Forecasting The Next 2 Years In Congress

Welcome back to New Jersey Now. With the elections now over and Democrats set to take control of the House and Senate come January, the winners in Tuesday's contest are vowing to work with anyone to solve the issues facing the nation. So, what will the next two years look like? I'm back with a panel to discuss. Okay, Terrence, so we have a new class of Congress people coming in overall. We've got Zach Mullock in CD2, Rebecca Bennett, CD7, Adam Hamaway in CD12. But overall, what do you think the next two years looks like with a Democratic Congress Donald Trump. So I talked to Rob Menendez yesterday and he told me he thinks, yeah, they're probably going to fight with Trump. But if Democrats put stuff in front of him like a child care aid, elder care aid, he doesn't think that Donald Trump is going to want to reject that stuff because he says he's still got sort of a legacy that he wants to have. Right. He doesn't just want to veto everything. And Trump himself has said, I don't want to veto everything. So it's possible that if they get the right combination of bills that Trump signs them and Democrats can say, hey, we did it. We did what we said we were going to do. And you have Donald Trump is the one who signed the bill, but he's not running for reelection again. So we're the ones who are going to take most of the credit. I could see that happening, but the president is so unpredictable that a Democrat could say boo to him and then he decides, I'm done. I'm just going to veto everything for two years. Right. So it could be two years of essentially blockage. Yeah. So I guess my answer is, who knows? Do Democrats now have a mandate? Oh, absolutely. They have a mandate to do both things. They have a mandate to deal with these issues that are on the forefront that we've talked about. Lack of health care, the price of gasoline, the price of goods. An unpopular war, and also to deal with the most corrupt president that the country has ever seen. So they have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. The electorate is also saying that they want the president. And those corrupt people that are still surrounding him, that are in his cabinet right now, to be held accountable. So you can do both. You can hold this administration accountable for the corruption and crimes that they have committed. And you can also deliver on the day-to-day issues that voters are also saying they want action on. So, Holly, is it wise for the Republicans who are left in Congress to increasingly distance themselves from Donald Trump? Or are they just still stuck with him for the next two years and feel inclined to do what he tells them to do? Well, I think we need to see our party. differentiate themselves and offer up solutions. I think it's going to be a huge misstep of the Democrats if they go on this kind of further divisiveness. OK, we're going after Trump. We're going after Trump's family. I think that's going to be a huge misstep and is not going to bode well for anybody in our nation. And I do think that the remaining Republicans have to stand up And... identify what they stand for. And so it's not so much a separation. It's a differentiation because he will be gone in the next year and a half, two years, and they need to be able to stand for something that they're delivering on. Yes, we need to address utility costs. We need to address affordability. We need to address health care. And I think those are the three Three top things that are. Our party, from a policy perspective, it's kind of been hijacked in New Jersey, by way of example. We have an affordability crisis. We have the highest utility rates in the nation. We have a whole host of things that have been created solely by democratic policy in 25 years. But yet the messaging was, although we created this and we have passed. Every bill that has made your lives less affordable, we're going to take credit for fixing it. I haven't seen a fix. I haven't seen any sort of policy within the state that is actively helping. And instead, it's just been pointing to Trump going, it's all Donald Trump's fault. Well, the boogeyman is going to be gone. And so they now control everything. They're going to have to deliver. You know, Dan, you talk about this idea of control. There were Democrats such as Rebecca Bennett saying, I'm going to work with anybody, including Republicans, who are here to help the American people. But if you're the Democrats now, do you really have to work with the Republicans? Or just think about 2028. Yeah, this is the strategic question. Whether it is better to put forward messaging bills that even if Trump vetoes them, you say, look, we stand for something. This is what we're going to push. Let Trump veto if he wants to. Or you say, look, we're better off. People hate Donald Trump at this point. So we're better off doing nothing. We'll do some investigations. We're not going to pass any bills because it's much easier to be against stuff than to be for it. I think in the long term, it's probably good to deliver and put out those bills and let Donald Trump veto it. But if you are running for president in 2028, and let's be honest, more than half of the Senate and about a third of the House looks in the mirror every morning and sees a potential president looking back at them, they are going to say, look, I don't want to be on record for things. I just want to be running against Donald Trump. I just wanted to add one quick point that didn't come up when we were talking about the analysis of this election. Also, the age of the people that were elected. And sorry to say that they're a lot younger than all of us sitting here on this panel. Speak for yourself. Rude. But there is a serious influx of millennials. You know, if you look at even now Congressman-elect Bennett already, a rising star in our party. So that, I think, also informs a lot of the strategic decisions that are going to be made. So I'm very interested to see how this kind of new generation, we've seen it within the Democratic Party of younger voters, younger leadership, is going to help steer what ultimately our agenda is when we're currently represented in our leadership roles by people who are. Slightly on the other side of that mountain. Slightly. Slightly. I'm trying to be diplomatic. It's problematic. So that's, so that's, you know, I think that's. The litmus test is whether or not you fall asleep during a committee hearing. Thank you. Exactly. And on that note, thank you panel. We'll be right back.