A divided Congress doesn’t have to be idle
Finding common ground will, admittedly, be harder in the new Congress. But midterm voters made clear that politics for partisanship’s sake is unacceptable.
When the Supreme Court last week prolonged the legal battle over President Biden’s bid to end a Donald Trump-era pandemic policy that allows the rapid expulsion of migrants, including those seeking asylum, one justice pinpointed what is going wrong.
In his dissent from the court’s decision to hear the challenge by Republican state officials pushing to keep the measure in place, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote: “We are a court of law, not policymakers of last resort.”
He’s right. Congress should be addressing this and other immigration policies. Instead, its inaction has left a dangerous policy vacuum that has been filled with piecemeal executive actions followed by court battles. We are seeing the tragic human toll of Congress’s prolonged dereliction play out in real time, as scores of migrants huddle in dangerous conditions on both sides of the southern border.
And now with a divided Congress set to begin a new session next term with Democrats remaining in control of the Senate and Republicans leading the House, what possibly could get done?
The answer is plenty. While comprehensive immigration reform remains a pipe dream at a time of such heightened partisan acrimony, there are narrower proposals that ought to gain bipartisan support, including providing crucial resources at the border, boosting border security efforts, and providing a legal path for young “Dreamers” to legally live, work, and seek citizenship.
Divided party control doesn’t have to mean Americans must settle for nothing from the new Congress that begins this month. Lawmakers have already recently shown an ability to cross party lines to get things done, from the infrastructure law, to the bipartisan gun control measure passed after the horrific school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, to the omnibus package that included reforms to the Electoral Count Act that would thwart future efforts to deny certification of presidential election results.
Finding common ground will, admittedly, be harder in the new Congress. Incoming House GOP committee chairs have already announced their focus on launching a host of investigations into the Biden administration, Democrats’ slim majority in the Senate means the filibuster remains an obstacle (though it shouldn’t be), and the politics of immigration reform and other measures remain fraught and combustible — particularly among lawmakers who still submit to Trump’s “build a wall” approach to immigration that was always meant to be more of a campaign rally cry than an actual policy.
But midterm voters made clear that politics for partisanship’s sake is unacceptable. Congress should heed that call by coming together on areas where agreement can be had.
A crucial first start will be finding a solution to the looming debt ceiling crisis without endangering the country’s credit rating by pushing it to the brink of default.
Also important is the need to clarify and rein in the power of the presidency. The latest immigration fight before the Supreme Court is one of many examples of legal challenges of executive orders issued in areas, like immigration, that have traditionally been the purview of the legislature. Congress can act to rebalance those powers.
Congress can also build its first-ever standalone marijuana law, signed into law by Biden, that boosts research by removing federal regulatory red tape that stymies both business growth and innovation in states like Massachusetts that have legalized it.
There is also more that can be done to protect the levers of democracy and restore trust in the election process, such as boosting protections for poll workers.
Action on these areas will send a clear message to Americans that lawmakers are in Washington to roll up their sleeves and work, not just raise their fists in partisan rancor.