In the wake of their midterm catastrophe, House and Senate Republicans met Tuesday to pick their leaders for the next congressional session. Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan was picked as House minority leader, and Senate Republicans stuck with John Thune of South Dakota, who will move from majority to minority leader.
Troy Miller, president and CEO of National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), thinks the House went with "the ideal candidate."
"The House certainly, I thought, did a better legislative job during the last Congress than the Senate did," he tells AFN. "Now this is a House where the conservatives are going to be in the minority, and so I think Jim Jordan is the right candidate, the right person to lead that effort."
Though Republicans suffered substantially greater losses in the House of Representatives in the midterms, Miller calls the Senate "a legislative disappointment in the last Congress."
John Thune has faced mounting criticism for failing to translate Republican control of the Senate into legislative victories, particularly on priorities championed by President Donald Trump.
Most notably, Thune failed to advance the SAVE America Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and photo identification at the polls.
Despite Trump's repeated demands, Thune resisted efforts to eliminate the Senate filibuster or use a so-called talking filibuster to overcome Democratic opposition, arguing that Republicans lacked the votes and that changing Senate rules could ultimately backfire.
Other priorities that stalled or failed to advance included federal permitting reform, legislation to cap insulin costs at $35, electricity affordability measures, cryptocurrency regulations and proposals to suspend the federal gasoline tax. Although Republicans secured some legislative victories, including Trump's major tax and spending package, critics argue that Thune failed to capitalize on the party's governing majority or deliver on key campaign promises before the midterm elections.
"I'm not sure that the Senate understood the message that the voters were sending," Miller suggests. "I think John Thune's a great guy and everything, but I think there was a message that they were possibly looking for new leadership there."
Thune's defenders counter that a narrow Republican majority, Democratic obstruction and divisions within his own conference limited his options as Senate majority leader.
