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By Opinion 
8h ago
By David Lawder and Heather Timmons
Washington – President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to revive a coronavirus-ravaged economy, repair America’s fragile infrastructure, and put millions of people back to work, but unless Democrats win Georgia’s Senate runoff election in In January, it will all run through one man: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
If Republicans retain control, McConnell, 78, a veteran senator from Kentucky, America’s 28th largest state economy, would be left to decide which bills the Senate considers, as he has done since 2015.
“What we don’t know is ‘What does Mitch McConnell want?'” Said Matt Bennett, co-founder of Third Way, a centrist Democratic consultancy. If McConnell wants nothing but to get in Biden’s way, “then it’s going to be a long four years for America,” he said.
McConnell has long been critical of the “big government” programs that Biden highlighted in his campaign, such as an employment plan tied to a new climate-friendly infrastructure. As majority leader, he could prevent the bills needed to fund them from being voted on; Even if Democrats win the two runoff elections for Georgia’s Senate seats, it may propel your party against bills that would need Republican votes to pass.
Its potential to obstruct is so enormous that Biden himself told a New York Times columnist on Dec. 2 that what the new administration can achieve will largely depend on how McConnell and the Republicans in Congress behave. Biden has turned to Louisiana Congressman Cedric Richmond to connect with the Conservatives.
The coronavirus-related recession ended a year of economic growth and five years of job creation, while pushing millions into unemployment and leaving small businesses on the brink of bankruptcy. Hunger and homelessness are on the rise, and state governments may be forced to cut jobs and budgets in the coming months.
On Wednesday, McConnell said lawmakers were still looking for a path to a deal on Covid-19 aid; some Democrats said he is a major hindrance.
McConnell’s influence on the US economy is worrying, some critics say. “The enormous power of Mitchell illustrates how dysfunctional American institutions have become,” French economist Thomas Piketty told Reuters in an email. “In effect, small electoral districts have more power than large popular majorities,” he wrote.
“It is worth noting that the EU institutions are also dysfunctional, partly for the same reasons: too much veto power is given to states with little population, be it Luxembourg or Hungary,” Piketty added.
Blockade of Congress
“The question is what McConnell thinks he’s interested in what Biden proposes,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Policy, who believes McConnell will support one more stimulus. “He wants to approve something, so that he can keep pointing it out and say that he reached a compromise.”
But Sabato said McConnell is unlikely to be much more supportive of Biden’s agenda. “He will always try to dilute it and when he can end things directly, he will. He has proven it time and time again.”
Republicans have threatened to block some of Biden’s cabinet appointments, a break with tradition that echoes their treatment of President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court election.
There may be some room to negotiate around Republican priorities, such as making expiring tax provisions permanent or improving infrastructure in rural areas, analysts say.
Otherwise, Biden would have to rely heavily on the executive orders he would have to defend against a “hostile judiciary” packed with Trump-nominated judges, Third Way’s Bennett said.
A McConnell spokesperson did not respond to questions about how it might work with the Biden administration. McConnell has said little directly about Biden’s agenda, including in a debate against the Senate opponent he defeated in November.
But major legislation outside of budget reconciliation rules, such as Covid-19 emergency spending, would require 60 votes to remove procedural hurdles, meaning Biden’s team would need to win 10 or more Republicans, and McConnell you will be limited by your group. .
“When McConnell feels like the votes among Republicans are there to do something, I hope he works with Biden,” said Jon Lieber, a former McConnell economic policy adviser, now managing director of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.
“And when you feel like they’re not there, you can’t force a deal when it doesn’t exist. You’re not going to pass bills with two Republicans and 48 Democrats.”
Relationships don’t matter
Biden and McConnell served 24 years together in the Senate, negotiating directly during the major partisan government and fiscal lockdown struggles of the past decade, crafting the 2012 “tax cliff” agreement that allowed the highest individual tax rate to rise and canceled massively, in overhead cuts.
In his 2016 autobiography, The long game, a memoryMcConnell called Biden someone he “liked” and “someone he could work with.” Still, he has yet to officially acknowledge Biden’s presidential victory, or congratulate him, and most Republicans in Congress are doing the same.
It’s unclear whether Biden will resume the direct bargaining role he served as vice president with McConnell and other Republican leaders.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was often at the opposite end of the Senate partisan divide regarding McConnell, and in a December 2019 opinion piece, she accused McConnell of failing to fulfill her oath by preventing witnesses from testifying. at Trump’s impeachment earlier this year. .
“Mr. McConnell doesn’t want a Senate trial. He wants a Senate cover-up,” Harris wrote.
Treasury Secretary candidate Janet Yellen is expected to play an important role in crafting the economic arguments behind some of Biden’s more progressive policies that promote diversity and increased spending on child care and education as a way to boost employment.
But no one expects her to beat McConnell.
Yellen had little experience in direct negotiations on Capitol Hill as chair of the Federal Reserve, and McConnell in 2013 opposed her appointment to that position, expressing concern that she did not support a strong dollar enough.
“I don’t think Janet Yellen is a natural lobbyist,” said Tony Fratto, a former Bush-era Treasury and White House spokesman.
Reuters
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