The democratic victories of Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff came to be overshadowed yesterday by the brief Capitol building shutdown. Widespread revulsion at the behavior of the Trump supporters may forge a brief tenuous unity among a majority of voters and congresspeople. But it won’t last long. The most important thing is that Democrats control the legislative and executive branch together for the first time since January of 2009. It is vital that Democrats not waste this moment.
As in 2009, we have a huge agenda. Vaccinations, policing, climate change, health care, and student debt are among a few top agenda items. But lower on the radar are key legislative initiatives that will expand Democratic power. Democrats must not flinch at enacting these changes.
One change begets all others. Democrats must change the Senate rules allowing legislation to be enacted with a simple majority, rather than the current 60 vote requirement. This is not Joe Biden’s natural inclination and Republicans across the country will scream. But Senate Democrats simply must adopt this change if they are to have any hope for the rest of the democratic agenda.
The next agenda item may not be so obvious, but is also key to helping Democrats maintain control of the Senate, and win the Electoral College. The initiative is statehood for Washington DC and Puerto Rico. It’s important not to naively assume that either state — particularly Puerto Rico — would consistently vote democratic. But we have a terrific shot at adding four democratic votes to the Senate and 7 votes to the electoral college. (Those electoral votes would all be from Puerto Rico, DC already has 3 electoral votes.)
Those four additional Senate votes may prove critical to the next item on the list — immigration reform. Dreamers? Sure, but not nearly enough. We need a pathway to citizenship for the 14 million illegal aliens who have been living in the US for many years. That pathway needs to be reasonable. It can’t take 10 years. In fact, it is important politically that many immigrants be added to the voter rolls by the 2022 election. Texas and Florida are among the states with the highest illegal alien populations. Citizenship for illegal aliens in these two states could change the political equation dramatically. Immigration reform was a promise made by President Obama that died when democrats lost the 2010 election. This time, it cannot afford to wait.
There are other changes to be sure. Term limits for Supreme Court Justices would be among the tops on any list.
There is already objection that we will alienate the moderate suburban voters who were among the key constituencies to Biden’s victory. Let me remind those objectors that similar arguments were made, and largely embraced, by Barack Obama in 2009. Subsequently, Democrats lost the mid term elections and control of the House by a landslide. That was the end of Obama’s legislative agenda. Holding off on immigration reform and climate change legislation didn’t save Democrats in 2010. It won’t save Democrats in 2022 either.