Now that the senate is probably going to be 50/50, will anything get done?

Question

I heard this morning that a democrat senator had some sort of brain-bleeding and will take a long time to recover from surgery. And that his republican governor will have to appoint another senator to take his place- undoubtly a republican one. So now the senate will be 50/50. What does this mean for the US? Is every bill just going to be a stand off?

Answer 1

Even if Senator Johnson should be replaced with a Republican, there is no guaranty that Republican senators will hang together on issues that are of concern to Americans today. There are growing numbers of Republicans who are deserting the Bush Administration, its ideology and its policies, because they believe they have been disastrous for the country. For this reason, in my opinion, there will probably not be a stand-off in the Senate.

Answer 2

I think even if the Democrats maintain their majority, there will be little they will be able to accomplish along party lines.

I think a good amount of resolutions require two-thirds majority anyway. Also consider the fact that on any given action, it is unlikely that all the democrats will vote democrat, and all the republicans will vote republican.

This is why it makes little difference to me who is in control of congress, especially when the advantage is so fragile. What a party needs to truly be powerful is a huge majority in both the senate and the house. Since this is so unlikely to happen, the two party system acts more like a paralyzing agent than one of checks and balances.

I am of the opinion that the sheer number of congressmen should be reduced. I just find that smaller groups come to decisions easier and more decisively than large groups. Also, it would provide an easier means for the constituency to contact their congressmen.

Answer 3

In the event of a tie the vice president, casts the deciding vote. A 50/50 split is, therefore, effective Republican control. The Democrats will still control the House and this, thankfully, means gridlock. Governments, all governments - and ours is better than most - do more harm than good. So as a practical matter gridlock is the best kind of government we can hope for!

Answer 4

Let's see if I can help out the kids here. The Senate is currently 51-49 in favor of Dems. If ol' Timbo isn't there to vote it will be 50-49 in favor of Dems. So, you see, it's not going to be 50-50 - unless he dies and the Rep governor of SD appoints a Rep in his place. And, if he DOESN'T do that, well, then, he's not really a Rep governor in the first place, is he? ;-)

Answer 5

I don't know why people keep saying it's 51-49 Democrat in the first place...Lieberman already said that he is an Independent-Democrat...notice how the Independent came first! He hasn't forgotten what the Democrats did to him you know...He did get elected by Independents and Republicans...not Democrats...So to answer your question, it's not going to be a stand off all the time because Lieberman can go any way...especially since he's for the war.

Answer 6

The Vice President is head of the Senate and can cast any deciding vote.

Answer 7

There has been no talk of Senator Johnson retiring. While he may still die of complications from his surgery, I think it is far too early to speculate the if he dies or resigns situation at this point. Let's wait and see how this plays out before we talk about these other issues.

Answer 8

The 'do-nothing' congress needs to stop the yaking, debating, hashing over things, red tape et al and get our troops some help. They auta put Cheney & Rummy on the front lines for some experience.

Answer 9

The VP is a Republican and he casts the tie-breaking vote.

Answer 10

1) Don't bury Sen. Johnson before he dies. Please have the decency to wait just a littly while.
2) The Senate doesn't get much done no matter what the split is.