Republican glory days return to Capitol Hill

Newsbeat

It’s 2009 all over again. Except this time Republicans are in charge and Democrats have been run over. Against all odds, Republicans are suddenly looking at an emboldened House majority, a Senate majority that survived a near-death experience, and a friend in the White House — President-elect Donald J. Trump — for the first time in eight years. Tuesday’s astonishing victory means everything’s on the table for Republicans: Tilting the Supreme Court in a conservative direction for years to come, repealing Obamacare, overhauling the tax code, boosting defense spending, tearing up trade deals and cutting regulations. Some of this Republicans will be able to do under “reconciliation,” the special parliamentary procedure that Democrats used to enact the Affordable Care Act on a party line vote in 2010. Now Republicans can “reverse engineer” Obamacare with Democrats powerless to stop it. Tax reform, another GOP dream dashed during the Obama years, could also happen under this process. "A Republican president and a Republican Senate and a Republican House can do things to change this country,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) as he basked in victory late Tuesday night. In a further nightmare for Democrats, Republicans can do so without the hesitation that the looming 2016 election caused the past two years. The 2018 Senate map strongly favors the GOP. And Republicans have traditionally done better in midterm elections. Trump, unlike President Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, also won’t have to worry about nettlesome congressional investigations. While Congress will ask questions of a Trump White House – and there are certain to be some contentious policy fights – Republicans on the Hill will fall in line with the Trump agenda when they have to do so. And they'll have a prime chance to advance their agenda with the policy-lite Trump in the Oval Office. “Earlier this year, our conference rallied around a positive and substantive agenda to keep America safe, reform our tax code, and lift our citizens out of poverty,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). “We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make these policies real, and we are focused on doing so.” That doesn’t mean it will be easy for Republicans. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) must navigate his rocky relationship with Trump and the many Republicans on the Hill whose positions on abortion, taxes and immigration conflict with the president-elect’s values. “We have wars to win, threats to be dealt with and a stagnant economy which must be revived,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who opposed Trump. “To the extent that I can help President-elect Trump, I will.” Trump is also a mercurial figure who is used to the life of a billionaire CEO. He's never had to consult with committee chairmen and reluctant junior lawmakers. While Trump will have Vice President-elect Mike Pence and White House staffers to attend to those kinds of things, the incoming president will still have to get used to being a party leader rather than business tycoon. Trump has clearly animated the party faithful in a way that no Republican has quite matched since Ronald Reagan. That's a powerful weapon, and he can use to motivate his own rank-and-file in a way that few presidents could match. Republicans are looking at an open-ended opportunity next year to reshape American policy across an array of issue areas and the Supreme Court, with a vacancy ready to be filled due to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s blockade of Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland. That nomination is now a moot point. Hill Republicans aren’t betting on agreeing with Trump on every legislative issue. Foreign policy is one area of potential dissension, given Trump's praise for Russian President Vladmir Putin and tendency to abruptly change directions. Trump won’t have free rein on spending and taxes, either. His proposals on tax reform and infrastructure spending were projected to cost trillions of dollars. With the U.S. debt already nearing $20 trillion, and a debt ceiling increase due next year, Trump may find himself butting heads with budget hawks, especially if he seeks to boost defense spending . All these things won’t be possible at once, despite Trump’s campaign promises. Yet Republicans play down these potential conflicts. And dozens of them have a good relationship with Pence.