Hill Republicans' influence ebbs -- and they are unsure what to do about it

[DonViejo]

By Sean Sullivan and Mike DeBonis September 15 at 1:25 PM

President Trump’s latest tendency to turn to Democrats to hash out major legislative deals has left GOP leaders facing a new reality as a daunting fall agenda looms: They are at their lowest moment of influence of the year.

Despite their control of both chambers and with a GOP partner in the White House, congressional Republicans are laboring, sometimes awkwardly, to project leverage over efforts to rewrite the nation’s tax laws and craft a bill to decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants.

Some are privately fuming over the valuable political cover Trump is giving to centrist Democratic senators who are top targets in the 2018 midterms in states the president won. By negotiating with them and appearing at events together, the president is potentially easing their challenge of winning conservative voters.

They have downplayed Trump’s talks with Democrats, issued warnings that the effort could prove futile and looked for a silver lining — that the president is taking the politically risky lead shepherding legislation on divisive matters. But so far, none of these approaches have produced what GOP leaders on Capitol Hill hoped they would have after their party won the White House and Congress in November: control.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/hill-republicans-influence-ebbs--and-they-are-unsure-what-to-do-about-it/2017/09/15/3c1552e6-99a7-11e7-b569-3360011663b4_story.html

[LisaM]

1. Quit gerrymandering your districts and govern in good faith.

it amazes me that the GOP can't look inside and figure out what the problem is.

3,000,000 more people voted Democratic than Republican in the last presidential election and at least 500,000 were still smarting from 2000.

1,000,000 more people voted for Democrats in the Senate than for Republicans.

I recently also read a statistic that in Pennsylvania, voters poll at 51% Democratic in the state as a whole, yet only held 5 of 18 seats for statewide office in 2012.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/capitolinq/PA-illustrates-Obama-call-gerrymandering.html

We have a minority government in place. No surprise that constituents are upset.

[Ohiya]

2. Try acting like...

...decent human beings.