Joe Biden’s Future Challenges
A Senate run-off contest in the state of Georgia next January then, will be key in determining whether the Democrats can gain control of Congress.
And so the US Presidential election has come and gone and Joe Biden looks to have won comfortably, the prospect of legal challenges by a defiant Donald Trump notwithstanding. That Trump’s legal challenges have little likelihood of succeeding will not stop him from trying to challenge the legitimacy of the outcome of a democratic vote during the remaining two months he has left in office.
For while Trump has been defeated, “Trumpism” as a movement lives on, and the grievances of many Americans that originally propelled Trump into office, are still in place.
For these people, Biden (much like Hilary Clinton in 2016) is seen as an (albeit polite) emissary of the Wall Street establishment, who helped bail out the banks in 2008, whilst the earnings and job prospects of ordinary Americans stagnated.
Biden then, for all his talk of “healing” and “unity” has much work to do, and in a somewhat hostile environment, if (as expected) the Republicans maintain control of the Senate, where they will be in a position to block much of his domestic legislative agenda.
A Senate run-off contest in the state of Georgia next January then, will be key in determining whether the Democrats can gain control of Congress.
And so to President-Elect Biden’s agenda. One notable feature of Biden’s campaign was his launch of a plan to buy products “Made in America”, ostensibly as a sop to mid-Western blue-collar voters in key swing states such as Michigan (the old heart of the US Automotive industry) that have felt the squeeze on their jobs and wages in the face of foreign competition – particularly that of Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Indeed, this was uncomfortable ground for Biden, given his (somewhat) support for NAFTA back in the 1990s under Bill Clinton, and Trump’s renegotiation of it on terms more favourable to American (and indeed Mexican) workers, which was hailed by Democrat leader in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi at the time, as a “victory”.
Coming up with substantive policy measures to convince these voters of Biden’s commitment to “Made in America” will prove challenging if spending plans are blocked by Republicans in Congress.
On Biden’s priorities – the so-called 3 C’s: Coronavirus (Covid-19), ending Chaos and Competence, only on Competence could he be said with certainty to deliver (though this could change if he ends up achieving little as a result of deadlock in the Senate).
Combatting Covid-19 will require a massive stimulus package that could be pared back if he has to negotiate with Republican senators already making ominous noises about paring back the budget deficit.
In a similar fashion, ending “chaos” will depend on his ability to steer legislation through Congress, although Article Two of the US Constitution does empower the President with the ability to enact Executive decrees in matters pertaining to upholding the law and dealing with national emergencies (of which Covid-19 is certainly an example) and marshalling Federal resources thereof.
Alex de Ruyter, Director, Centre for Brexit Studies, Birmingham City University.
