http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gop-senate-would-mean-more-clashes-with-obama-little-progress/ar-BBb0vhm Tribune News Service
William Douglas and David Lightman
WASHINGTON — It's Nov. 5 and jubilant Republicans have captured the Senate, giving the party control of both chambers of Congress for the last two years of Barack Obama's presidency.
Now what?
The power and agenda in the Senate would shift dramatically. Republicans goals — rolling back the Affordable Care Act, approving the Keystone XL pipeline, lowering tax rates and investigating the Obama administration — would dominate Senate debate and hearings.
However, Republican control would do little to change the recipe for gridlock. The Republican majority in the Senate would almost certainly be small, well short of the 60 votes required to move any controversial legislation over the objections of the Democratic minority. Polls 10 days before Election Day suggest a GOP majority of about 51 seats.
Even if a bill objectionable to most Democrats made it through Congress, Obama holds a veto pen that might get an extensive workout through 2016. It takes 67 votes in the Senate and about 290 in the House of Representatives to override a veto, an all-but-insurmountable hurdle.
"The current level of inaction will continue," said Paul Light, a public service professor at New York University and a former congressional fellow. "Beyond changing offices, changing staff, I don't expect much."
A Republican-led Congress might still have an impact. It could block any Obama nominees to the Supreme Court, up Washington's fiscal debate by pushing Republican-crafted budgets through the House and Senate, and use the power of the purse and committee control to assert itself more in foreign policy matters.
A Republican-led Congress and Democratic White House also could find slivers of compromise on issues ranging from financial regulation to foreign trade.
"I'm not expecting a lot from a divided government, but I think we can get some positive changes. With a little bit of luck, we might get some immigration reform," said Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody's Analytics. "Honestly, divided government has produced more changes than expected. But then, the bar is pretty low."
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