signalmankenneth
Verified User
Two more years of deadlock as far as any real legislation being pass?!!
No 'contract'
Senate Republicans, unlike their House counterparts, have not put out a 'contract' or plan for what they would do if they take over, but in speeches and interviews and looking at who is poised to take the gavels at powerful Senate committees, some priorities seem clear.
For starters, inflation.
Laying the blame for historically high inflation at the feet of President Joe Biden and his unified Democratic government, Republicans have repeatedly called for an end to the "spending spree" in Washington.
It's worth noting that some of that increased spending was related to trying to bring the U.S. economy back from a historic pandemic, action that began under former President Donald Trump. Still, Republicans have charged that Democrats went entirely too far with the American Rescue Plan that pumped nearly $2 trillion into the economy, fueling inflation already aggravated by the roiling supply chain crisis.
The situation was made worse with Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.
Republicans have pointed to a handful of solutions, such as making some of the business tax cuts from their 2017 package -- set to expire in the next few years -- permanent, as well as, mounting an effort to roll back the new corporate minimum tax against larger corporations enacted in the recently-passed climate, health and tax bill by Democrats.
The boogeyman in many GOP ads the latter part of this midterm cycle has been the Democrats' plan to beef up the IRS to go after tax cheats. It was a key way they planned to raise revenue to pay for their climate and health bill, but Republicans seized on it to falsely warn Americans that an "army of IRS agents" were coming for them.
The IRS commissioner, Charles Rettig, a Trump appointee, has tried to reassure lawmakers that the new resources would not be focused on middle income Americans, but the claims continued and oversight hearings are a sure bet. Republicans might even try to find a way to roll back that effort.
Whether or not any of this could have any effect on inflation remains to be seen. Usually tax cuts -- in other words, less revenue for the federal government -- are not seen as inflation-reducing. And while spending cuts are, the level of draconian cuts needed to make a dent are not likely to be approved by a majority of the new majority.
'Drill, baby drill'
With gas prices soaring, Republicans laid into Democrats for clamping down on domestic energy production, and with Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso expected to resume the chairmanship of the Energy Committee, the focus almost surely will be squarely placed on that issue.
In that same vein, and with GOP anger at Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. for that deal he made with Democrats passing the Inflation Reduction Act having subsided, it is entirely possible that energy permitting reform will be back on the table but in a bipartisan way this time. That is actually something that might get done in the lame duck session.
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/expect-republicans-control-senate-100410139.html
No 'contract'
Senate Republicans, unlike their House counterparts, have not put out a 'contract' or plan for what they would do if they take over, but in speeches and interviews and looking at who is poised to take the gavels at powerful Senate committees, some priorities seem clear.
For starters, inflation.
Laying the blame for historically high inflation at the feet of President Joe Biden and his unified Democratic government, Republicans have repeatedly called for an end to the "spending spree" in Washington.
It's worth noting that some of that increased spending was related to trying to bring the U.S. economy back from a historic pandemic, action that began under former President Donald Trump. Still, Republicans have charged that Democrats went entirely too far with the American Rescue Plan that pumped nearly $2 trillion into the economy, fueling inflation already aggravated by the roiling supply chain crisis.
The situation was made worse with Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.
Republicans have pointed to a handful of solutions, such as making some of the business tax cuts from their 2017 package -- set to expire in the next few years -- permanent, as well as, mounting an effort to roll back the new corporate minimum tax against larger corporations enacted in the recently-passed climate, health and tax bill by Democrats.
The boogeyman in many GOP ads the latter part of this midterm cycle has been the Democrats' plan to beef up the IRS to go after tax cheats. It was a key way they planned to raise revenue to pay for their climate and health bill, but Republicans seized on it to falsely warn Americans that an "army of IRS agents" were coming for them.
The IRS commissioner, Charles Rettig, a Trump appointee, has tried to reassure lawmakers that the new resources would not be focused on middle income Americans, but the claims continued and oversight hearings are a sure bet. Republicans might even try to find a way to roll back that effort.
Whether or not any of this could have any effect on inflation remains to be seen. Usually tax cuts -- in other words, less revenue for the federal government -- are not seen as inflation-reducing. And while spending cuts are, the level of draconian cuts needed to make a dent are not likely to be approved by a majority of the new majority.
'Drill, baby drill'
With gas prices soaring, Republicans laid into Democrats for clamping down on domestic energy production, and with Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso expected to resume the chairmanship of the Energy Committee, the focus almost surely will be squarely placed on that issue.
In that same vein, and with GOP anger at Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. for that deal he made with Democrats passing the Inflation Reduction Act having subsided, it is entirely possible that energy permitting reform will be back on the table but in a bipartisan way this time. That is actually something that might get done in the lame duck session.
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/expect-republicans-control-senate-100410139.html
