What’s Next After Georgia?

by Sydney Wiser ‘23

In a historic victory, Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock prevailed over their incumbent Republican opponents, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, in the Georgia runoff Senate races. These victories open the door for Democrats to set the legislative agenda for the next two years. 

The additions of Ossoff and Warnock to the Senate will create a fifty-fifty tie with Vice President elect Kamala Harris as the tiebreaker vote for approving legislation. Along with the effective majority, Democrats will also be able to appoint a majority leader in the Senate, replacing the current Republican majority leader, Mitch Connell. The Senate majority leader has the responsibility of scheduling votes on the floor, thus ensuring which bills take top priority for that session. This also means that both policymaking branches now have a Democratic majority in both houses and the executive branch with President-elect Joe Biden. 

The Democratic Congress will allow a smoother transition into the White House for Biden. His cabinet appointees, which must be confirmed by the Senate, will likely be approved quicker allowing his team to get to work. These appointees include choices like Janet Yellen to be the first female Treasury Secretary and Pete Buttigieg as the Secretary of Transportation. 

Biden’s first priority will likely be the passage of a costly Covid-19 relief package, which may include household stimulus checks of $2,000, that were unable to be passed at this most recent Congressional session due to gridlock in the Senate. Democrats also want state and local aid to be included on the next Covid-19 aid bill, which will be more likely to occur now that they have the effective majority.

The Biden Administration will want to push the top priority legislation through Congress in these next two years before the 2022 midterm elections when more Senate and House seats will be up. One of the major platforms that Biden ran on was his promise to tackle the climate crisis. Since being elected, Biden has continued to show his dedication to the issue by establishing a new cabinet level position focused on climate change. Biden’s first few climate related actions will likely be reversing the rollbacks on environmental regulations that the Trump administration established. However, Biden’s campaign platform suggests that he won’t be backing down after that. Biden has proposed a $2 trillion clean energy plan that includes spending on environmental research. The plan also includes actions dependent on Congressional approval such as increasing the tax breaks for vehicles that are environmentally friendly. 

Although the Democratic majority will allow for more left-leaning policies to be passed like creating a more affordable health care option, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Biden will be able to get more progressive policies like universal health care passed in two years. Although those on the Left will push for significant change, more moderate Democrats, especially those up for reelection in two years, may be less likely to support a more liberal agenda.