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Flipping between majority, minority

4 min read
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HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania’s two U.S. senators are beginning the 114th Congress in new places: Democrat Bob Casey in the minority for the first time in eight years, and Pat Toomey in the majority for the first time in four years.

For both, it will change their strategy in how they try to get things done. Toomey, a Republican, sees his leadership’s promises to allow amendments as an avenue to getting things done for Pennsylvania.

Casey, a Democrat, will have fewer ideological allies to immediately back his pet legislation, and so hopes to pick up GOP supporters by persuading them his bills will be popular with voters and help Republicans show they are capable of leading the Senate when the 2016 election rolls around.

Toomey has the added pressure of running for another six-year term while his party is in control of the Senate, but insists he is not thinking much about it.

“I’m not focused on an election still two years away,” Toomey said. “I’m focused on accomplishing everything that I can and, frankly, I think that good policy is good politics. If I’m doing a good job for Pennsylvania, actively pursuing policies that are good for Pennsylvania families, good for our economy, good for job growth and the incomes of working Pennsylvanians … then the politics will take care of itself.”

Philosophically, Casey and Toomey tend to be starkly different. Casey is a favorite of labor unions and supports the major elements of President Barack Obama’s agenda. Toomey, a budget hawk who discourages government regulation, is a favorite of free-market purists and business groups who opposed nearly all of President Barack Obama’s agenda.

They will be on opposite sides of the vote if Republicans seek to undo Obama’s new immigration and deportation policy or the work-week requirement in Obama’s signature health care law.

Some things they agree on.

They both support legislation to force the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry Canada’s tar sands oil across the United States to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico, and they both support the repeal of the 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices – from pacemakers to tongue depressors, Toomey said – that is helping to fund the expansion of health care under Obama’s signature 2010 law.

In the meantime, Casey is setting his sights on legislation he thinks will help the middle class. That includes expanding federal funding for early childhood education, increasing the minimum wage, expanding tax breaks for small businesses and pumping more money into infrastructure.

But Casey, who was re-elected in 2012, is going from a Senate controlled by Democrats – 55-45 last year – to one now controlled by Republicans, 54-46. He dismisses the notion that being in the minority automatically diminishes his effectiveness.

“I don’t think it necessarily damages your ability to be effective for the state in terms of getting things done,” Casey said.

For instance, he said, small groups of Democrats can be particularly persuasive if they are willing to split from their party leadership and side with Republicans to advance legislation.

Toomey said he expects greater opportunities for everybody to pursue their pet legislation under a commitment by Republican leaders to allow amendments to legislation.

He said he will look to advance legislation to protect community banks from a 2010 law that overhauled finance-sector regulations in the wake of the worst disruption of the banking system since the 1930s. He also wants to toughen background checks for teachers to screen out sex predators, get more money to the National Institutes of Health to fight Alzheimer’s disease and ease the health care costs for businesses that hire military veterans.

Passage of these measures could help Toomey help himself in the 2016 election, and vindicate Republican control of the Senate. When election season rolls around, Republicans will be under the microscope, Casey said.

“They will have a heavy burden,” said Casey, “of proving that they can get things done.”

Marc Levy covers politics and government for the Associated Press in Pennsylvania. He can be reached at mlevy@ap.org. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/timelywriter.

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