Joe Donnelly, Ed Pagano Quoted in Media on Outlook for the Senate During Biden Admin.
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Akin Gump public law and policy partner Joe Donnelly, a former U.S. Senator from Indiana, has been quoted in the Roll Call article “K Street adjusts for Democratic Senate.” The article discusses what some expect from the upper chamber once Vice President-elect Kamala Harris takes office and tips the 50-50 balance in favor of the Democrats.
The article notes that Democrats will face pressure from their liberal wing to roll back the filibuster rules for legislation, which currently requires 60 votes to clear the chamber, but Donnelly said he thinks the filibuster will remain in place unless Republicans use it “to stop everything.”
“If there’s a real effort to legislate and govern, the filibuster is safe,” Donnelly observed, but if Sen. Mitch McConnell, soon to be the Minority Leader, uses it regularly, he predicted Democrats would at least consider making a change.
Donnelly said $2,000 economic stimulus checks for most Americans would likely be a first order of business for a Democratic Senate, along with other coronavirus relief measures. “I think there’s an understanding that this is the awful thing that we have to get taken care of as soon as possible,” he said.
Donnelly also expects infrastructure and energy policy to be high on the agenda, along with health care and technology matters, such as expanding broadband access to urban and rural areas. It is the business sector, he said, that will likely help move certain legislation forward, including that pertaining to immigration reform.
Donnelly was also quoted in POLITICO, along with fellow partner Ed Pagano, a former Senate Liaison for President Barack Obama and a long-time aide to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT).
Donnelly said Democratic control of Washington could mark the return of “normalcy” to the legislative process, while Pagano posited that President-elect Joe Biden’s agenda “will be able to move forward much quicker” with Democrats running the Senate.
After years of gridlock in Washington, Donnelly said he knows “a number of moderate Republican senators who really want to get some things done.”
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