Democrats are fighting to keep their majority in Congress, and while the House and the Senate are at stake for them, there is plenty at stake for the President as well. Although he has not confirmed his bid for the 2024 presidency, any future plans Biden might have for staying in the White House will be heavily influenced by these midterm elections.
Majority Rules
If the Republicans manage to take control of Congress, the Democrat’s agendas for climate change, abortion, and voting rights would all be for naught. Jim Kessler, the executive director at Third Way, a center-left think tank, told ABC News, “I think there were certainly pieces that got left on the table, like the child tax credit and the universal pre-K, that would be very hard to do in a divided Congress.”
He did, however, touch on the fact that Biden is capable of passing bipartisan legislation. He has already done so through the infrastructure law, the gun safety legislation, and the CHIPS Act.
Biden has stressed before that there is much more at stake than just Congress. He believes there is danger in allowing Republicans who support the overturning of the 2020 election results to have power. He says that he sees a real extremism threat.
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Balance of Power
It’s common knowledge on Capitol Hill that the party of the sitting president will likely lose the midterm elections that happen in their first term. Obama lost the House two years into his presidency, and the resulting red takeover arguably set the stage for Donald Trump to take office in 2016.
On the other hand, two years into his presidency, Donald Trump lost the House as well, and Democrats were able to reinstate Nancy Pelosi as the speaker of the House.
Polls have been rolling out consistently this campaign season, and the trends show that Republicans are more poised to take the House than the Senate, but the races are so tight that it is hard to make any real predictions.
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There’s a New Sheriff in Town
Republicans have already begun making promises to their supporters in the event that they are able to wrest back control of Congress. They have stated that they will be launching investigations into the administration, some of which include a probe into Hunter Biden, investigations into Covid-19 policies and the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the handling of the southern border.
Some GOP members have also claimed they will be attempting to impeach President Biden, as well as Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Toe to Toe
The debt limit is also a topic of contention between Republicans and Biden. If Republicans follow poll trends and take control of the House, they may go head-to-head with Biden over raising the debt limit.
Kevin McCarthy is the House Minority Leader and the likely candidate for Speaker of the House if Republicans gain back control. He recently gave an interview with Punchbowl News where he stated that his party would do their best to halt the raising of the debt limit in favor of “making the economy grow stronger.”
Some Democrats have attempted to make deals with Senate Republicans, as a result, to attempt to raise the debt ceiling above the current $31.4 trillion cap.
From Offense to Defense
In the event that Republicans take control of both the House and the Senate, Biden will likely go from signing bills to vetoing them. He will have to turn his focus away from his current agenda and focus on blocking the bills that the Republicans will try to pass.
Biden’s bid for re-election would likely lose its steam before really getting going if Republicans manage to take Congress. He very well may have to step aside and endorse a different Democratic candidate, as other presidents have done before him.
The good news for Biden is even if Republicans are able to block his agenda, he will still have other accomplishments to reference on the campaign trail in 2024. He will likely refer to the signing of the infrastructure bill that he was able to pass, securing funding for green industries in an attempt to slow climate change and reducing medical costs for Americans.
The bad news for Biden is that an ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted in September found that 56% of Democrats and Independents who usually vote blue want someone other than Biden in 2024.
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This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.