OPINION:
Mitch McConnell has been an under-appreciated Senate majority leader; that is about to change. With Republicans losing the House last November, and President Trump’s retaining the White House for two more years, Mr. McConnell is positioned to be Washington’s pivotal legislative leader. Republicans could not be in better hands.
First elected to the Senate in 1984, Mr. McConnell is now in his sixth term. He is not only Kentucky’s current senior senator, he is that state’s longest serving one. More importantly for Republicans, he is their longest-serving leader as well.
Mr. McConnell became Republicans’ Senate leader in 2007, and the Senate’s majority leader four years ago. Easy to overlook in today’s media preference for style over substance, he is neither a blow-dry politician of sound-bites nor a blow-up one of bomb-throwing. Instead, he is an old hand, but a steady one — and crucially, an adroit one.
That Mr. McConnell is a longtime leader whose time has come is the product of man and times coming together.
Across the Capitol, the House is under Democratic management for the first time since 2010. Having seen her party gain 40 seats last November and then skillfully addressing caucus concerns, Rep. Nancy Pelosi is now speaker.
Down Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House remains in President Trump’s hands for another two years. Despite high negative approval ratings, Mr. Trump’s chances — like those of all incumbent presidents seeking re-election — are better than many currently believe.
Inside his Senate, Mr. McConnell holds a larger majority. An increase from 51 to 53 seats seems insignificant — until you are tasked with rounding up votes. With the vice president breaking ties, Mr. McConnell now can lose three Republicans before he needs Democratic votes.
While these circumstances’ sometimes subtle changes may not immediately reveal it, their impact is that Mitch McConnell is now freed, relative to where he has been as Senate majority leader.
In the Capitol, he now has far greater control of the congressional Republican position. With a House Republican majority, Mr. McConnell was often constrained by theirs. These House Republican positions were often more strident than what he could possibly pass with his razor-thin Senate majority. Conversely, positions he could pass in the Senate were seen as weak by House Republicans. The result of this inter-body disconnect was intra-party feuding.
The gulf between the Senate and House is far greater than the short walk separating them across the Capitol’s rotunda. It has been aptly observed that the other party is the opposition, but the other body is the enemy. That animosity is housed within the same party, when the same party controls both. Mr. McConnell is now freed from that burden.
Instead the Senate’s slower, more deliberate pace works to his advantage. Paired with a House Republican majority, Mr. McConnell appeared less conservative when the Senate frustrated them. Paired with a House Democratic majority, Mr. McConnell will appear the conservative stalwart when the Senate refuses them.
While Mr. McConnell is far from alone in deciding the Republican position, he now has far greater latitude to determine it, because the Senate’s is now the most the party can pass through Congress.
On Pennsylvania Avenue, he now has far more leverage with his neighbor down the street. No longer can Mr. Trump play House Republicans against Senate Republicans, as he could for two years. Nor are Senate Republicans Mr. Trump’s congressional problem now — House Democrats are.
Instead, Senate Republicans become Mr. Trump’s first line of defense against legislation he opposes — a role they are already playing in the government shutdown. Further, Senate Republicans allow the administration to continue a proactive agenda — especially through nominees, which the Senate alone controls. And in a worst-case scenario, Senate Republicans are also the president’s last line of defense: It is the Senate that must conduct and vote in any impeachment trial.
In his own house, Mr. McConnell’s majority is not just quantitatively better, but qualitatively too. Gone are some who proved particularly troublesome to him. Further, House Republicans are not the problem they once were for him; now they are his opportunity. Their sizable minority offers him an echo chamber for Senate Republican positions that the House Democratic leadership opposes.
Republicans should want Mitch McConnell right where he is and in just the role he has. If they cannot control all of Congress, it is better they control the Senate. And controlling the Senate is no easy task. The differences in the way the two bodies operate is akin to the difference between checkers and chess — although played on the same board, their rules could not be more dissimilar. It takes a master to win at chess at the highest levels.
Mr. McConnell has spent a lifetime mastering the Senate chessboard. Now he gets to play with more and better pieces. And he has greater freedom to play his own game.
• J.T. Young served in the Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget.
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