A Democrat-controlled Senate still faces major hurdles for climate action
Joe Biden’s ambitious climate agenda is still alive — but just barely.
Joe Biden’s ambitious climate agenda is still alive — but just barely.
The upset victories of Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia’s Senate runoff elections gave Democrats 50 seats in the Senate, with the tie-breaking vote going to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Along with maintaining their majority in the House and winning the White House, Democrats pulled off the coveted November hat trick. Now the real work begins — turning talk into action, specifically when it comes to climate change. And the new senators from the Peach state will undoubtedly play a vital role.
Though neither candidate publicly backs the Green New Deal, Warnock and Ossoff both support rejoining the Paris Agreement, increasing funds for green jobs, and transitioning to clean energy. Warnock, specifically, has also shown an interest in environmental justice.
Looking at how Republicans typically treat environmental legislation, the fact that Democrats, who have at least tried to pass sweeping climate bills, have control of the House, Senate, and White House is a big deal in itself.
The cherry on top is that notorious climate-blocker Mitch McConnell (R-KY) no longer controls what bills get debated — Chuck Schumer (D-NY) does. Still, with all this good news comes reality, and our path to meaningful climate action is not a clear one.
With this majority, Dems can push through Biden’s Cabinet picks, set a more climate-friendly agenda for Congress, and roll back Trump’s environmental deregulations. They can also force votes on granting statehood to Washington, D.C. (woot), a new, more equitable Voting Rights Act, and (we may be getting ahead of ourselves) pack the Supreme Court with climate-friendly justices.
But the Democratic Party is split into factions, with progressives like Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on one side and conservative moderates like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who votes in line with Trump 51% of the time, on the other.
A simple majority, therefore, doesn’t guarantee easy passage of progressive climate action.
“Legislation on…climate change and clean energy simply must take the views of Manchin and other moderates firmly into account or those bills will have little chance of advancing,” Scott Segal, a lobbyist at Bracewell, told U.S. News.
Or as Former Vox climate reporter David Roberts joked on Twitter this week, “Give Everyone in West Virginia $1 Million in Exchange for a Green New Deal Challenge 2021.”
In all seriousness, we’ll need the support of every single Democratic senator to get climate legislation passed. To make matters worse, most major bills require 60 votes to forgo a filibuster (not to make this a mini Joe Manchin post, but he’s also against eliminating the filibuster). Across the chamber in the House of Representatives, Dems hold a shaky and uncomfortably slim 11-vote majority.
Still, Biden is hardpressed to work on bipartisan legislation, and given his lengthy career in politics, he may roll up his sleeves and do some good old-fashioned deal-making. If that happens, these slim majorities could hold, though it would most likely come at the expense of the most aggressive climate policies.
The bottom line is Democrats must pass what they can and quickly. In 2010, with similar party control, Obama spent all his political capital to pass the Affordable Care Act. He lost control of the House in 2011 and never got it back.
If Biden’s to push through his ambitious climate plan, he may have to do the same thing. Georgia did its part. Now it’s on Biden, the House, and the Senate to act.