By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves comes off an easy re-election bid, ready to work on major issues facing Congress.
Graves, a Republican, won 67% of the vote on Tuesday in the 6th Congressional District race, once again winning a seat he first won in the 2000 election.
Graves expects to still be in the minority when he returns to the U.S. House and doesn’t expect much of a change in the Washington landscape.
“I think it’s going to be very similar to the way it was and the Transportation Committee will continue to carry a bipartisan note,” Graves tells St. Joseph Post. “A lot of that does depend on what happens with the presidential election. But, it’s just hard to tell at this point.”
Graves serves as the top Republican on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He also serves on the House Armed Services Committee.
Much is yet to be decided on Capitol Hill.
Former Vice President Joe Biden appears poised to get the 270 Electoral College votes needed to capture the presidency, but President Donald Trump still has a path, though narrow, to victory with crucial states yet to be decided.
It appears Republicans gained ground in the U.S. House of Representatives, though will almost certainly still be in the minority when the new Congress convenes next year. Not all Senate races have been decided with the chamber now split 48-48 until the remaining states complete their vote count.
Graves doesn’t anticipate Congress waiting until a new session to deal with the major issue it left undone before the elections: another large economic stimulus package. He believes Congress will take up the measure during the lame-duck session.
A major package, costing close to $2 trillion, has been negotiated without resolution.
Graves says Congress will likely address that before the end of the year.
“I do expect something to be done, but we have to drop the provisions, things like giving checks to illegal immigrants,” Graves says. “The fact that U.S. tax dollars are being used to give stimulus checks to illegals in this country that are here, and not lawfully, has got to go. And that is one of the sticking points with Speaker Pelosi that has got to go and cannot be a part of that package.”
House Democrats and the White House seemed to be close to a deal prior to the elections, but no deal was struck.