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The Greyhound

GOP taking Senate could mean end of government gridlock

I am very pumped for next week’s election on Nov. 4. As for the writing of this article, Real Clear Politics, a website that aggregates election poles, projects that the Republicans will gain 7 seats in the Senate. GOP is also slated to keep the House and control 22 governorships with 12 still for toss up.

As for the other side, when President Obama showed up to speak at a fundraiser for Senator Mark Udall, the guest of honor did not show. In Iowa the First Lady mispronounced Rep. Braley’s name as “Baley.” While in Montana incumbent Sen. Jim Walsh had to drop out of the race because of plagiarism charges and the hand-picked Democratic nominee, Amanda Curtis, is shaping up to be this year’s Todd Akin because of her crazy statements on YouTube.

If there is a lesson to be taken out of this midterm election, it’s this: if the Democrats lose the Senate it will be their own fault. They were the ones who chose to support Obama-care, which 53% of Americans still disapprove of according to Gallup, and who strike down almost any bill that comes from the GOP controlled House furthering the stalemate.

Of course President Obama is in part to blame for this as well. His responses to ISIS and Ebola have been ineffectual at best. He took his time in responding to ISIS, allowing the terrorists to take over a good part of Iraq and Syria. Now the border between the two countries is virtually non-existent because those criminals consider that territory to be part of their “Islamic Caliphate.”

As for Ebola, Obama has restricted people coming from African countries with the Ebola outbreak to come through one of five designated airports where they will receive screenings. However, he has left the states where Ebola occurred to deal with it on their own. This has led to problems in states like New Jersey where Governor Christie is being sued by one of the infected nurses for violating her civil rights.

A similar situation arose in New York where Governor Cuomo had to back off from his strict Ebola quarantine policy. In times like these, Obama should lay out a nationwide Ebola policy and not leave states to fix the problems on their own.

With the current gridlock people are probably worried that if the Republicans win the Senate then the government will become even more dysfunctional. However, I think this is a baseless worry because a Republican Senate and House would force Obama to compromise more. With both Houses of Congress under GOP control, bills would pass more quickly and be sent to Obama for approval. Bills would no longer die in one of the Houses and it would be up to Obama to sign them. If Obama vetoes them then he will look like an obstructionist because he would be blocking a bill that had the support of full Congress and was probably worked on by Congressmen of both Houses. Therefore, the President would have no choice but to cooperate more closely with the GOP. A GOP takeover of the Senate could spell an end to governmental gridlock.

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GOP taking Senate could mean end of government gridlock