What Can Be Accomplished?

In his Wall Street Journal column William Galston makes some suggestions for areas in which President Biden and a Republican-controlled Senate may find common ground:

Suppose that President Biden chose to lead off his legislative agenda with issues that could command bipartisan majorities: expanded federal support for the Covid-19 testing and supplies that schools and other facilities will need to reopen safely; renewed support for small businesses and workers who have exhausted their unemployment benefits; a reasonable compromise on assistance to states and localities; and universal broadband access, which would benefit rural communities as well as low-income students in big cities.

With presidential backing, a compromise on policing and criminal-justice reforms between Republican Sen. Tim Scott’s bill and more far-reaching measures favored by House Democrats should be possible. And according to a recent survey, two-thirds of Americans—including nearly half of Republicans—favor legislation that would give legal status to the “Dreamers,” young adults brought to this country as minors by parents who entered the country illegally. President Biden could begin with this consensus measure while continuing work on a broader package of immigration reforms.

Unless Democrats win both the runoff elections in Georgia in January and take control of the Senate by the narrowest of margins, the relationship between President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will determine the legislative possibilities for at least the next two years. If Mr. Biden leads with broadly supported measures on which compromise is possible, how will Mr. McConnell respond?

Frankly, I’m skeptical of any of those passing the House, with or without arm-twisting from the president. In most cases the House would rather retain the issues that they can run on than accept solutions that are less than 100% of what they want.

I think the more interesting question is what will President Biden push to satisfy his Democratic supporters? The most likely prospects will be difficult to get through the Senate. So, for example, if Democrats had 50 or more seats in the Senate I would expect the “public option” to be the first thing they tackled, followed by something that could plausibly passed off as addressing climate change.