The new parliamentary distribution will be key to determining whether the president-elect will be able to carry out its program or will suffer bureaucratic stagnation.
“Congressional elections are as important as the presidential race because Congress creates and approves laws that directly impact people’s lives”analyzed Corryn Freemanby Future Coalition, a organization that supports young American activists.
“The control of Congress determines direction on key issues such as health, education and climate policywhich often have a more immediate effect than presidential decisions,” he added.
The Capitol is divided into House of Representativeswhere the 435 seats will be defined, and the Senatewhere 34 of 100 seats will be put into play. Their decisions, in addition to determining the direction of local politics, have a decisive importance in world affairsgiven that They set the defense budget, regulate trade and tariffs, and allocate foreign aid.
During his presidency, Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, failed to have a majority in Congress, which prevented him from carrying out the cuts he wanted to make to the State Department and ending the health insurance program. Obamacare. If he reaches the White House again, he could face a similar scenario.
Elections in the United States: uncertain outlook on Capitol Hill
In any case, as in the presidential elections, the dispute for legislative positions will be very close.
In the case of the House of Representatives, with all the seats at stake, anything can happen. While in the Senate, the Republicans are likely to win due to the electoral map that compromises the Democrats, despite currently having the majority.
In November there will be significantly more Democratic than Republican seats at stake.
According to Corryn Freeman, Democrats may control the White Housethe House of Representatives and the Senate, but It is an unlikely scenario.
For its part, Keith Gaddieprofessor of Political Science at Texas Christian University, the Lower House It is within the reach of Democrats, although this expert would not put his hands in the fire for it.
“The reality is that, in terms of control, literally anything can happen“he said in dialogue with AFP.”“We won’t really know until the voting is over.”
Source: Ambito
