A 50-50 Senate necessitates compromise. Are Kansas City’s senators up to the task?
As they surrender their chairmen’s gavels to Democratic colleagues this week, the Kansas City region’s GOP senators face the prospect of reduced influence over legislation in the new 50-50 chamber.
Last year, the two-state region held chairmanships of three Senate committees and multiple subcommittees. Now, it’ll have none. Democrats control the chamber with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote.
While Republican Sens. Roy Blunt of Missouri and Jerry Moran of Kansas will no longer set the agendas for their committees (Rules and Veterans Affairs), they are not without leverage. The Senate’s 60-vote requirement for passing most legislation means both parties will have difficulty passing their policies.
It’s a scenario that will require more cross-aisle cooperation to make sure Kansas and Missouri’s policy priorities are included in legislation.
“Democracy’s not built on one person getting exactly what they want very often,” said Blunt.
Even before Democrats won the Georgia runoff elections this month to flip the chamber, Kansas was already set to lose former Sen. Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, to retirement. His exit will lessen the state’s influence over the committee that sets policy for one the region’s major industries.
The two junior senators are unlikely to have much clout during the next two years. Kansas Republican Roger Marshall, who is still waiting on his committee assignments, will have little seniority as a freshman and he likely damaged his relationships with both GOP leadership and Democrats by joining the failed effort to overturn the presidential election.
Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley is a pariah with both parties’ caucuses after leading the challenge to President Joe Biden’s victory, which will make it difficult to pass legislation even if he withstands the pressure to resign.
“Mr. Hawley is not well-liked by his colleagues,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri’s senior Democrat who said Hawley has spoken to him only once for about three minutes in the past two years. “Even if you have the relationships, it’s hard to get things approved.”
Cleaver praised Blunt and Moran as institutionalists who could emerge as key players in efforts to find compromise in the divided Senate.
“I think Roy Blunt has been extremely easy to work with on issues regarding the state, and Jerry Moran as well,” Cleaver said. “I think on matters important to Missouri, Roy Blunt has historically tried to put partisan positions out of the way. I’m optimistic on what we can get done. Roy Blunt and I have already had conversations.”
Blunt said he has co-sponsored legislation with the majority of the Democrats in the Senate at some point in his career. He pointed to partnering with Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2014, when Democrats last controlled the chamber, on legislation that made it easier for veterans to obtain treatment for traumatic brain injuries.
“Sherrod Brown and I have known each other since we were secretaries of state in the mid-1980s. We’ve become friends, really good friends in the Senate,” Blunt said. “We’ve probably agreed since we’ve known each other on six things — and they’re all now federal law.”
Blunt will relinquish the chair of the Senate Rules Committee to Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar. The panel weighs proposed changes to election law and oversees the functions of the Capitol.
But perhaps even more consequential for the Kansas City region will be the loss of Blunt’s Appropriations subcommittee chairmanship.
The subcommittee oversees funding for the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education and the Department of Labor, which collectively represents the biggest pot of federal money apart from Defense spending.
Blunt used the position to increase support for the National Institutes of Health by $12.9 billion, or roughly 43% over the course of six budgets. That led to millions in grants to Kansas City institutions, including roughly $30 million apiece for Children’s Mercy Hospital and the University of Missouri, Kansas City.
“Both of those committees really necessitate a pretty high level of cooperation,” Blunt said, noting that before he took over in 2015 the subcommittee went 11 years without passing a bipartisan budget bill, something he was able to achieve throughout his tenure.
Blunt will remain a member of the subcommittee. His successor as chair had not yet been named, but he said he is hopeful that the investment in health research will continue under Democratic control, noting past collaborations on the issue with Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray.
Blunt has a long-standing friendship with Klobuchar, but her leadership over the Rules Committee likely means a significant change in the prospects for proposed election reforms.
Blunt, who has often warned about federal overreach on state-run elections, blocked Klobuchar’s election security bill, introduced in 2019 in response to Russian attempts to influence recent elections.
Klobuchar’s bipartisan proposal will likely head to the full Senate after two years of roadblocks. More ambitious election reforms proposed by House Democrats also have a better chance of advancement with Klobuchar at the helm, but they face an uncertain future in full Senate because of the 60-vote threshold.
Moran will pass his chairmanship of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, which has oversight of the Department of Veterans Affairs, to Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester.
The change will give Moran less say on the investigations the committee pursues, but it may not be a roadblock to his legislation. Tester and Moran have often partnered on veterans-related bills throughout their tenure.
“Senator Moran is a friend and we’ve worked together on a number of critical issues focused squarely on delivering for our nation’s veterans. I look forward to our continued partnership in the new Congress,” Tester said in a statement, which noted the numerous bills the pair have co-sponsored, including a bill signed into last year aimed at preventing veterans’ suicides.
Moran echoed Tester. He praised the Montana Democrat’s advocacy on veterans’ issues and willingness to work across the aisle.
“He listens carefully to veterans about the issues they experience with the VA and then dedicates his time to creating legislative fixes that better serve our nation’s heroes,” Moran said. “Sen. Tester also shares my commitment to make certain veterans in rural states like ours have easy access to quality health care right in their own communities.”
