At first blush, the ingredients hardly look like a recipe for success. Early next year, a far-right Republican majority will control the House, while on the other end of Capitol Hill, a Democratic majority will control the Senate. There is effectively no overlap in the parties’ priorities, and the odds of bipartisan compromises on major issues are nonexistent.
Those hoping for constructive policymaking in the next Congress should probably start preparing themselves for a far more frustrating two-year period.
We talked a bit earlier about what to expect from the new GOP majority in the lower chamber, and Republicans’ eagerness to launch hostage standoffs, obsess over Hunter Biden, harass Dr. Anthony Fauci, and pursue impeachment crusades. But what about the Democratic majority in the upper chamber? What can it reasonably be expected to do?
Though the partisan labels have changed, the underlying dynamic is familiar: Four years ago, a Republican president saw his party lose control of the House, while maintaining control of the Senate. Soon after, House leaders started expressing policy preferences, at which point Senate leaders effectively responded, “Yes, yes, that’s nice, but I think we’ll just keep confirming judicial nominees.”
It’s a safe bet that Democrats will stick to the same script. NBC News reported:
The Democratic Party’s stunning hold on Senate control will enable President Joe Biden and his allies in the chamber to do something that has been a low-key success: churning out federal judges without the threat of Republican obstruction. The Senate majority … gives Biden a clear runway to continue one of his most consequential pursuits: reshaping federal courts with a diverse array of lifetime-appointed liberal judges, including record numbers of women, minorities, former public defenders and civil rights lawyers.
To be sure, the confirmation process — which the House has no control over — doesn’t just deal with the courts. The fact that there will be a Democratic majority ensures that the Biden administration will have a variety of officials, including Cabinet secretaries, who keep the executive branch functioning and meeting the public’s needs.
But there’s no denying the fact that the party has a preoccupation with the judiciary. White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain admitted as much last week via Twitter, agreeing that President Joe Biden is “obsessed” with getting judges confirmed. As we’ve discussed on several occasions, Republicans in the Trump era prioritized judicial nominees above almost every other consideration. The campaign was as relentless as it was effective: The former president and his party managed to add about 230 judges to the federal courts. That’s not as many as his recent two-term predecessors, but it was a striking tally for a failed one-term president who never won the popular vote. And now, it’s realistic to think Democrats will be able to match those totals — in part because they want to, and in part because with a GOP majority in the House, there won’t be much else to do. “Senate Democrats have been committed to restoring balance to the federal judiciary with professionally and personally diverse judges,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement this past weekend. “With two more years of a Senate Democratic majority we will build on our historic pace of judicial confirmations and ensure the federal bench better reflects the diversity of America.”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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