Senate Republicans are planning aggressive action to intensify oversight of the Obama administration and move conservative legislation long stymied by the Democrats if they win control of the upper chamber in the midterm elections.
Republican leaders are promising a complete makeover of the chamber that goes beyond changes in legislative priorities, according to knowledgeable GOP sources.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, expected to become the next majority leader as long as he wins re-election on Nov. 4, plans to return power to the committees and promote a freewheeling debate process that allows members to shape legislation through a vigorous amendment process.
McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, have coordinated closely during nearly eight years as leaders of their respective conferences.
With both chambers under their control, insiders expect congressional Republicans to cooperate with each other to confront President Obama’s issues such as healthcare, government spending and regulations, while using their expanded power in the Senate to bolster House investigations into the scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service scandal and other matters.
But just as importantly, they hope to shape federal policy.
“The primary goal will be achieving policy wins to show a contrast between the two parties on how to help Americans who’ve been scraping by for the past six years, been robbed of their healthcare plans and over-regulated to death,” a senior Republican Senate aide said. “I also think oversight is important. We wouldn’t have even known about Lois Lerner if Republicans didn’t take the House in 2010.”
Republicans have to win six Democratic-held seats to assume control of the Senate in January from Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Public polling of the targeted races show a close battle. Republicans are well ahead in three races but still looking to lock down victory in three more, while defending concerted challenges in three seats of their own.
If they pull it off, here’s what to look for next year:
More investigations
With committee gavels in hand, Senate Republicans will be able to join their counterparts in the House to pick apart the regulations coming out of the Obama administration. For Republicans, this goes way beyond filleting the Affordable Care Act. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., is likely to use his perch on the Banking Committee to examine the flurry of regulations that have taken hold in the wake of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who would be chairman of Homeland Security and Government Affairs, is intent on pursuing the IRS scandal and moving regulatory reform legislation to the Senate floor.
Johnson said Thursday during a brief interview with the Washington Examiner that he is interested in moving consensus proposals that encourage economic growth, even as he pushes for more oversight.
“Bring us regulatory reforms that will get government off your back — maintain safety, provide the certainty for the economy — but also has Democratic support so we’ll be looking for things. The one that’s obvious: repeal the Medical Device Tax,” Johnson said. “We’ll be looking for those types of wins; not political wins but wins for the American economy.”
Johnson added: “There are things that we have to have appropriate oversight [for]. The Justice Department is not adequately investigating things like the IRS scandal. And they’re not. Congress has to provide that kind of oversight.”
More spending fights
The filibuster will be alive and well in the 114th Congress and Democrats are likely to use the tactic as liberally as have the Republicans to block the will of the majority.
But expect the GOP to use the formal appropriations process to try to rein in government spending and regulations, while attaching policy riders to funding bills in an attempt to move federal policy in a conservative direction.
Budget resolutions, which determine federal spending levels, move through a process known as “reconciliation,” meaning they can not be filibustered.
Just as Democrats used reconciliation in 2010 to get around a GOP filibuster to pass Obamacare, Republicans are likely to use the maneuver to sidestep Democratic opposition to repealing the healthcare law and certain bills dealing with regulatory reform.
Obama would probably respond with vetoes. In 1999 and 2000, President Bill Clinton vetoed a dozen bills sent to him by a GOP Congress. In 2007 and 2008, President George W. Bush vetoed 10 bills passed by a Democratic Congress.
Republicans say such clashes would provide a contrast with Obama and his policies that has been muted because Reid always makes sure that any bill the White House opposes dies in the Senate.
Republicans like their chances in a fight that pits their ideas against Obama’s. “You still need 60 votes in the Senate and 67 to override, but much can be accomplished on the margins,” a GOP lobbyist said.
More open debate
Republicans speculate the biggest difference between a Reid-run Senate and a McConnell-run Senate could be stylistic.
Senate Republicans have chafed under Reid’s firm control of the chamber, which Democrats blame on GOP intransigence and excessive filibustering. Either way, Senate Republicans, including McConnell, say they have a pent-up desire to legislate.
McConnell has indicated that he would return power to Senate committees.
In recent years, much of the traditional work of writing legislation that used to happen in committees has been shifted to Reid’s office. McConnell also has said, in repeated interviews, that taking tough votes comes with the responsibility of being in the majority, and that a Senate under his control would allow votes on amendments offered by Democrats and Republicans.
“There’s a logjam ready to be broken here,” Johnson said.
