Election Day has come and gone, and the dust is beginning to settle. We now know that come January, the Republicans will have control of the House of Representatives, but the Democrats will keep the Senate. And we now know Republican Pat Toomey, a former U.S. congressman, will be Pennsylvania’s newest junior Senator.
In his victory speech Tuesday night, Toomey stressed that he “will be a senator for all Pennsylvanians,” and that he wants to work with senators on both sides of the aisle as well as with President Barack Obama. Once on Capitol Hill, he needs to live up to this pledge.
Given the state of the economy and the challenges facing the country, Americans can’t afford to have Congress members from either party that are too stubborn to collaboratively solve problems. Since the Democrats have a majority in the Senate but don’t have the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster, bills will need to have bipartisan support in order to clear the chamber. And because the two houses of Congress will be controlled by different political parties, legislators will need to cooperate more and make more compromises.
All too often, elected officials put politics over policy and refuse to cooperate with members of the opposing party. Toomey’s assertion that he’s interested in working with Democrats is promising, but he needs to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.
