Democrats' Edge May Be Tiny, But Its Power Is actually Huge

Posted by Covington Hutchinson on February 20th, 2021

For President elect Joe Biden, Santa Claus came several weeks late, but he definitely delivered. I worked in the Barack Obama administration from 2009 to 2012, and I managed to see, close up, the unbelievable difference it can make when the House and the Senate of Representatives are controlled by similar party as the president. Georgia's Senate races seem to be prone to give Democrats control of both houses of Congress - a magnificent gift. Which was machine lathe in 2009 and 2010, when Congress enacted not just the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (the economic stimulus made necessary by the 2008 financial crisis), the Affordable Care Act, and the Dodd Frank banking reforms - but additionally the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act, the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, and the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which strengthened the available resources to combat employment discrimination in court. Everything changed in 2011, when Republicans won a vast majority in the House. Which meant that in 2011 and 2012, Congress was not going to do very much, especially if Obama favored it. This was probably the most consequential periods of lawmaking in the nation's entire history. In fact, it was much worse than that. For a lot of issues, executive actions became the sole game in town. Rather than dealing with Congress to tackle problems, the White House was frequently on the defensive, responding to the most recent attack. Republican-controlled committees spent a great deal of their time hurling accusations and launching investigations, sometimes alleging violations of the law. In the weeks before Tuesday's runoff elections in Georgia, it seemed to be probable that Republicans will hold on to control of the Senate, which would mean a repeat of 2011 and 2012, and potentially worse: American politics is much a lot more polarized today than it was when I worked in Washington, and the Republican Party less cooperative. For every president, losing the Senate is much worse than losing the House, because the Senate has the capability to stop presidential appointments. Judicial appointments are going to be a lot easier. With the obvious results in Georgia, the ground has shifted. Senator Mitch McConnell has been a master of blocking choices by Democratic presidents. Members of the Cabinet are Senate confirmed, of course, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. Biden will be choosing deputy secretaries, general counsels, assistant secretaries and several others. Biden is going to be in a position to receive the own team of his in place more rapidly. Senate Republicans are going to do whatever they possibly can to slow things down, but Biden will stay in a good position to produce a well functioning executive branch. Under Republican leadership, there was a genuine possibility that Washington will be preoccupied with all kinds of Senate scandal mongering: inquiries into the legitimacy of Biden's victory, into the finances of his son Hunter Biden, and into conspiracy theories of several types. Nearly all that's suddenly off the table. The White House counsel, and the White House generally, will not have to fend off a host of investigations. You will be appropriate to state that the Republicans are able to resort to the filibuster (more on that later), which would require sixty votes, which Democrats won't usually have. But through a procedure called reconciliation, the Senate is able to act by a bare majority on a lot of items. official statement of the reconciliation process is disputed, and several of the issues are arcane. Oh, and a major stimulus helping businesses that are small, the elderly, large businesses, the ill and others is suddenly on the table. It's created for issues that require the budget, which means taxing and spending. Biden and the Democrats are able to make use of reconciliation in order to enact a massive financial package, and to do it quickly. A new stimulus package could at the same time address several of Biden's core concerns: climate change, racial justice, economic equality and health care. But a great deal of reforms involve those things, which was utilized to help turn the Affordable Care Act into law. Alternatively, Biden could think about new legislation, also with the aid of the reconciliation process, on a single or even more of those subjects. Tax reform would be also a key candidate. Biden's highly progressive reform plan may or even wouldn't get fifty Democratic votes, but it can be the kick off point for legislation. Those're powerful tools, but his preferred program is a lot more ambitious. Prior to the Georgia vote, it will have been sensible to suggest that Biden's options for addressing climate change were limited to existing regulatory tools - allowing restrictions on emissions from (for example) power plants and motor vehicles. Just about all that might happen through reconciliation, since both houses of Congress are in Democratic hands. Nonetheless, it is not likely to be smooth sailing. When I joined the Obama administration in January 2009, we'd a strong Democratic majority (fifty six Democrats along with 2 independents who caucused with them), and also for the first 2 years, Republicans had between thirty nine and forty two seats. It includes rebuilding infrastructure, upgrading buildings, spurring new construction and promoting clean energy technologies. However, Obama struggled to get legislation enacted, partially due to Republican intransigence and guile and partially due to the variety of views among Democrats, that made it difficult to reach consensus. Biden is going to confront those issues also. When the Democrats eliminate the filibuster? The reconciliation process couldn't be used for several of Biden's priorities, like immigration reform, meaning that Republican filibusters could force Democrats to find sixty votes for measures that lots of them ardently favor, one thing which will often be not possible to do. However, the world has changed. That is a difficult one, and it may not have the votes, regardless. All of a sudden, Biden's largest ambitions have started to appear realistic. This column doesn't always reflect the opinion of the editorial board or perhaps Bloomberg LP and its owners. Cass R. Sunstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist.