HERSHEY, Pa. — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday delivered a reality check to House Republicans.
House bills aren’t guaranteed to pass the Senate just because Republicans now control the chamber with 54 seats.
McConnell, who was joined by House Speaker John Boehner, was addressing a gathering of House and Senate Republicans that convened for an annual policy retreat. But the Kentuckian’s remarks were directed at House Republicans, who have high hopes for moving conservative legislation now that their party controls the Senate for the first time in eight years.
McConnell cautioned the House GOP that the new Senate majority is limited in what it can accomplish by the filibuster. Almost any legislation that clears the Senate must garner 60 votes, meaning Democratic support will be required to move most bills. Republicans face an early test of this challenge with a Feb. 27 deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
Boehner sounded a more optimistic note about what the new GOP Congress might get done this year, according to sources present for the discussion, a sort of town hall-style session with the rank and file that was led by the speaker and the Senate majority leader.
Boehner said there were four things congressional Republicans need to do with their enhanced power:
• Follow through on jobs. The economy is improving but many families don’t feel it. Republicans should pass “bottom up” jobs proposals and not “top down government programs.”
• Offer a conservative governing vision that clearly contrasts with what the Democrats are putting forward. This vision should include repealing Obamacare and dealing with illegal immigration.
• Make President Obama choose: Will he veto passed bills and be an obstacle or work with Republicans in Congress?
• Coordinated oversight of the Obama administration between the relevant House and Senate committees.
House and Senate Republicans are meeting at the Hershey Lodge resort in central Pennsylvania. This is their first joint policy retreat in 10 years as they seek to forge consensus on a governing agenda.
