recently our data was hacked by the Russians. We as a country need to spend more money to protect our economic and military intelligence.
Republicans are known for smaller Federal government. The Federal government should be small and state and local governments should make decisions regarding vaccine distribution and when and if to lockdown. My thought is that we are in a pandemic and under these circumstances I want the Federal government to be big not small. Leadership needs to come from the top! We can’t have a lame duck president at this time. We have all this vaccine and nothing is being distributed to the people. We still can’t get together on stimulus. The only reason McConnell agreed to do anything is that these two Republican seats are coming up for re-election and he didn’t want to see people going to the Georgia Polls on an empty stomach. Otherwise according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics these unemployed only represent 6.7% of the workforce 2. the stimulus package will eventually have to be paid for and McConnell is doing his best to keep an eye on being a fiscal conservative. However, if the Republicans keep the Senate, I think you can forget about getting any more fiscal stimulus. What’s the answer? You decide.
- Wikipedia Presidency of Barack Obama
- Bureau of Labor Statistics 05/13/20
