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'Everybody's got leverage': Dreading a 50-50 Senate split - POLITICO

'Everybody's got leverage': Dreading a 50-50 Senate split - POLITICO

'Everybody's got leverage': Dreading a 50-50 Senate split - POLITICO
Sep 17, 2020 2 mins, 5 secs

Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer, would face obstacles if they tried to pass major legislation through complex budget reconciliation procedures, where only a simple majority is required.

It’s an outcome that practically no one wants, but it’s starting to look like a real possibility: a 50-50 Senate.

An evenly split Senate would make life grueling for whoever is president next year.

“A 50-50 Senate makes it really difficult for the party of the president to do everything that they may want to do because party discipline, conference discipline, is very challenging,” said Sen.

Should Joe Biden win the presidency, they’ll hold the majority; if President Donald Trump is reelected, Democrats need four seats to do so.

That’s because under an evenly divided chamber, the party that holds the White House runs the Senate, with the vice president casting the deciding 51st vote to break any tie.

(The vice president could be the deciding vote on a rules change in the event of a 50-50 split.).

An evenly split Senate is a rarity.

The makeup of the Senate shapes how it is run, and Jeffords’ switch upended a careful balance that had been worked out between then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.).

But funding for staffers and office space — huge issues in the Senate — were divided equally between the two parties.

Those who served during that last 50-50 Senate aren’t exactly eager to see it happen again.

Other senators suggested a split Senate could force more bipartisan compromise, because it would amplify the voices of moderates like Sens.

When asked about the potential pressure of a 50-50 Senate under a Democratic majority, Manchin responded, “It wouldn’t be tough at all.”.

A 50-50 Senate could pose bigger obstacles for the president when it comes to the confirmation of executive branch nominees, federal judges and Supreme Court justices, who need only a simple majority to get through the Senate.

The White House wouldn’t be able to afford to lose a single vote in their party and given the increasingly partisan nature of nomination fights, the vice president might end up spending a lot of time in the Senate

Party leaders would face the same scenario if they tried to pass major legislation through complex budget reconciliation procedures, where only a simple majority is required

Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), chairs of their respective party campaign arms, declined to speculate on the likelihood of the Senate splitting 50-50

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