What Republican Senate Control Means for America

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American Thinker:

One of the most important memes of political intellectual culture today is that the Republicans are no better than the Democrats. Conservatives express this vividly in the notion of RINOs (Republican in name only). Is this historically true? More specifically, what might a Republican-controlled Senate mean for American life beginning in 2015?

Since 1980, Republicans have controlled the Senate from 1981 until 1987, from 1995 until 2000, and from 2003 until 2007. The largest majority for Republicans was 55, held 1997 to 2001 and again in 2005 to 2007. If electing Republicans to the Senate makes no difference, then we should be able to see in the past 30 years that Republican control of the Senate renders no meaningful difference in several areas -- among them poverty, unemployment, and the deficit.

Poverty

The United States experienced the most dramatic reduction in poverty from 1996 to 2000. Poverty in the United States fell to an astounding level of 11 percent. Why?

This is an important question, given that poverty is over 15% today and we are approaching the 50th anniversary of a war on poverty. The Welfare Reform Act of 1995, compelled by a Republican Senate against the wishes of Democratic President Clinton, ushered in the era of big government being "over."

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Expanded 2014 Senate map boosts GOP confidence

 

Republicans have a new spring in their step as an expanding electoral map has boosted their chances of recapturing the Senate.

 

In order to flip the six seats they need to win back control, Republicans now believe they have widened the map to nearly a dozen competitive contests — a marked jump from earlier this year.

 

The latest good news for the GOP came this past week when former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie announced he would run in Virginia against Sen. Mark Warner (D), a state previously thought to be off the table.

But while Republicans are feeling increasingly optimistic, they are stopping short of bold public predictions, remembering the dashed expectations of recent election cycles in which Tea Party candidates torpedoed their chances.

“After the last couple of cycles, confidence is hard to come by in our caucus, but we’re hopeful,” said a senior GOP senator. “Michigan, Iowa and Virginia are races where the outcome could exceed our expectations.”

Now, Republicans don’t necessarily have to run the table, putting Democrats on defense in more competitive contests with only two of their own — Kentucky and Georgia — to really defend.

“Before we were looking at having to win six out of seven races. Now it’s six out of 10 or 11,” the Republican senator added.

Their silver bullet is familiar — ObamaCare. Hardly a day goes by in the Senate without a Republican taking to the floor to triumphantly bash the Affordable Care Act, which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) warned would turn out to be a colossal policy mistake when it passed in 2010.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/195889-expanded-2014-senate-map-boosts-gop-confidence