'Excruciating': GOP desperately fights to pad Senate majority
If Republicans can gain just one or two Senate seats in November, it would make it dramatically easier to enact their agenda.
By BURGESS EVERETT 07/31/2018 05:07 AM EDT
As one of a few centrist Republicans in what is effectively a 50-49 Senate, Sen. Lisa Murkowski has enormous sway over the congressional agenda. Sometimes she wishes she had a little less of it.
Murkowski is looking ahead to November for help. Because of a very favorable election map, Republicans could conceivably pick up Senate seats even if Democrats take the House. And a gain of even a seat or two would change the entire complexion of the Senate.
With even a slightly larger GOP majority, no longer could Murkowski or her independent-minded brethren like Susan Collins of Maine or Rand Paul of Kentucky effectively dictate which nominees or majority-vote legislation make it through the chamber.
Gone, too, would be the constant headaches for Republican leaders sweating an absence, wavering senator or Vice President Mike Pence’s availability to break a tie. Republicans might even have another shot at repealing Obamacare or shrinking the size of the federal government.
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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/31/gop-senate-majority-gains-2018-749759
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