Dems Pledge $2,000 Checks as Biden Agenda Gets a Boost

By Yuval Rosenberg

After the Capitol Attack: What Happens Next

The fallout from Wednesday’s chaos at the Capitol continued
Thursday — and will likely be felt for some time. Here are the top
developments:

Congress certifies election, Trump says he will leave:
Members of Congress returned to the Capitol Wednesday night to
finish the job of certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory,
with several GOP senators backing off of plans to dispute the
results in several swing states. After an earlier challenge to
Arizona’s results failed, one final challenge, raised by dozens of
House Republicans and joined by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), was also
voted down.

The House is now set to be out of session until after Biden’s
inauguration and the Senate has adjourned until January 19.

Soon after Congress certified Biden’s win early Thursday
morning, President Trump acknowledged for the first time the coming
end of his term in office — but he continued his inflammatory and
baseless claims about the election.

“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the
election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an
orderly transition on January 20th,” he said in a statement posted
to Twitter by White House social media director Dan Scavino.

Trump’s own Twitter and Facebook accounts had been locked after
Wednesday’s violence, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said
Thursday that the company will block Trump on its services
indefinitely, but at least until the transfer of power in two
weeks. “We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue
to use our service during this period are simply too great,”
Zuckerberg said.

Calls for Trump’s removal: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer joined in growing calls for
Trump’s removal from office for his role in inciting Wednesday’s
mob attack.

The Democratic leaders called on Vice President Mike Pence to
invoke the
25th Amendment to the Constitution to wrest the
power of the presidency from Trump. Pelosi said that if Pence
didn’t do so, Congress may pursue a second impeachment of the
president, though with only 13 days left in Trump’s term, it’s
unlikely that there’s enough time or political will to push ahead
with such an effort. Some Republicans
also called for the president to be removed from
office, but Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) was the only GOP member of
Congress to join
more than 100 Democratic lawmakers in urging
Trump’s removal or impeachment.

Administration officials resign: A growing
number of Trump administration officials have resigned
in the wake of Wednesday’s events. Transportation Secretary Elaine
Chao
announced she will resign effective Monday, and other
Cabinet resignations reportedly
are coming.

Chao’s husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, had
notably decried efforts by fellow Republicans to overturn the
election results, calling his vote the most important of his 36
years in the Senate. “If this election were overturned by mere
allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death
spiral,” he said Wednesday in a speech to a joint session of
Congress shortly before the pro-Trump rioters breached the Capitol.
“I will not pretend such a vote would be a harmless protest gesture
while relying on others to do the right thing.”

Others who have resigned include:

  • Tyler Goodspeed, acting chairman of the White House
    Council of Economic Advisers;
  • Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s chief of staff and
    former White House press secretary;
  • Sarah Matthews, a deputy White House press
    secretary;
  • Mick Mulvaney, the special envoy to Northern Ireland and
    former acting White House Chief of Staff;
  • Rickie Niceta, the White House social
    secretary;
  • Matt Pottinger, deputy national security
    adviser.

Mulvaney had penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed published in
November under the headline: “If He Loses, Trump Will Concede
Gracefully.” On Thursday, the former top Trump aide told CNBC, “You
hate to be wrong about something of this import.”

The bottom line: Trump’s probably
still going to be in office until January 20, and it remains to be
seen whether he’ll be held accountable in any way for Wednesday’s
tragic riot. The New York Times
reported Thursday that the president has told
advisers in conversations since Election Day that he is considering
pardoning himself — a move, the Times notes, “that would mark one
of the most extraordinary and untested uses of presidential power
in American history.”

Dems Pledge $2,000 Checks as Biden Agenda Gets a Boost From
Georgia Victories

The Democratic sweep of the runoff Senate elections in
Georgia may not have gotten as much coverage as the storming of the
Capitol by a pro-Trump mob Wednesday, but the results will have a
powerful influence over legislative politics in the first two years
of the Biden administration.

