[ad_1]
The presidential election was tight and the conquest of the White House was not accompanied by a democratic wave. Control of the Senate will be played on January 5, in a by-election in the conservative state of Georgia.
Two seats are up for grabs and a majority of the Democrats in the Senate could change. Or no law can be passed without the upper house, which also has the power to approve presidential nominations: ministers, ambassadors, judges, especially in the Supreme Court.
“And now we are taking over Georgia and changing the world!” Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Saturday.
The fight against the pandemic, the vast economic support plan, the climate, diplomacy … the stakes are high.
The House of Representatives maintained a democratic majority. But with a divided Congress, “Biden will have to face reality,” says John Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna University in California. “There are limits to what you can achieve.”
The fighting in Georgia promises to be tough. The vote counting in the presidential election is not over and Joe Biden leads with a slim advantage.
This state has not voted for a Democratic candidate in the White House since 1992, but as a result of the changing electorate and an unprecedented effort to mobilize minority voters, Democrats dream of two senatorial seats. They also have the excitement that Joe Biden’s victory could bring.
Kamala Harris, decisive
Republicans currently hold the majority in the Senate, with 53 out of 100 seats. In Tuesday’s presidential and parliamentary elections, 35 seats were up for grabs.
The Democrats managed to reduce the Republican majority by one vote. If I get both seats in Georgia, the two games will be the perfect tie.
The Constitution provides, in this situation, that Vice President Kamala Harris can cast any vote from 50 to 50.
If the Senate remains a Republican, Joe Biden, himself a senator for 36 years, will have to use his negotiating skills.
The president will have to deal with Mitch McConnell (78), the leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, a feared strategist.
Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell know each other well. In 2013, when the Democrat was vice president of Barack Obama, they worked together to adopt a budget agreement on the extremes.
“McConnell will act on behalf of McConnell,” John Pitney said. “He won’t help Biden just out of friendship. McConnell doesn’t work that way.”
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, another great Donald Trump ally, said this week that he will seek a “compromise” with the 46th US president.
Joe Biden “deserves to have his office. I’ll let him know who he could approve as Secretary of State, Minister of Justice,” he told reporters.
“There may be people I would not really vote for if I think they are unqualified or too extreme,” he added, describing the limits of Joe Biden’s nominations.
