{"id":496004,"date":"2021-05-11T11:20:43","date_gmt":"2021-05-11T15:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=496004"},"modified":"2021-05-11T11:20:45","modified_gmt":"2021-05-11T15:20:45","slug":"dangling-by-a-thread-democrats-are-worried-elderly-senators-could-derail-bidens-agenda-by-dying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dangling-by-a-thread-democrats-are-worried-elderly-senators-could-derail-bidens-agenda-by-dying\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Dangling By A Thread\u2019: Democrats Are Worried Elderly Senators Could Derail Biden\u2019s Agenda By Dying"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdangling-by-a-thread-democrats-are-worried-elderly-senators-could-derail-bidens-agenda-by-dying%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=496004&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Dianne-Feinstein-Patrick-Leahy.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>Democrats believe President Joe Biden\u2019s agenda is \u201cdangling by a thread\u201d over concerns that any one of several elderly Democratic senators could die in office and temporarily hand the chamber over to the GOP.<\/p>\n<p>Every Congress but two has had at least one member die while in office. With the average age of sitting senators at 64 and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the health of lawmakers has become a top priority for some Democrats who fear that a single death or serious illness could all but extinguish Biden\u2019s shot at implementing a progressive overhaul of the United States, according to The New York Times.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur ability to make good on Biden\u2019s agenda is pretty much dangling by a thread,\u201d Brian Fallon, an activist and former aide to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), told the Times. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s uncouth to talk about it. I think it\u2019s a reality that has to inform the urgency with which we approach those issues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSchumer needs all 50 votes,\u201d Fallon said. \u201cIf somebody is laid up or is hospitalized for a long period of time and their vote\u2019s not there, then having the majority is somewhat meaningless.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>George Washington University political scientist Sarah Binder said if Democrats lost the Senate, the impact would be \u201cdevastating.\u201d \u201cThere\u2019s so much at stake for Democrats in losing control of one or both chambers midstream of a brand-new president with an ambitious agenda,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Three members of the House have died since the term started in January, and Democrats fear that the members of the Senate, especially several elderly senators, may suffer a similar fate. According to the Times:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"23.284595300261\">\n<p><em>Health problems have also dogged the Senate. Patrick Leahy, 81, Democrat of Vermont, was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/26\/us\/politics\/patrick-leahy-hospitalized.html\">briefly hospitalized<\/a>\u00a0in January. Thom Tillis, 60, a North Carolina Republican,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenThomTillis\/status\/1380179048656158730\">underwent cancer treatment<\/a>. Questions\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/news\/news-desk\/dianne-feinsteins-missteps-raise-a-painful-age-question-among-senate-democrats\">have been raised<\/a>\u00a0about the health of Dianne Feinstein, 87, a Democrat who has represented California since 1992. Vermont\u2019s other senator, Bernie Sanders, 79,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/10\/04\/us\/politics\/bernie-sanders-hospital.html\">had a heart attack<\/a>\u00a0in 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>In the most extreme case, deaths could end Democrats\u2019 ability to pass legislation without Republican support \u2014 or even flip control of either chamber. That\u2019s more likely in the evenly divided Senate, where a single Democratic vacancy could hand Republicans committee gavels and the power to schedule votes until a Democratic successor was appointed or elected.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Senate Democrats have hoped to use their slim majority to push through Biden\u2019s agenda without GOP support. Some Democratic lawmakers have so far unsuccessfully pushed to eliminate the Senate filibuster, which effectively sets the bar for legislation to pass at 60 votes. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/mcconnell-warns-democrats-what-republicans-will-do-if-democrats-end-filibuster-would-be-childs-play\">warned<\/a> against eliminating the filibuster in March.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are arguing for a radically less stable and less consensus-driven system of government,\u201d McConnell said. \u201cForget about enduring laws with broad support. Nothing in federal law would ever be settled. Does anyone really believe the American people were voting for an entirely new system of government by electing Joe Biden to the White House and a 50-50 Senate? This is 50-50 Senate. There was no mandate to completely transform America by the American people on November 3.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrats believe President Joe Biden\u2019s agenda is \u201cdangling by a thread\u201d over concerns that any one of several elderly Democratic senators could die in office and temporarily hand the chamber &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2277783,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Dianne-Feinstein-Patrick-Leahy.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Dangling By A Thread\u2019: Democrats Are Worried Elderly Senators Could Derail Biden\u2019s Agenda By Dying","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-496004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Dianne-Feinstein-Patrick-Leahy.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Dangling By A Thread\u2019: Democrats Are Worried Elderly Senators Could Derail Biden\u2019s Agenda By Dying","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2277783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}