“He promised to be a transformative figure who would drain the swamp and make America great again…the clock is ticking on a quick summer session.”
Former FBI director James Comey testified before Congress last week, and yesterday Attorney General Jeff Sessions did as well. It’s all part of the mass hysteria regarding supposed Russian influence in the election. But outside of the gossip of political insiders and shrill laments of partisan hacks, there remains a deep concern in America that propelled Trump into the presidency.
The substantive policy on health care, tax reform, the budget, and the debt ceiling remain; if a Republican-controlled Senate, House, and presidency cannot pass meaningful bills, it will lead to mass dissatisfaction with the party and greater unrest.
The Senate is only in session for about 30 more days until their August recess. After that, they have precious few days remaining in 2017 before it becomes an election year where passing meaningful measures becomes even more difficult. This means that many of the major bills and legislation needed to say that Trump is successful have a very small window.
The healthcare bill is most far along. Republicans didn’t pass a full repeal, but they did pass meaningful changes, such as removing the mandate and making changes that will enlist younger and healthier applicants.
Senate Republicans are reaching into their bag of tricks, such as invoking arcane rules to avoid committee hearings that Democrats will use to grandstand. They are close to reaching a vote that should pass, which will send it to a committee with the House. Given the wide differences between various wings of the party and their bare majority with obdurate Democrats, passing an imperfect solution is still a good outcome for voters.
The tax plan faces the same hurdles as the healthcare bill. The Freedom Caucus is at odds with the moderates, and any movement toward one side might alienate the other. On top of that, the debt ceiling will be hit by the end of the summer, and there are budget fights to come. While in control, Republicans want to use that ceiling as leverage to force long-term spending cuts. But any attempts to reform social programs such as Medicare or Social Security result in politically motivated attacks about how Republicans lack compassion and want to throw grandma off a cliff.
There is an argument to be made that reforming programs so they don’t go bankrupt is compassionate as well. But that is difficult to make in the face of angry seniors yelling in town halls. The votes of the angry and afraid count as much as the rational, so there is risk for the Republicans in passing reforms, which tends to make these bills extremely difficult to pass.
But the bigger risk is failing to accomplish any meaningful legislation. Trump swung many of the Rust Belt states and won the election because he spoke to voters who were upset with Republicans and establishment politicians in Washington who seemed to take voters for granted while failing to get anything done.
He promised to be a transformative figure who would drain the swamp and make America great again. But so far, he has failed to pass any meaningful legislation. The clock is ticking on a quick summer session, and voters are getting restless—not to mention they are tired of Russian histrionics.
