Home from home.

"Initial midterm election results are rosier than expected for Democrats, who appear poised to buck historical trends and avoid major losses in Tuesday's races." CNBC. Final results are not yet in but, as of now, the Republicans are ahead in the House by 211 to 197 for Democrats, and it is 48 seats each in the Senate. Reuters. "Meanwhile, NBC's latest projections estimate Republicans could hold 221 House seats in the next Congress," just 3 seats above 218 required for a majority. The Republicans need to win 3 more seats to gain control of the Senate. The present Senate is split 50:50 which allowed the Democrats to control it because of the tiebreaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris. Ballotpedia. Even though President Joe Biden's approval rating was down to 44%, the Democrats did well because of capping the price of insulin, Covid-19 relief funds, investing $1 trillion in infrastructure, appointment of the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, pardon for those convicted of 'simple marijuana possession, forgiveness of $10,000 of student loans and the overturning of Roe v Wade, which gave women the right to abortion, by the US Supreme Court in June. CBC. Just as women in Bihar state of India voted for Nitish Kumar for his promise to ban alcohol. HT. In August 2021, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to "spend more than $1 trillion on infrastructure to create jobs". CNN. The Twenty-sixth Amendment in the US lowered the voting age to 18 years, wikipedia, which means that all college students stand to benefit from the 'forgiveness' program, except for the few with very rich parents. A federal judge in Texas...ruled that President Joe Biden's plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt was unlawful and must be vacated, delivering a victory to conservative opponents of the program." Reuters. Opposition by Republicans would have been an enormous incentive for all college students, and their families, to vote for Democrats. One college student with two parents, four grandparents and two siblings could potentially amount to nine votes. At the very least Biden administration can further extend the payment pause if court cases are prolonged. CNBC. The US calls it 'loan forgiveness' while we in India call it 'loan waiver'. In April 2019, while campaigning for upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Modi "announced that the BJP government was planning to provide loan waivers to farmers of all categories after returning to power in Lok Sabha polls." DC. Handouts win elections in poor India and in the rich US. An elated Biden laughed when questioned about criminal charges against his son Hunter Biden and wished the Republicans "lots of luck". Fox. "Federal agents believe they have enough evidence to support charging Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, with tax crimes and making a false statement in connection with the purchase of a gun." CNBC. Somewhat like charges of money laundering against Kartik Chidambaram, son of previous Congress minister P Chidambaram. HT. Democrats are so alike Indians. No wonder, three-quarters of Indian Americans voted for Biden in 2020. Reuters. Like home from home.