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Potential problems for Biden are the need to get his cabinet choices through the Senate, and the fact that although he can overturn executive orders, he can also be prevented by lawsuit – the fate of Barack Obama with potential immigration reform.
The other reason Senate Republicans do not have to “play along” with Biden is that the majority of state legislatures and governorships are controlled by Republicans. The party will also control U.S. House redistricting after 2020 until 2030 when the next census is taken. And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is fighting attacks from the right and left from her putatively loyal party.
My optimism is curtailed by the fact that, at present, the Republican party holds the upper hand in the checks and balances system. We’ll see what January and beyond bring.
Melissa Haussman, professor, political science, Carleton University
The vaccine-immigration connection
Now that we approach the end of an unusual year, we may look back with thanks for having made it this far. We are, of course, even more thankful for the first two available vaccines against COVID-19. It is worth noting that these vaccines are, in large part, the work of migrants.
A co-founder of Moderna, Dr. Noubar Afeyan, came to Canada as a refugee
who fled in 1975 from civil war in Lebanon which, in turn, was not his
home country, which is Armenia.
The vaccine designed by Biontech is the work of Uğur Şahin and his wife,
Özlem Türeci, both born to parents who emigrated from Turkey in the
1960s, one to the Netherlands, the other to Germany.
Those three are shining examples of what we gain by immigration followed
by integration into the receiving country’s schools.
Sylvester Damus, Ottawa
