Hopes of a wave broke two months ago, but Georgia seems to have delivered a Blue swash. What does the improbable election of Raphael Warnock and, most likely, Jon Ossoff in the state’s Senate runoffs portend for all things green? In part, that may be determined by the next act in this especially exhausting election cycle: Congressional Republicans’ planned performative objections to Wednesday’s Electoral College vote count.
When President-elect Joe Biden takes office in two weeks, he will likely enjoy unified government resting on razor-thin margins. That will probably include a 50/50 Senate with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris providing a tie-breaking vote. Straightaway, that means anything like a Green New Deal is off the table. Such sweeping climate legislation, or even enacting something like a carbon tax, would require a filibuster-proof majority or abolishing the filibuster. This isn’t the Senate to deliver that.
