This is why Georgia is so important to Joe Biden – VG

America’s politics will look radically different with Joe Biden as president than it did under President Donald Trump.

Biden’s number one priority is controlling the coronavirus. Does this mean that Americans will soon be required to wear face masks and that bars and restaurants will be closed until a vaccine is ready for the market?

No, it’s not that simple, explains policy professor Claire Sanders at Georgia College.

“American federalism will definitely make it difficult,” Sanders told VG.

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– Even though he is president, the American power structure means that he cannot issue a broad order. States normally have power over these issues, explains the professor.

Ambitious and expensive plan

As Donald Trump learned, the president of the United States is not omnipotent. Congress has the legislative power, the courts have the judicial power, and the president gets the executive. And all the power that is not explicitly mentioned in the constitution is owned by the states.

Biden’s program states that, among other things, he wants to create jobs by investing in renewable energy and developing the country’s infrastructure, as well as increasing his investment in the school and health system.

Biden’s plan is expensive and, according to the cross-party “Committee for a Responsible State Budget,” will increase US debt by $ 5.6 trillion over a ten-year period.

The part of the plan that Biden can implement in practice depends on how things go in the two reelections in Georgia on January 5. At the time of this writing, Republicans have secured 50 Senate seats in the 117th Congress, while Democrats only have 48.

Re-elections are decided by the Senate

Thus, Biden is dependent on Raphael Warnock defeating Kelly Loeffler and Jon Ossoff defeating David Perdue for Georgia’s re-election. This will give a 50-50 split of the Senate and give Democrats a majority because incoming Vice President Kamala Harris gets the swing vote. It is already clear that Democrats will have a majority in the House of Representatives for the next two years.

– If the Democrats gain control of the Senate, Biden will be in the best position to fund his policy If not, it will definitely be more difficult for him, but not impossible, says Sanders, noting that former presidents have in some cases won a majority in the Senate with the help of representatives from the other party.

Without the support of the Senate, the president is limited to so-called presidential orders, which in practice are directives to federal authorities. As of this writing, Trump has signed 194 presidential orders in his four years in the White House. Barack Obama used this tool 276 times in eight years and George W. Bush did it 291 times in eight years.

Professor Claire Sanders says Biden will have trouble implementing his ambitious infrastructure, renewable energy and tax reform plans if Democrats don’t win both re-elections in Georgia.

– It will be difficult. It will require a lot of compromise between the incoming president and a Republican-led Senate. All presidents want the dream scenario where their party has both chambers, but investigations show, as mentioned, that the president will not always succeed. At the same time, we have also seen presidents overcome monumental laws in periods of divided authority, receiving support from the opposite side, concludes Claire Sanders.