Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer published one tweet following the election news coming out of the U.S. Senate races in Georgia on Tuesday night, the results of which were overwhelmingly positive for Democrats.
“Buckle up!” Schumer wrote.
Schumer’s tweet comes after Reverend Raphael Warnock, a far-left Democrat, knocked off Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and Democrat Jon Ossoff appears to be on his way to beating Sen. David Perdue (R-GA). The ramifications of Republicans losing both of the Senate seats is enormous as Democrats will now be in control of both the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. federal government, and Republicans will be unable to use Senate Committees to provide a check on the incoming Biden administration.
Buckle up!
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 6, 2021
During a press conference on Wednesday morning, Schumer refused to answer questions about whether Democrats were going to add items to an emergency bill to provide $2,000 stimulus checks.
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board warned last week that if Republicans lost control of the Senate it would effectively end the prospect of any meaningful oversight over Biden, including the scandal involving his son Hunter, who is under federal criminal investigation over his taxes and foreign business dealings. Having lost control of the Senate Committees, Republicans would also lose the ability to stop any of Biden’s nominees.
The Journal added:
Some of our friends think Democrats couldn’t blow up the 60-vote legislative filibuster rule with a mere 50 votes. Their confidence hangs on West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, who says he supports the filibuster. But imagine the political and media pressure on Mr. Manchin if Republicans use the filibuster to block Joe Biden’s agenda. He’s always been a loyal party man when it really matters.
If the filibuster stays, Mr. Biden will need to compromise to get GOP votes for an infrastructure bill, new ObamaCare subsidies or repealing Section 230 on tech liability. A public option on health care is probably out of reach, as would be much of his climate agenda.
But if the filibuster goes, so do bipartisan restraints. Statehood for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico become possible, with four new Senate seats to cement a Democratic majority. Mr. Biden’s aggressive union agenda has a chance, including overtime pay mandates and easier organizing of franchise chains. So do nationwide mandates for ballot harvesting and mail-in voting, a ban on arbitration in business contracts, price controls on drugs, huge subsidies for green energy and perhaps a carbon tax. We could go on.
The Journal’s mention of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) comes after Manchin committed during a Fox News interview in November that he would not vote to pass much of the Democrats’ far-left agenda.
“Well, there’s a lot of people that are concerned. There’s a lot of fear tactics that are being used right now,” Manchin said. “If both of the Georgia senators were elected from the Democratic Party, then that would be 50/50, if both Dan Sullivan and Thom Tillis win; 50/50 means there’s a tie. But if one senator does not vote on the Democratic side, there is no tie and there is no bill.”
“So, I commit to you tonight and I commit to all of your viewers and everyone else that’s watching, I want to lay those fears, I want to rest those fears for you right now, because, when they talk about whether it be packing the courts or ending the filibuster, I will not vote to do that,” Manchin continued. “I will not vote to pack the courts. I think — and I will not vote to end the filibuster. Bret, this system, the Senate, this so unique body in the world, it was made to work together in a bipartisan way. And once you start breaking down those barriers, then you lose every reason that we are the institution that we are, the most deliberative body.”
“So, I want to lay those fears to rest, that that won’t happen, because I will not be the 50th Democrat voting to end that filibuster or to basically stack the court,” he added. “And then all the other things you’re hearing about, Bret, also, is — defund the police. I don’t know of any of the Democrats in the caucus that are for defunding the police. We are not for that whatsoever. And when they talk about basically Medicare for All, we can’t even pay for Medicare for some. It doesn’t make any sense at all. We have got to fix the Affordable Care Act we have. And I think our Republican — moderate Republicans will work with us to now repair what needs to be repaired.”
WATCH:
Let me be clear: I will not vote to pack the courts & I will not vote to end the filibuster. The U.S. Senate is the most deliberative body in the world. It was made so that we work together in a bipartisan way. If you get rid of the filibuster, there's no reason to have a Senate. pic.twitter.com/g0fasdzVmt
— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) November 10, 2020