EpicRandy said: I'm reviewing Joe Biden's promises to get an estimate of how hard they would be to realize with a republican senate and Mitch Mcconell still as the majority leader. I'm using this article as a listing of Joe Biden's promises : https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Here-s-what-Joe-Biden-wants-to-do-as-president-15709583.php Ending the pandemic: Reforming immigration: Raising the minimum wage: Stronger action on climate change: Free college — for some: Higher taxes for the rich, corporations: |
You have to take into account that a lot can be accomplished through administrative agencies. These agencies have already been granted some of Congress' power (which is controversial but legal as of now) and in a very real sense function as law making bodies.
An organization like the EPA can do a lot in terms of regulating greenhouse gasses and such. Trump's travel bans were implemented by administrative action/executive order and can be undone by the same. How DACA is interpreted and enforced is also a matter that could be done without the Senate. The IRS can also make revenue rulings that can close certain loopholes and such.
Winning the Senate would be great, but the executive branch has grown very powerful, and there's a lot that can get done without the legislative branch. Whether that's a good thing on balance is debatable (I personally think not), but it's the way things are for the time being. And of course, there's always 2022. It's incredibly unclear what happens to the republican party in the post-Trump future, so it's too early to predict what might happen, but the map is probably more favorable in 2022 than it was this year, and the democrats will be able to lose at most one seat.
I also wonder if Biden might be able to take a republican Senator off the table by offering them a cabinet position. I'm not suggesting they do that specifically to shift the Senate, but if a Senator is qualified, why not appoint someone like Romney? And if that Senator is in a swing state (obviously Romney would be replaced by another Republican in Utah) that could be an interesting scenario. Probably not going to happen, but it's possible.