PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Republicans will take control of the U.S. House of Representatives with a precarious majority in January. In the midterm elections, the GOP gained eight seats, and Democrats lost nine. How could such a tight margin play out, especially with a Democratic president and Democrats still controlling the Senate?
“To get something done in Washington, you're going to need some kind of bipartisan cooperation,” said Benjamin Dworkin, director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship at Rowan University.
If Republicans want to get legislation passed, there is almost no room for absences, vacated seats or disagreement.
America is not unfamiliar with this close-knit outcome. In 2020, Democrats maintained a majority in the House, winning 222 seats to the Republicans' 213.
“We're in a situation where we have a national electorate that is very divided, but also has a great deal of parity in terms of the size,” Dworkin said.
And the division in Congress is as evident as ever — especially, when a lot is at stake and there are many “different regional interests,” Dworkin said.
“If Congressman X, or Congresswoman Y wants to make sure their amendment gets voted on, they want to make sure that they have this kind of funding that they think is important. Nobody else has to think it's important, but it matters now to the leadership, because they can't afford to lose anybody. There's no leeway. Everyone's got to get on board.”
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The slim split raises concerns for the president’s agenda, as well — for example, finding a “strong coalition” for mental health issues brought on by the pandemic.
But Dworkin feels that, once there's that kind of coalition, any given group, even within the majority, will have less power to block something.
“There'll be negotiation, certainly, on all of this, but they’ve got to keep the lights on in the government.”
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