On January 11th, 2021, with 99% of the votes in and a 50,000+ vote gap between the candidates in the Georgia Senate Runoffs, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff have been projected and declared as winners. Trump's refusal to acknowledge the validity of the elections has undoubtedly negatively influenced the republican voter base and impacted the outcomes of the Senate runoff elections.
This win is extremely crucial for the incoming Biden administration, because the Democratic Party now holds the trifecta (that President Obama once held) -- House (222 D to 211 R), Senate (50-50), and Presidency (Joe Biden). With the additions of Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff as Senate Democrats, the party count in the Senate is now a 50-50 split right down the aisle. And so, Kamala Harris, the vice president, will be the deciding vote in the Senate.
The trifecta provides very apparent benefits and freedoms for Biden’s administration: the ability to simply vote along party lines and be able to pursue their agenda wholeheartedly and in unconventional manners. However, through Biden’s Cabinet nominations, it seems like Joe Biden is approaching his presidency and trifecta in a moderate approach, selecting William Burns for Cia director, Merrick Garland for attorney general, and Gina Raimondo for commerce secretary, all of which whom are categorized in the middle of the Democratic party and of which are reflective of Biden’s desire for a middle ground with Senate Republicans. And so, Biden’s moderate approach will be able to secure possible Senate Republicans to vote across the party lines, but it would force Senate Democrats to have no choice but to back him. However, compromise is not exactly a surprise to Biden, a previous vice president and Congress insider, as he has likely much wider of a political network than any of the past 3 Democratic Presidents with political officials from both sides of the aisle.
By establishing and building on the support for his mandate, Joe Biden may very well be able to build momentum. With the trifecta, there almost seems to be an added pressure to pass meaningful legislation otherwise there might be future, detrimental effects in the public’s trust for the Party’s efficiency and abilities to enact change. And so, we, the American public, will truly see how the Biden administration will fare with this trifecta and their effectiveness at pursuing their agenda after their honeymoon phase or first 100 days.
With the trifecta in hand, what priority agenda items should Joe Biden and his administration pursue? What is your opinion on Biden’s nomination of relatively moderate Cabinet members and other future nominations?
4 comments:
I think the Biden administration needs to first pursue certain very democrat-leaning administrative items, i.e: better covid relief bills, climate bills, etc. These things would not be possible with a divided House and Senate. There are many important things to attend to covid-19 wise which will likely be the bulk of Bidens' 100-day rush. And relating to Biden's cabinet picks, I worry that he may potentially alienate the more left-wing of the Democratic party which voted for him under the idea that he will put more progressive people in positions of power. I understand a lot of his picks- I mean, he DOES want people who will be trustworthy and work for him.
I think it is important to acknowledge that having the trifecta doesn’t immediately mean success. If you remember from the Obamacare frontline video, even though President Obama had the trifecta, he still struggled to get the votes from the right leaning democrats (I think it was the senator from Nebraska). Obama had to personally meet with many of these people who held leverage and make huge concessions in order to gain their support. So, while I do think that it is beneficial to have the trifecta, I don’t think it is as beneficial as people make it seem. Since there's more pressure on Biden to get things done, I think he is going to be in the same position Obama was, where he needs to make serious concessions that will frustrate some of the far left. I think Biden knows this (especially because of his experience under Obama) and is exactly why he picked more moderate candidates. After all, one of his biggest campaign promises was to unite America as a whole, not just the democratic party. The question isn’t “can you make a trump supporter trust a democratic administration,” but actually “can you make a republican trust a democratic administration.” Biden’s nominations are not surprising, since they are in line with what he campaigned on and while it may be optimistic, I hope it will move this country in a more cooperative direction.
Personally, I believe the issues that the democrat party are currently trying to resolve (systemic racism, the pandemic, climate change, etc.) are extremely important to our society, so I personally believe it is a good thing that democrats have power. However, I am extremely hesitant to say it is a good thing for them to have complete power, because then the party can just be constantly pushed by lobbyists into doing what they want with a much higher success rate than if they were competing against the GOP. In this case, I believe it is a good thing they have the majority within the senate, because as Arnav said, it can be extremely hard with even a majority to get the votes needed to pass a bill, somewhat negating the effect of lobbyists. Personally, I believe the pushback against emissions standards was ridiculous, but there are some issues in which we shouldn't be dedicating a lot of our resources, and having enough GOP power within congress to ensure those don't get passed is important. That being said, with the current state of our parties constantly fighting and the heightened state of tensions between our country, the more power the democrats have to push those big idea issues (mentioned previously), the more likely it is for us to see some real positive change in our society. I guess whether or not you like how the Senate runoffs turned out depends on how much of a democrat or republican your beliefs are.
Like Arnav mentioned, a trifecta does not always mean that the majority of a president's or party's political agenda will succeed. Although they tend to follow party lines in voting on legislation, congressmen are not required like in a parliamentary system and could still vote against bills brought by their own party. Nevertheless, a trifecta would most likely boost a president's credibility. Credibility as in the promises a president states they will bring to voters in office, they will actually be able to do. Sometimes, it is not even the presidents fault if they are unable to fulfill their promises. Politically divided houses of congress ultimately lowers a president's credibility as they are unable to pass much of the legislation they often promise while campaigning due to deadlock. Even though like how the frontline video on Obamacare mentioned that even with a trifecta under the table deals and political agenda sacrifices needed to be made in this age with a semi-united fight against covid-19 I do believe that with a trifecta, Biden will be able to boost his presidential credibility. Furthermore, I think that as Biden takes office, it is imperative that he uses this unique opportunity of a trifecta to make the necessary policy changes in flattening the curve with covid. Some examples could be economic and small business reforms during the pandemic or a federal mandate on mask.
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