Limits on carbon emissions from power plants
In the next two years, Republicans are looking to force the president to allow more oil and gas exploration on federal lands, a position opposed by environmentalists who say it will mar vistas, endanger certain species, and spoil water resources. They’re also looking to vote on approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, a decision Obama has resisted for years. GOP lawmakers are also contemplating how they can erect a legislative roadblock to the proposed Environmental Protection Agency’s limits on carbon emissions from power plants.
On the Affordable Care Act, Republicans are wary of Obama’s veto pen. But they could start the process of scaling back the law by watering down the employer mandate, reducing subsidy benefits to higher income people, and tackling Medicaid’s overall financial weakness, which has been exacerbated by its expansion under the Affordable Care Act.
“It will be repeal, repeal, repeal and then once they’ve run up San Juan hill,” Republicans will turn to proposals more likely to garner bipartisan support, said Thomas Scully, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the George W. Bush administration and now a partner at a private equity firm.
Wresting control of the Senate is key. Without it, Republican-backed legislation will most likely continue to die on the desk of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada. Even with the GOP in control of the Senate, however, GOP bills would still face Democratic filibusters and presidential vetoes, big hurdles before becoming law. But a change in control could have a big impact on the congressional agenda and put pressure on Obama to play defense rather than seek ways to burnish his legacy.