Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Katie Pavlich: Will a Republican Senate have the courage to rein in Obama?

Today millions of Americans will cast their votes for candidates running in the 2014 midterm elections, and based on months of polling, it looks like Democrats will be having a bad night. - The Hill

If tonight goes as expected, Republicans will take over the Senate and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will be shifted to the minority. The GOP will gain more power in Congress with control of both the House and Senate. In theory, President Obama will lose some of his power because of the stronger majority opposition in both chambers, and he’ll no longer have Reid to cut off legislation from the House that derails or promotes debate about his big-government agenda.

Contrary to popular belief, we haven’t had a “do-nothing Congress” since 2010. Rather, we’ve had a do-nothing Democrat-controlled Senate, with Reid in charge for far too long. The Republican-controlled House has forwarded hundreds pieces of legislation, many of which Obama called for, to Reid’s side of Capitol Hill for debate, review and votes. They’ve been dead on arrival, while down the road, the president has stayed busy changing laws and issuing policies from his desk at the White House.

Throughout his presidency, Obama has refused to work with Congress on a number of issues, ranging from ObamaCare changes to illegal immigration to military action against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, despite having the political odds and power of Democrats in his favor. His preference is to go at it alone....

A Republican takeover of the Senate would be a rejection of Obama’s abuse of power, a rejection of his agenda and a strong signal that executive overreach must be stopped.

New senators, you have a big job to do. The balance of power must be restored. Don’t let the voters down.