Issue #344
This is what’s truly at stake in the battle for Senate control
Arguably the most significant consequence of a Republican Senate takeover in 2014 is absent from the campaign trail, and hardly registers in any polls asking Americans what their top election issues are. It’s not Obamacare. It’s not taxes or spending or immigration. It’s not the ISIS terrorist threat. It’s judicial and administrative nominations: who gets to be a lifetime-tenured federal judge, and who gets to run powerful government agencies. Major legislation will remain bottled up under any plausible outcome in November as President Barack Obama will still hold the veto pen and Republicans will still control the House. But the Senate is the exclusive guardian of the nomination process. And in a potential Republican-led Senate, probable Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) would have complete control over which of Obama’s nominations may come up for a confirmation vote. Talking Points Memo, 9-15-14.