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Comment by bosswipe | Hacker News Reader

If Republicans keep the Senate Biden won't accomplish much of his agenda. Especially with Mitch Mcconnell's uncompromising approach expect gridlock, government shutdowns, probably a constitutional crisis or two, and a complete inability to respond to any further crises.

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In 2001 a Republican Senator flipped to become a Democrat and give them the majority.

I'm not ruling out that possibility now. Especially when the stakes are even higher.

And in 2010, Joe Lieberman (D) blocked Obamacare from getting a public option.

It’s not that a party has a 51-man majority, although that helps for simple legislation. It’s that a party has a majority that can withstand defectors. And one further, defectors aren’t always defecting out of malice. Susan Collins (R) resides in a remarkably purple region such that she needed to oppose Trump on some of his policies to ensure she could get re-elected this year (and she did).

On the other hand, Obamacare passed.

I don't think we can say in advance what will and won't be blocked. But on the news today they pointed out that Biden has literally spent decades working in the Senate. So if anyone has across-the-aisle relationships, it would be him.

Anyways, again: we cannot say in advance what's going to happen next.

It passed in a totally gutted manner because it makes far less sense without a public option to balance the mandate.

My point isn’t oBAmaCaRE bAd. It’s that every single senatorial race counts, even after 51/60.

That is legal? Wow, very sleazy. In Brazil you lose your office if you switch after elected. You can still go against your party when voting, but changing parties after election has got to burn you forever...

It's legal in many places where you explicitly vote for individual candidates, not parties (and even in some where party lists are voted)

This is a major problem the US is going to have to figure out. How do you get anything done in the legislature when one party has the incentive and ability to stop everything?

Nah, he and Harris are senate insiders who will work relationships across the aisle and get things done.

not really

- Why would Mitch let them do anything? It worked to hobble Obama. If the axe a fair and powerful stimulus post-pandemic couldn't they pull off another mid-term comeback better?

- Biden has little agenda, which make make comprimise appear easier, but one must not forget the pre-compromise that happened before negotiating began.

We're in for at least 2 years of no meaningful policy, people.

Biden has little agenda? Trump had none. He could not articulate a single policy that he'd pursue in his 2nd term.

Yes, and? I wasn't trying to argue that Trump is better! I'm trying to argue that Biden is woefully insufficient.

I highly doubt they can outmaneuver Mitch. Especially in this current environment where the two parties are unwilling to work together and have a divisive relationship. Things might have been better a couple of decades ago where working across the aisle was more common I think.

The fact they are insiders assures me nothing will get done while fingers are pointed every which way.

Nah, Biden said it himself in the last presidential debate:

> [1:1:08] Trump: I just ask-- I just ask one question: why didn't you do it in the eight years, a short time ago? Why didn't you do it? You just said, ‘I'm going to do that. I'm going to do this.’ You put tens of thousands of mostly Black young men in prison. Now you're saying you're going to get-- you're going to undo that. Why didn't you get it done? You had eight years with Obama? You know why, Joe, because you're all talk and no action.

> [1:17:29] Welker: All right, Vice President Biden and then we're gonna move on to the next section.

> [1:17:34] Biden: We had a Republican Congress. That’s the answer.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/...

And in 2020 we currently have a Democratic-controlled house, and a narrowly Republican-controlled Senate. If either party knows what's good for them, they'll work together.

Finally, Biden was not president from 2008-2016. A much less experienced insider was (as great and popular as Obama was).

Mitch McConnell said that his goal was to make sure that Obama is a one-time President. When you come in with an attitude like that, it's difficult to get anything done. If your peer at work came in and said, my goal is to make sure you don't last more than 3 months here, do you think you can be successful?

Yeah Mitch McConnel is my biggest worry. He can keep on blocking until Biden loses support. Our government is hell bent on preserving their egos that they often don’t do what’s best for their citizens.

I don’t expect much to change this time unless there are drastic changes on how decisions get made. Or if Biden can appeal to the few republicans that actually do care about their constituents over being Mitch McConnel’s sheep.

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