ACA International is continuing to prepare its advocacy goals to work with the 117th Congress and Biden administration.
1/6/2021 15:00
Results from the Georgia runoff elections continue to come in, but at press time and with the media reporting a victory by Democrat Raphael Warnock in the special election over U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., Democrats could secure a majority across the board in Washington, D.C. The U.S. House of Representatives retained its majority after the Nov. 3 election and President-elect Joe Biden will take office Jan. 20.
In the race between U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., and Democrat Jon Ossoff, the media declared Ossoff the winner Wednesday afternoon, The Hill reports. The Hill and The Associated Press reported Wednesday that 98% of the votes had been counted.
Due to the special election, Warnock will be up for reelection in 2022.
More than 3 million voters in Georgia voted early and the elections saw record turnout from nearly 4.4 million total voters.
Democrats need to secure both the seats from the Jan. 5 election to have the majority in the Senate and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be able to break any ties after inauguration day, Roll Call reports.
The final results of the Georgia runoff elections and determination of the majority party in the U.S. Senate could provide another angle for ACA’s advocacy strategy in Washington, D.C.
ACA looks forward to working with Biden’s administration in 2021 and potential new leadership at regulators including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission appointed by Biden.
Democrats have on many occasions indicated that if they sweep in the election, they will abolish the filibuster because the 60-vote requirement would impede moving their agenda forward. If the filibuster is abolished, an unprecedented number of bills could move through Congress and could be signed into law, which will present both challenges and opportunities for the accounts receivable management industry. However, based on the debt collection-related legislation from House Democrats in the 116th Congress, there are likely more challenges than opportunities without a filibuster.
Notably, however, with a razor-thin majority, some of the more extreme ideas such as abolishing the filibuster could face challenges in garnering support of everyone on the Democrat side. With such thin majorities in both the House and Senate, it could be an issue-by-issue question of who will support legislation. Thus, ACA’s advocacy efforts to educate lawmakers on both sides of the aisle remain more important than ever.
There is also the possibility of challenges to the CFPB’s debt collection rule under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) or legislation that adds to or changes the rule. However, as ACA has discussed on recent webinars in the ACA Huddle Series on the debt collection rule, using the CRA to challenge a rule would mean the CFPB could not do anything “substantially similar” in the future. There are also a number of other political reasons Congress may not pursue changes to the debt collection rule through the CRA.
ACA’s advocacy team continues to execute a multi-pronged, coordinated approach to advocacy to help all stakeholders understand the value ACA members provide to their communities by improving the economy, creating jobs, and helping consumers resolve unpaid debt that is outlined in our August 2020 advocacy booklet for members.