01-04-2021, 12:55 PM
Under the Dems take Georgia scenario, the legislative filibuster also remains in place (there aren't 50 votes to change it at the start of the new Senate term). So, absent reconciliation, which can't be used in a way that increases the deficit, nothing gets done without 60 votes. The Dems barely scraped together 60 votes to pass the Affordable Care Act in 2009, and only after removing contentious pieces of the House Bill, like a public option.
House majority is much narrower than it was in the last Congress, as well. No one on the House/Senate side is going to want to stick their neck out on anything contentious like Cap and Trade, financial services regulations, etc., when a single Senator (King, Manchin, Tester) can sink the bill, and nothing like that can get to 60 votes in the Senate. Pork (mainly via defense bills) will be the only item on the menu.
House majority is much narrower than it was in the last Congress, as well. No one on the House/Senate side is going to want to stick their neck out on anything contentious like Cap and Trade, financial services regulations, etc., when a single Senator (King, Manchin, Tester) can sink the bill, and nothing like that can get to 60 votes in the Senate. Pork (mainly via defense bills) will be the only item on the menu.