The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
What should we expect from Biden?
There are easier ways to win an election, but, 32 years after first running for president, Joseph Biden apparently made it. Reaching 270 electoral votes gave him the requisite majority, though swing-state results are already being challenged. Assuming the results stand, what may we expect from the Biden presidency? Based on Biden’s vision as expressed during the campaign, this is an early examination of his agenda and its prospects.
Some changes will be easy because they are obvious. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is an African American woman, and Biden promised to appoint the most diverse cabinet in U.S. history. That will begin soon, although the Senate must approve major appointments, and control will not be determined until Georgia’s runoff elections in January.
Biden’s campaign focused on the pandemic and related domestic concerns, but he also needs to regain the trust of historical allies and newer friends of the United States around the world. Selecting an energetic secretary of state will be imperative. Connecticut’s Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, might receive consideration, but Biden probably will choose an experienced foreign-policy professional. Murphy could be appointed ambassador to the United Nations.
Biden must stop four years of partisan-political interference with the work of federal agencies, from the Justice Department to the Centers for Disease Control. Returning these executive-branch operations to the direction of career professionals needs to a high priority. In addition, Biden will have to restrain the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and its often cruel policies.
Every president’s relationship with Congress is critically important, and many Biden initiatives will require its approval. At least until January, control will continue to be divided between the two major parties, which could produce legislative gridlock. Nevertheless, COVID-19 relief and stimulus require immediate attention. A bipartisan bill could pass, but it will be far less than what many Democrats imagined. Without controlling the Senate, still a possibility, the progressives’ hope for universal health care and demand to “pack” the Supreme Court are dead.
Widespread complaints of voter suppression require scrutiny, possibly in the form of the updating the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. Without Democratic control of the Senate or support from a few Senate Republicans, that is unlikely. Preventing foreign meddling in American elections probably requires more effective federal intelligence agencies’ efforts, which Biden’s executive branch will control. If legislation is needed, who could object?
Biden will be pressured for immediate law-enforcement reform as part of a broader campaign for racial justice. Some chronic abuses might be targeted by Congress, especially if the Democrats gain control of the Senate, but, in our federal system, policing generally is controlled by state and local governments.
President Donald Trump’s campaign for re-election clearly emphasized the rebounding strength of the equities markets. In contrast, Biden will look at other fundamentals, especially unemployment, to measure national economic recovery. Biden might receive bipartisan support for a bill to modernize the nation’s infrastructure, especially surface-transportation projects such as roads, railways, and bridges. If Republicans resist, that will signify a conscious strategy of obstruction.
In 2017, the first year of Trump’s presidency, congressional Republicans passed the most extensive federal tax code revision in decades. Biden’s Democrats hope correct its most troubling inequities and create a fairer tax system, but any efforts now would be vigorously opposed by Senate Republicans.
Immigration reform should be among Biden’s priorities. For humanitarian reasons, a few Republicans in the Senate might support a clearer path to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of “Dreamers,” daughters and sons of undocumented immigrants. Without democratic control of the Senate beginning in January or bipartisan support, there cannot be a legislative solution. In contrast, Biden could simply issue an executive order suspending construction of Trump’s much-hated “border wall.”
While Trump often belittled the reality of climate change, Biden called it “the greatest threat to our security.” Progressives will press the president-elect to support their “Green New Deal,” but getting an ambitious bill through the Senate, even with narrow Democratic control, is highly unlikely. This issue will reveal much about Biden’s ability to speak to political opponents, a skill developed during his 35-year Senate career.
In our deeply divided democracy, currently 50.6 percent of voters preferred Biden and now feel relief, even optimism, elation, but another 47.7 percent might be filled with dread. Biden’s basic decency does not ensure success. He must bring superior political skill to the many challenges he will inherit and others certain to arise in the next four years. Few incoming elected presidents have faced a more difficult task.