The 2014 midterm elections brought Republicans control of the Senate and the greatest majority the party has enjoyed in the House since the presidency of Herbert Hoover. With Congress and the president on the opposite sides of the political aisle, compromise will be needed to avoid a political gridlock.
Yet rarely in history does bipartisan legislation meet exactly halfway between the stated goals of the two parties. During the 1990s with a triangulating Bill Clinton in the White House, a Republican Congress was able to pass extensive fiscal reforms that fulfilled much of what the party pledged in its “Contract with America” in the 1994 midterm election.
Two decades later, conservatives looking for a replay of the 1990s are in for a disappointment. The center-leaning Republican leadership of the new Congress are likely to render the next two years an inverted image of the 1990s, with a pliant Congress working to maintain the president’s agenda.
“We invite the president to support and sign these bipartisan initiatives into law,” John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in his first speech after being re-elected speaker of the House.
On “Obamacare” and immigration, two paramount issues for the conservative base, the GOP leadership has signaled tepid interest at best. On reform of Wall Street, though, there is a chance Obama and the Republicans might reach a deal.
Keystone XL
One of the first political fights of the year involves legislation to expedite the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline that would transport oil from Canadian tar sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast. The president maintains that the project is still undergoing review by the State Department and has spoken against the project on national television.
