Biden Says He Wants To Unite America. He Might Find Unity Hard To Come By



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President-elect Joe Biden speaks Tuesday at a National Guard/Reserve Center in New Castle, Del., named after his late son, Beau, before departing for Washington, D.C.

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Razor wire is seen last week after being installed on the fence surrounding the grounds of the U.S. Capitol due to security threats.

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And Biden has an ambitious agenda — a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan, requiring a $15 federal minimum wage, an immigration overhaul addressing the millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, not to mention trying to lead a dialogue on race in America.

As with all presidents, Biden doesn’t have a magic wand. He can’t heal families torn apart by views of Trump in one swoop. And he certainly can’t get his agenda implemented without the help of Congress.

The president, after all, controls the sword, but the Congress controls the purse. And Biden is going to need an awful lot of what’s in that bag.

While Democrats will control both the House and Senate, it will only be just narrowly. The Senate will be tied 50-50. On tied votes, soon-to-be Vice President Kamala Harris will break them.

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell in recent days has spoken out against Trump and laid blame at his feet for the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., arrives at the U.S. Capitol and walks to his office Jan. 6.

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The stage at the U.S. Capitol is prepared for Biden’s inauguration. There will be no crowd allowed on the National Mall this year.

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The stage at the U.S. Capitol is prepared for Biden’s inauguration. There will be no crowd allowed on the National Mall this year.

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But it’s not just money, it’s also familiar cultural fights. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who has faced criticism for his role in objecting to Biden’s win ahead of the violence at the Capitol, said Tuesday that he was putting a hold on Biden’s choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas.

«Mr. Mayorkas has not adequately explained how he will enforce federal law and secure the southern border given President-elect Biden’s promise to roll back major enforcement and security measures,» Hawley said, going on to cite Trump’s border wall.

And all of this is to say nothing of the pressures Biden is facing from the progressive left, which wanted nothing more than to beat Trump. Now that they have, progressives are eager to make sweeping change. But the numbers in Congress aren’t there.

If Biden, progressives and even many Republicans on Capitol Hill were looking to move on from Trump, it’s going to take a little while. That’s because much of what Biden wants to do — whether it’s dealing with COVID-19 or just confirming Cabinet secretaries — is going to have to share time with Trump’s impeachment trial.

The House is expected to send the article of impeachment to the Senate soon, and when it does, the Senate has to take it up immediately. And there is only so much time in the day.

Biden is aiming to at least bring down the temperature and bring back a degree of traditional Washington comity. That was evident Tuesday night in his somber ceremony in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, remembering the 400,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19.

It’s notable that this was the first time in this year of the coronavirus that there was a national moment focused on remembering the dead, as many Americans couldn’t even be with loved ones who died in hospitals across the country and never had proper funerals.

The congressional leaders are aiming to continue the show of staidness Wednesday morning, with all planning to attend Mass with Biden ahead of his inauguration.

But soon it will be back to partisan bickering, and it’s going to take one hell of a prayer to get everyone to work together in earnest and unite the country.

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