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Covid crisis, Senate battle ... Joe Biden's first challenges

2020-12-14T06:34:33.762Z


Joe Biden's election will be confirmed by the US electoral college on Monday, before his inauguration on January 20. Meanwhile, the pr


He gets even closer to the White House.

This Monday, the electoral college must officially designate Joe Biden as president-elect of the United States.

The Democrat should receive 306 votes, against 232 for Donald Trump, who still refuses to recognize his defeat.

Among the major voters, who meet by state, there are personalities from each party, such as the Clintons in New York, on the Democratic side, or the governor of South Dakota Kristi Noem, potential Republican candidate in 2024. Their votes will be counted. on January 6 by the President of the Senate, i.e. Donald Trump's current Vice President, Mike Pence.

Overview of the challenges that await Joe Biden.

A priority, the Covid

.

After a complicated transition period, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the new head of state on January 20.

But he won't have time to breathe.

Because if the Trump presidency has stumbled on the Covid-19 pandemic, the latter will constitute the first challenge of his successor.

He logically made it his priority.

US health authorities gave the green light to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Friday evening.

Others, like Moderna's, are expected to follow.

Health workers and the elderly are a priority, but large-scale vaccination will have to be organized, a logistical headache to which the Pentagon must provide its expertise.

A team already on the bridge

.

For this, Joe Biden can count on the experience of the one he wants by his side as Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin.

It was he who had organized the withdrawal of troops from Iraq for Barack Obama.

In Health, it is the Attorney General of California, Xavier Becerra, who will be in charge.

He will help Biden change the White House's message on the pandemic: listen to science, wear a mask to protect yourself and others, fight vaccine conspiracy theories, while less than half of Americans say want to be vaccinated.

And to manage the economic side of this global crisis, Joe Biden chose Janet Yellen as Secretary of the Treasury.

The former patron of the Fed, the US central bank, is a moderate figure who should have no difficulty being confirmed by the Senate, even if the latter remains Republican.

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United States: Republicans with a majority vote in the Senate, everything will be played on January 5


The stake of the Senate

.

It is indeed the great unknown of this transition: while Biden continues to constitute his future team, he does not know if he will have a majority in Congress.

The House of Representatives retained its Democratic majority, albeit reduced, following the November 3 elections.

But two second rounds, organized on January 5 in Georgia, will decide the color of the Senate.

Joe Biden will campaign this Tuesday in this traditionally republican state that he narrowly managed to overturn during the presidential election.

Democrats must win those two Senate races to get 50 out of 100 seats. Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris, as Speaker of the Upper House, will then be the additional vote to arrive at the majority of 51.

Tensions on the left

.

In this hypothesis where Joe Biden escapes an obstruction of the Senate, he will only benefit from a very narrow majority.

To implement its program, it will then have to deal sometimes with moderate Republicans, sometimes with the left of the Democratic Party, represented by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, or by representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

However, the first signs of tensions are emerging.

The progressives do not appreciate so far the very centrist appointments within the future cabinet of Joe Biden.

They urge the elected president to implement major reforms on the themes of immigration, the police or even health insurance.

But Biden won't give them complete satisfaction.

For example, he criticized the calls of the anti-racist movement Black Lives Matter to lower the police budget, a message which he said offers conservatives a royal road to accuse his camp of laxity and "socialism".

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tax investigation into Hunter

. Other difficulties are more personal for Joe Biden. His son Hunter, in the crosshairs of Republicans since the Ukrainian affair which earned Donald Trump an "impeachment" at the beginning of the year, is once again talking about him. The American federal justice has just announced that it is investigating its tax returns. This investigation will be continued under the authority of the future Democratic Minister of Justice. Joe Biden has yet to announce his name. But, if he has promised that, unlike his predecessor, he will not interfere with justice, that does not prevent him from supporting Hunter: "President-elect Biden is deeply proud of his son, who fought facing tough challenges, including the vicious personal attacks of the past few months, ”his team said on Wednesday.

Source: leparis

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