ALASKA’S FUTURE IS IN GEORGIA’S HANDS
The U.S. Senate adjourned at 4:10 pm on Friday, leaving in place a long-negotiated stimulus package with $600 checks for Americans, rather than the $2,000 checks sought by President Donald Trump and Democrats.
The U.S. Constitution mandates that Congress convene on Sunday, Jan. 3 at noon, and every other year it is considered a “new” Congress, which means if the new Congress wants to take up the $2,000 stimulus check, it may do so anew in this first session of the 117th Congress. But it’s unlikely.
MRAK Poll: Do you support the $600 or the $2,000 stimulus check for Americans?
Which political party controls the new Senate won’t be decided until Tuesday, Jan. 5, when two runoff elections occur in Georgia. If Democrats win the two seats, then the control of the Senate will be handed to the Democrats, and that would mean Democrats won a trifecta — the Presidency, House, and Senate.
In one of the Georgia races, Republican Sen. David Perdue is running for reelection against challenger Democrat Jon Ossoff in a regularly scheduled election that went to a runoff.
In the other race, Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler is challenged by Democrat Raphael Warnock in a special election also in a runoff; Loeffler was appointed to fill former Sen. Johnny Isakson’s seat after he resigned for health reasons on Dec. 31, 2019.
Because the Georgia runoff election comes two days after Congress convenes, the Senate will at least start under the control of Sen. Mitch McConnell and the Republicans, who have a slim 50-48-senator majority.
The Senate now stands at 50 Republicans and 48 Democrats. If Democrats win both runoffs, the party will have control of the chamber because Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would break any ties. But if Republicans win one of the two races, they will maintain control.
The House had already voted in favor of the $2,000 stimulus check, while the more conservative Republicans opposed it.
But in the Senate, it never made it to a vote. The question may influence the outcome of the Georgia runoff election, as the $2,000 check is popular among Americans struggling with job loss and economic hardship due to the policies resulting from the pandemic.
In fact, the Georgia race may come down to whether voters believe the $2,000 check is a dealbreaker for them.
According to several polls, 78 percent of Americans favor the $2,000 stimulus, as proposed by the president. The Data for Progress poll shows that 73 percent of Republicans nationally support the $2,000 payments, including 52 percent who strongly support them, according to the statistical firm FiveThirtyEight.com.
“Based on those numbers, it’s almost certainly the case that a majority of Republicans in Georgia support the payments,” the website reports.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy told Fox News on Sunday that he favors the $2,000 stimulus check. That puts Dunleavy and Trump in the same camp as most Democrats in Congress and the majority of Americans.
Conservatives, on the other hand, have argued that borrowing a half-trillion dollars from Americans of the future to pay Americans today is bad policy. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan have been vague on their support of it, while Senate Majority Leader McConnell called it “socialism for the rich.”
Currently, Murkowski is terming out of her chairmanship of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee, where she chairs and serves on several subcommittees; she also serves on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and Committee on Indian Affairs.
Sen. Sullivan currently serves on the Senate Committee on Armed Services and is the chair of the Readiness and Management Support subcommittee. He also serves on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, where he chairs the Communications Technology, Innovation, the Internet, Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection, and the Science, Oceans, Fisheries and Weather subcommittees. He also serves on the Committee on Environment and Public Works, and Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
The new committee assignments for this 117th Congress could change with the makeup of the new Senate. The Alaska delegation and its ability to defend Alaska’s interests will be decided by Tuesday’s Georgia vote.
“Free” money? Of course most people will want it. You’ll have to log my vote for me Suzanne – I still can’t get on Facebook because there is no cell phone service in my village and I don’t own one… I won’t cry if we don’t get $2K – I have a good job in an “essential” business and have not lost any work due to COVID. I have a lot of sympathy for those who have, and $2K will be very helpful to them – so I’m in favor.
The national debt has been treated as a joke by governments since at least Franklin Roosevelt. To quote a prominent politician, “Congress doesn’t care about money…” They just print more and devalue what we already have.
Doesn’t really matter since we’re not on the gold standard anymore. Our currency is only worth as much as our national security and our trade contracts. the only thing that can devalue the American dollar is China. Print as much as they want I say.
Got my $600 yesterday. Will wait for Biden to give me the rest.
Nary a backbone to be found in these bodies..
Better bring an army of GOP observers into Atlanta area polling precincts, otherwise crooked Democrats will stage another election coup for themselves.
My issues are:
1-We send how many billions abroad and can’t spare $2000 a head for our own people. Our government is truly sick.
2-In the middle of a hotly contested Senate battle in Georgia, the GOP hands this issue to the left on a silver platter. The GOP has a knack for self inflicted wounds.
What irks me is that after nine months of monkeying around that the House and Senate played politics with the economy of the USA, tax paying constituents, and businesses and still couldn’t come to a conclusion based on “OUR” needs. Instead they passed some “Free Money” to our so called global friends that are laughing at us. Also allowing Tech moguls to dictate our future with no guidelines (Section 230) censoring US Citizens is not a nice thing to do…and may be called treason by some definitions.
Following the money… I want to know who is tracing where all those billions of US dollars are really going…and whose hands will it fall into? Certainly not the American unemployed who are also restricted by each state.
Correction to your article:
Democrats have stolen elections, not won elections. Exactly what they plan to do in GA.
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Few in the US senate and house stand for the Constitution and Americans.
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SAD!
“Senate Majority Leader McConnell called it “socialism for the rich.”” Say, what?! Did the bill not say these checks were only for those making less than certain amounts? Grrrr!
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