The 115th Congress will have to cope with an unpredictable president

The 115th Congress will have to cope with an unpredictable president: Distinctly Catholic: Having one party in control of both the legislative and executive branches is not an oddity, but two things are different this year.

MGB:The GOP does not have full control of the Senate.  It will take them eight Democratic votes to do anything on their main agenda points and no one is talking in the Democratic caucus of bipartisanship.  If voters were meaning to end gridlock, the backed the wrong team. The GOP won’t be rewarded for their obstruction.  While taxes can be part of reconciliation (which can be annual), tax changes that increase the debt are still subject to a 60 vote point of order from the Budget Act, which cannot be changed as easily as the rules.

Whether Trump and the Congress work hand in glove depends on the competency of Trump’s staff.  The GOP tends to defer to presidents, but if the new White House is as incompetent as it seems to be, that may not be the case.  Also, on some issues, like Dodd-Frank, the opposition was to Obama, not reform.  Republicans were involved in drafting many of these reforms.  They won’t be as quick to repeal as we think.  As for abortion, they will give it enough lip service to make the Democrats say radical things without actually doing anything, leaving the prolife movement to realize that they have been used again.