President-elect Joe Biden's transition team is preparing multiple sets of policy proposals for the economy, healthcare, climate change and other domestic issues, including the ambitious agenda Mr Biden laid out in his winning campaign, while acknowledging it may have to be pared back in recognition of divided government.
Mr Biden's aides say his transition team is working on a variety of contingency plans depending on economic conditions, including whether the recent surge of virus cases chills consumer spending, and on party control of the Senate.
Where the incoming administration lands depends heavily on two Senate run-offs in Georgia in early January. If Democrats win both races, close aides to Mr Biden and economists who helped advise his campaign say the President-elect will try to push through a large stimulus plan for the flagging economic recoverymost likely along the lines of the US$2.2 trillion (S$2.97 trillion) that House Democrats approved this fall.
His stimulus plan under such a scenario would include hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local governments that have lost tax revenue amid the pandemic recession, as well as extend unemployment benefits for people who lost jobs during the crisis and provide a new round of aid for small businesses.
His team is also developing a government employment programmecalled the Public Health Jobs Corpsthat would put 100,000 Americans to work on virus testing and contact tracing.
A narrow majority in the Senate would also give Mr Biden the chance to push through his proposed tax increases on corporations and the richtax hikes that would be used to fund the President-elect's more ambitious plans like rebuilding roads and bridges, speeding the transition to a carbon-free energy sector and helping Americans afford healthcare.
But if Republicans win even one of the Georgia seats, Mr Biden will most likely need to settle for a wave of executive actions that would bring more incremental progress towards his policy goals, while trying to cut compromise deals with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader.
Tax increases, even for the ultra-rich, would nearly certainly be off the table, as would be expanding the Affordable Care Act to give Americans the ability to buy into a government insurance programme like Medicare. Mr Biden would continue to push for infrastructure and healthcare Bills, economists around him say, but he would be unlikely to win support for his full agenda in those areas.
The team is also moving ahead with finalists for appointments to key Cabinet positions and other posts, several of which will be announced before the Georgia run-off.
Senator Dan Sullivan, an Alaska Republican, won re-election on Wednesday after a tougher-than-expected race against an independent candidate threatened to cost him another term and imperil his party's chance of holding its majority. Mr Trump on Wednesday also won the state and its three electoral votes. Mr Sullivan's victory, which came on the heels of the apparent win of Senator Thom Tillis in North Carolina, put Republicans a step closer to keeping control of the Senate.
Meanwhile, Mr Biden on Wednesday announced he has chosen Mr Ron Klain, a seasoned Democratic operative, as his chief of staff, his first public personnel choice for the White House. "Ron has been invaluable to me over the several years that we've worked together," Mr Biden said in a statement on Mr Klain, who also served as the Democrat's first chief of staff when he became VP in 2009.
"His deep, varied experience and capacity to work with people all across the political spectrum is precisely what I need in a White House chief of staff as we confront this moment of crisis and bring our country together again," Mr Biden said.
Mr Klain, 59, also worked with Mr Biden when he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Afterwards, he served as chief of staff to VP Al Gore. Under president Barack Obama, Mr Klain coordinated the White House reaction to the Ebola crisis in 2014.
In the same statement released by the Biden transition team, Mr Klain said it was "the honour of a lifetime" to be named Mr Biden's chief of staff. "I look forward to helping him and the VP-elect assemble a talented and diverse team to work in the White House, as we tackle their ambitious agenda for change, and seek to heal the divides in our country," Mr Klain said. NYTIMES, BLOOMBERG,
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE