Legislating is a messy, ridiculous, often brutal affair, especially at the congressional level. It’s rare that one party controls the House, the Senate and the White House. With divided government characterizing most of modern American history, senators, representatives and even presidents learn to triage their priorities and take whatever victories they can. “I have always figured that a half a loaf is better than none, and I know that in the democratic process you’re not going to always get everything you want,” then-President Ronald Reagan told reporters in 1983.
For many Republicans in Congress these days, that’s no longer the case. Partial victory is no longer better than no victory. Outside of the rare governing trifecta, control of the legislative branch is most useful as a leverage to help the GOP’s political fortunes — particularly control of the executive branch. Policy achievements have taken a back seat to returning Donald Trump to the White House.
Partial victory is no longer better than no victory.
What makes this particularly detrimental to congressional Republicans is that it now extends to both sides of the U.S. Capitol. For much of 2023, House Republicans shot themselves in the foot repeatedly as their Senate counterparts looked on with a mixture of bemusement and horror. This year, there are several opportunities that are available to notch wins for the GOP, but there are enough holdouts in each chamber to potentially tank each of them.
The House actually managed to get its act together for long enough Tuesday to pass a bipartisan tax bill that restores several major tax breaks for corporations that were part of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, a major win for Republicans. In return, Democrats get the chance to expand the Child Tax Credit once again. The proposed increase is still smaller than the pandemic-era expansion that raised millions of children out of poverty, but it’s still a boost and was only made possible through the…
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