Republicans control the Senate. Now what?

Some say a GOP Senate takeover matters, some say it doesn’t. Both are right in different ways.

Why it matters:

The GOP will be able to block the president’s judicial appointments because justices need approval from a simple majority of senators. Republican senators could also attack carbon emission regulations that Obama put in place. They’d do this by combining governmental budget legislation with different legislation that would limit the effectiveness of the Environmental Protection Agency. Obama would not be able to pass a budget without restricting the EPA. Lastly, these senators will be around for six years, so this will have some impact on the dynamics of Senate power for years to come.

Why it doesn’t matter:

Let’s be real. Congress already struggles to pass much of anything because Republicans control the House, which allows them to block plenty of Democratic initiatives. So will controlling the Senate give them much more power here? Meh, not really. And it’s also unlikely that Republicans will hold onto the Senate after 2016. How much can they change in the next two years if so little has changed over the past two? Our guess is not much.