The American people entrusted the GOP with full control of the White House and Congress. A mandate was given by the American people for the Republican Party to follow through on its campaign promises. Unfortunately, those solemn promises have not been kept. After eight years of vowing to repeal Obamacare, the Republican Senate failed it keep its word to the American people. The bill failed by a single vote, courtesy of Senator John McCain (R-AZ).
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If they fail again on tax cuts, Democrat voters will be energized, and Republican voters will be disenchanted in the mid-term elections. There will be a national repeat of the disaster in the Alabama Senate race this week. On Tuesday, voter turnout in Democrat precincts was much higher than in Republican areas. After losing in a deep red state like Alabama, Republicans should be petrified about the mid-term election prospects.
The only way to turn around their fortunes is to start following through on their campaign promises. This is why the tax cut vote is so important. Until now, Congress has delivered nothing except rhetoric. The real culprit has been the U.S. Senate. In fact, the House has passed hundreds of bills that have not even been considered by the Senate. In other cases, such as the Obamacare repeal bill, good legislation that passed the House has failed in the Senate, the graveyard of good legislation.
While the President has been very successful on his own issuing executive orders and taking unilateral actions, the Congress, particularly, the Senate, has been an abysmal failure.
Next week, another piece of critical legislation is being considered. The most significant tax reform in 30 years will be debated in Congress. While there is little doubt it will pass in the House, there is great concern about the Senate. Currently, several Senators are in the hospital, while others are demanding additional changes to the bill.
If the Republican led U.S. Senate cannot pass the tax reform legislation, it should just abdicate power and allow Democrats to take control. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may as well turn over his position to Democrat Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
In essence, the GOP is more comfortable as the minority party. They have been failing the all-important test of leadership. Along with the failure to repeal Obamacare, other aspects of the President’s agenda have stalled. Americans are still waiting for the border wall to be constructed. The Senate is confirming the President’s appointments and judicial nominees at a very slow pace.
With the devastating loss in Alabama, next year there will only be 51 Republican Senators. In that majority are many “Never Trump” Senators like Ben Sasse (R-NE) and Bob Corker (R-TN). There are also Trump haters like John McCain (R-AZ) and Marco Rubio (R-FL). Finally, there are very liberal Republicans like Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
It is an unreliable group to say the least, but, nevertheless, the American people entrusted the leadership reins to the Republican Party. If they can’t even pass tax reform, the rationale for their leadership positions evaporates.
If there is no tax reform passed, the GOP Senate may as well abdicate to the Democrats in January. This will give the Democrats an early start, because they are eventually going to take back control of Congress if the GOP continues to fail to produce legislative accomplishments. In the 2018 elections, the American people will not be played for fools again.