Will the 2018 Midterms Be Decided This Week?
December 18, 2017 at 8:39 am EST By Taegan Goddard
After some last-minute horse trading, Congress is poised to send tax cut legislation to President Trump’s desk as soon as Wednesday.
One thing to watch is whether a last-minute provision which provides a windfall to real estate investors like Trump — and Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) — derails the bill. If not, lawmakers must quickly pivot to try to avoid a government shutdown on Friday, which is not as easy as it probably should be.
While the odds certainly favor Republicans, the votes cast this week are shaping up to be the ones which could make or break their efforts to preserve their congressional majorities in next year’s midterms.
Parallels to the end of President Obama’s first year in office — when Democrats pushed health care legislation to fulfill a key campaign promise in a series of close, party-line votes during the holidays — are fascinating. But — as Democrats learned the following year when they lost their House majority — delivering on a campaign promise isn’t enough. The tax bill being pushed this year by Republicans is significantly less popular than the health care bill Democrats championed in 2009.
With a large majority of voters already saying they want a Democratic Congress, the events of eight years ago are a cautionary tale for Republicans. Many may look back at this week and realize they cast career ending votes.
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https://politicalwire.com/2017/12/18/will-2018-midterms-decided-week/
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