WASHINGTON – After a long, expensive slog to Election Day, Republicans will control both chambers of Congress in January.
Now comes the hard part.
Former senator Olympia Snowe (Pat Wellenbach/AP)
That was the message from former lawmakers and Beltway operatives on Wednesday, when the National Journal hosted a panel on the impact of Tuesday’s midterm elections.
The panelists agreed that the elections were a referendum on President Obama’s policies, and inaction by Congress. But they also emphasized that before pursuing a legislative agenda, Republicans must learn lessons in bipartisanship and compromise.
“It was certainly a broad and sweeping repudiation of the status quo,” said Olympia Snowe, a former Republican senator from Maine. “I think it’s abundantly clear that Congress is going to have to move forward and learn how to legislate and govern.”
Republicans needed to pick up six seats to claim a majority in the Senate. They got seven, with races in Alaska and Louisiana still to be decided.
Republicans also padded their majority in the House, where they’ll enjoy their largest advantage in decades.
On Wednesday, panelists said the midterm results called for a new course of action – or any action at all. With only the lame duck session remaining, the 113th Congress has a chance to be the least productive ever.
“It was an election that sent the message ‘get something done for a change.’ That’s something that people want,” said Celinda Lake, president of the Democratic polling group Lake Research Partners.
Immigration reform could top Congress’ to-do list.
According to Martin Frost, a former House Democrat from the Dallas area, passing immigration reform would be a “true test of bipartisanship.”
“Immigration reform is a horribly complex issue,” he said. “Trying to solve this issue will be a real test to whether you can operate on a bipartisan basis.”
Former Rep. Martin Frost (Tom Gannam/AP)
Any immigration bill will require the president’s signature to become law.
Steve LaTourette, a former Republican congressman from Ohio, said that the president’s willingness to compromise will determine the success of the Republican agenda.
“The president has to dance,” LaTourette said “But if the president dances, you can get a lot of stuff done.”
In a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Obama said that he was “eager to work with the new Congress,” but added that “Congress will pass some bills I cannot sign.”
Before worrying about the president though, Republicans will first need to reach an accord within their own ranks – no easy task, according to Whit Ayres, president North Star Opinion Research, a Republican polling group.
Ayres said that whoever unites the various the factions within the GOP could hold the keys to the party’s presidential nomination.
Its nominee will have to bring together “the Tea Party, libertarians, establishment, social conservatives, and internationalist Republicans all in one coalition.”
“Whoever wins it will…get enough of those groups to build a majority,” Ayres said.