With Republicans convinced that they are poised to reclaim control of the U.S. Senate, GOP senators are
careful to say they aren't measuring the drapes:
GOP senators insist they are not “measuring the drapes” after six years in the minority.
But that's exactly what they are doing:
Republicans are putting together an agenda for the first 100 days of 2015 in case they win control of the Senate.
Authorizing the Keystone XL oil pipeline, approving “fast-track” trade authority, wiping out proposed environmental regulations and repealing the medical device tax top their list.
And that's not all: They also want Social Security and Medicare cuts.
Republicans say they want to pass a budget in the first half of next year that would include special procedural instructions known as reconciliation to smooth the way for broader tax reform and entitlement reform.
And let's not forget Obamacare, even though it wasn't mentioned in this article, because Senate Republicans
still want to repeal it:
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Thursday that if Republicans take the Senate in November, he suspects that repealing President Obama's signature Affordable Care Act will be a policy priority.
"I suspect we will vote to repeal early - to put on record the fact that we Republicans think it's a bad policy and we think it's hurting our constituents," he said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast.
So if we get a Republican-controlled Senate, we'll get a Congress that is united behind an agenda of deregulation, doubling down on fossil fuel, repealing Obamacare, and cutting Social Security and Medicare. From a substantive perspective, there's nothing good about that. But unless Democrats decide to be morons and let Republicans have their way without putting up a fight, it's great news for 2016, because there's no better way to remind people why they don't like having Republicans in charge than to actually have Republicans in charge.