SIMPLE & QUICK: Worried as ever about the long game, Democrats posture for a blue tomorrow, despite the sad red reality of today

Democrats are preparing for progress should they recapture the Senate in their energetic bid to take the Oval Office— while maintaining the House in 2020. They are not being shy about their progressive platform or candidates either. The organized Party that was not, is finally making good on a promise to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Under Nancy Pelosi’s leadership, the Democratic House is why Americans received the first $1,200 economic impact payment under the CARES Act, a $600/week expanded unemployment benefits through the HEROS Act, and further healthcare protections enacted under both— plus the Payroll Protection Program. The Democratic House is also why the PPP could shell-out forgivable loans for small businesses. Despite GOP antics.

The future is looking Blue. Very Blue. So, in preparation for taking over the Senate and re-capturing the White House, Democrats have never been more busy. Not only are Democratic committees busy working on further up-coming coronavirus impact legislation, they are also passing bills that do not stand a chance to make it outside of Congress, let alone be signed by the President. Why are they doing this? With Democratic bills already House approved, legislation will be ready to whip through a newly Democratic Congress and quickly ready for a Democratic President to sign in the Oval Office.

Significant police reform is on the docket. The Senate GOP, under Mitch McConnell, crowed all last week that it is Democrats who stymied police reform. First, 45 Senate Democrats can not stop a police reform bill. 45 Democrats plus two (2) Independents and three (3) Republicans can. And likely would have. Which is why the bill died in committee. The Senate GOP police reform bill would enact deterrents without enforcement. The House bill, named the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act, which was proposed by the Congressional Black Caucus, provides deterrents, enforcement, accountability, and prevention incentives.

Yesterday, the House passed a bill to designate Statehood to Washington, D.C., a topic that has been dead since 1993. Click the link for a brief history of why D.C. is not a State. In an interview with ABC news, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “The fact is, people in the District of Columbia pay taxes, fight our wars, risk their lives for our democracy; and yet in this state, in this place, they have no vote in the House or the Senate about whether we go to war and how those taxes are exacted and how it’s all played.”

What is yet to be seen is if there are other versions of the Statehood bill that make the case for U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico. If you did not read the brief history on D.C. Statehood, the difference in the argument between D.C. and other U.S. territories is taxation. D.C. residents are highly taxed. The U.S. territories have their own internal tax departments and systems that are quasi-separate from the U.S. Federal government. The residents of Washington D.C., however, do not. Therefore, they are existing under taxation without representation— as duly noted.

Sure to also make its way through the Democratic Trifecta is cannabis legislation reform. This endeavor will probably be tackled by multiple bills as it is inextricably intertwined with culture, policing, commerce, and healthcare. Americans should look forward to bills that will decriminalize cannabis, enact federal banking and trade protections for cannabis business, and also create new regulatory bodies— or the inclusion in FDA, etc— to oversee the manufacturing and quality of the flower and its products. There will also be a push to buoy black-owned cannabis business as this new industry expands. This policy package will come as part of a larger correction for racist marijuana laws being enacted and enforced to systemically oppress black and brown communities.

There will be other comprehensive legislation ready for renewed debate, including immigration reform. The culture wars has some Americans believing that immigration is a non-starter and has been since its last revisit under the George W. Bush administration. Remember, the DREAM Act was introduced in 2001, and the DREAMers are only protected by a Presidential executive order by President Obama. President Trump ended the DREAM program. However, the Supreme Court rejected the haphazard attempt for the time being.

Further proof of Democrats figuring out how to write legislation and lead a country came today with seemingly unrelated yet urgent words from Mitch McConnell. Always focused on maintaining control of his Senate, the Majority Leader now implores Americans wear face masks while in public. The sudden change in tune may be out of the Kentucky Senator’s genuine worry for the well being of Americans. Or, the shrewd politician simply recognizes in the data that the Americans not wearing masks in public are his voters. And are now giving the Majority Leader a major headache.