The plan was largely absent of specific policy, leaning heavily on critiques of the nation’s current state under President Joe Biden and Democratic control of both chambers of Congress. But in the weeks since, as the midterms have drawn nearer and Republicans’ edge has appeared to sharpen, bits and pieces of a legislative agenda under a GOP House majority have begun to surface.
Less than two weeks ahead of the midterms, Democrats are playing defense as Republicans have appeared to strengthen their narrow lead in polls, especially in the House, as several surveys in recent days have pointed to the gains. Even in places where Democrats have enjoyed consistent support, Republicans are making inroads.
The picture may have been expected just months ago, with low presidential approval, record inflation and typical midterm outcomes suggesting a painless path to victory for Republicans in November. But Democrats were granted a counter to Republican narratives this summer when the Supreme Court rolled back abortion rights, seeming to propel a surge of women and young people to register to vote. Even so, as the final stretch before the midterms approaches, fears have begun to creep in among Democratic circles that their fortunes peaked early.
Accordingly, a Republican takeover of the House appears probable. So what do political observers think Americans will see emerging from a GOP-led House?
“A lot of messaging – not a lot of actual lawmaking,” John Pitney Jr., a politics professor at Claremont McKenna College in California, says.
With a House majority is a likely House speaker in McCarthy. And promises from lawmakers about how a GOP majority in the House might play out are already shaking up Washington.
Among the first policy differences, the California lawmaker notably signaled last week that the steady stream of U.S. financial assistance to Ukraine could come to an end if the GOP retakes the House in fall midterms next month, as divisions have begun to emerge even among Democrats about U.S. assistance to Ukrainian forces holding off vastly better armed invading Russian troops for eight months.
“I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine,” McCarthy told Punchbowl News, “They just won’t do it.”
The move would be a controversial one, ushering in an isolated foreign policy that former Vice President Mike Pence suggested would make Republicans “apologists” for Russian President Vladimir Putin. But despite support from high-profile Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the number of lawmakers who align with Trump’s “America First” ideology is expected to grow in the upcoming Congress.
When House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy unveiled his party’s “Commitment to America” platform last month, rolling out its midterm pitch to voters, he surmised that Democrats “have no plan to fix all the problems they created” – citing inflation, crime and immigration, among other issues.
“Who has a plan to change that course?” McCarthy said. “We do.”