However difficult and contentious the final two weeks of
the Trump administration may prove to be, the legislative landscape
will change dramatically after January 20, when Joe Biden is sworn
in as the 46th president and Democrats take control of the Senate,
thereby achieving complete control of the executive and legislative
branches of government.

“Buckle up!” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who’s set to
become Senate Majority Leader, tweeted Wednesday morning, signaling
that Democrats intend to speed ahead with their agenda. But any
such effort is also likely to face a number of bumps along the
way.

Here are some of the issues that are now on the agenda
with Democratic control in Washington:

Nominees and judges: The most obvious
effect of Democratic control of the Senate is that Biden will be
able to fill his Cabinet and other administration posts more
easily. Nominees that Republicans might have blocked, including
Xavier Becerra for Health and Human Services Secretary and Neera
Tanden for director of the Office of Management and Budget, will
have an easier time getting confirmed. And Republican
Senate leader Mitch McConnell won’t be able to unilaterally block
Biden’s appointments to the federal bench, including a potential
replacement for 82-year-old Supreme Court Justice Stephen
Breyer.

$2,000 relief checks: Although the
latest relief bill passed with a direct stimulus payment of $600
for most Americans, Democrats have embraced President Trump’s
pre-Christmas call for $2,000 relief checks, and at least one party
leader said the payments would be an early focus for lawmakers.
“One of the first things that I want to do when our new senators
are seated is deliver the $2,000 checks to the American families,"
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Wednesday. There
are still plenty of questions about how that effort would play out,
though, and it’s not clear that another round of direct payments
would have enough support to pass Congress quickly.

Another big stimulus package:
Democratic control in Washington makes it much more likely
that Congress will pass another stimulus and relief package.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs project a package worth $600 billion —
about 2.7% of GDP — passing early in the Biden
administration.

Reconciliation: One-party control
opens the door to reconciliation, a budget process that allows
lawmakers to pass budgetary legislation with a simple majority in
the Senate, rather than the 60-vote margin required for most bills.
This could provide a way for Biden to sign a massive bill — Chris
Kreuger of Cowen Research says the package could be worth as much
as $4 trillion — that includes a variety of spending measures,
possibly including stimulus checks, subsidies for health insurance,
green energy initiatives, infrastructure investment and more. The
rules of reconciliation require no additional deficit spending
after 10 years, so any package would likely include tax increases
on the rich and corporations.

Economist Michael Pearce of Capital Economics notes that
reconciliation, which can only be used once a year, would still
present some challenges since it would require every Democratic
Senator to go along, or the support of some moderate Republicans
who aren’t likely to back tax hikes or other proposals.
“[E]ven with unified control of Congress, we strongly doubt
Biden will be able to get his most consequential legislative
priorities passed,” Pearce told clients.

Climate change: Biden has laid out an
ambitious, $2 trillion plan to combat climate change, and lawmakers
could attempt to pass it on its own, outside of the reconciliation
process. Opposition from Republicans and some conservative
Democrats could make that difficult, though, especially in the
Senate, where the new president would need to find 60
votes.

Health care: Biden is expected to
pursue
enhancements to the Affordable Care Act, including
more generous subsidies and the creation of a public option.
Additionally, lawmakers could pass legislation that would neutralize
the Republican-led lawsuit seeking to invalidate the ACA, which the
Supreme Court is expected to rule on this spring.

Senate committees: Democrats will take
the reins of committees in the Senate. Potential leaders include
Sens. Ron Wyden (OR) for finance, Patty Murray (WA) for health,
Dick Durbin (IL) for judiciary, and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for
budget.

Number of the Day: $95 Billion

Hurricanes, wildfires and other disasters caused $95
billion in damage across the United States in 2020, according to
new data from reinsurance company Munich Re cited by
The New York Times. The total is almost double the
amount from the previous year and reflects the growing cost of
climate change.

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