Americans are about to get a taste of what GOP governance really feels like—at the state level. Republicans now have record-level control of state legislatures across the nation, which will bring with it a boatload of conservative legislation. From Reid Wilson at
the Washington Post:
The unprecedented breadth of the Republican majority — the party now controls 31 governorships and 68 of 98 partisan legislative chambers — all but guarantees a new tide of conservative laws. Republicans plan to launch a fresh assault on the Common Core education standards, press abortion regulations, cut personal and corporate income taxes and take up dozens of measures challenging the power of labor unions and the Environmental Protection Agency.
For example,
Republicans in at least nine states are planning to use their power to pass “right to work” legislation, which would allow employees to opt out of joining a labor union.
And,
Mallory Quigley, a spokeswoman for the antiabortion Susan B. Anthony List, said she expects that measures to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy will advance in Wisconsin, South Carolina and West Virginia. Missouri, too, is likely to take up some abortion-related bills.
All this unfettered control poses one big problem for the the GOP: their policies will be on full display. And none of these initiatives sound like job creators—the issue most Americans still prioritize above all else.
Please read below the fold for more on proposed GOP legislation.
It's also bound to create GOP infighting. For instance, some Republicans have actually accepted that Obamacare is the law of the land and are considering how to take advantage of federal funding of state Medicaid expansion.
Republican governors of Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, North Carolina and Tennessee have said they will try to persuade their legislators to accept federal funding, while Democratic governors in Montana and Pennsylvania will work with Republican-controlled legislatures in a similar vein.
In some cases, the tax cuts Republicans prize are already running into a self-inflicted restraint: 49 states now require balanced budgets. Turns out it's pretty difficult to slash personal and corporate income taxes and still balance a budget.
“With the increasing costs of Medicaid and education, balancing the budget is going to be a challenge,” said South Dakota state Sen. Deb Peters (R), who chairs the Appropriations Committee.
But tension within the GOP won't be confined to internal state bickering. Republican state lawmakers are also calling on Congress to act in order to help with their budget woes. Too bad that's also controlled by the GOP.
A bipartisan group of legislators has urged Congress to pass the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would allow taxation of online sales, though GOP control in Washington makes passage unlikely. Thirty-nine governors — Democrats and Republicans alike — have encouraged Congress to extend funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides states about $13 billion for medical coverage for about 8 million children from low-income families. And states want Congress to pass a long-term extension of the Highway Trust Fund, which top Republicans in Washington have said is a priority.
All of this adds up to a very interesting 2015. Republicans now control the nation. If they break it, they'll have no one to blame but themselves. And voters will be left holding the bag.