By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves would like Congress to pass two pieces of legislation during this lame-duck session.
Graves says Congress needs to approve a spending bill to keep the federal government funded and it needs to pass the Water Resources Development Act, which passed the House on a bipartisan vote and moved on to the Senate for its consideration.
“So those are two bills that we need to get done and done right away,” Graves tells St. Joseph Post. “We’ve got a couple of weeks of work left to do in Washington before the Christmas break and hopefully we’re going to be able to get those things done.”
Graves is hopeful Congress will also approve another coronavirus relief bill, meant to provide money to the states in their fight against COVID-19 and give assistance to the public to help prop up an ailing economy.
Congress returned to Washington in a lame-duck session following a very tight election.
Democrats retained only a narrow majority in the United States House with the Senate nearly evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.
Graves, a Republican, says Congress will look much different when the new session begins next year.
“That could create problems. It may actually provide some opportunities, too, because there’s more opportunity for compromise in many cases when the margins are so narrow,” according to Graves. “It’s just a lot of anxiety over what could happen and it comes down to leadership in the both the House and the Senate.”
Fox News reports Democrats now hold 222 seats in the U.S. House with Republicans claiming 211 seats. Two races remain undecided. Republicans have 50 seats in the U.S. Senate. Democrats hold 48 seats. Two Senate seats will be decided during a special runoff election January 5th in Georgia.
Graves says Republican gains will lead to some changes in Washington.
“Well, it prevents the majority from being able to just ram things through,” Graves says. “They have to be more diligent when it comes to compromises and when it comes to the ideas that come from both sides.”
Graves will remain the top Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Republicans in the House voted to keep Graves as the minority leader on the committee.