United States Mid-Term Elections: Towards Divided Government?
Wednesday 1st November, 2006
16:00 GMT / 11:00 EST
Items with the padlock symbol (
) require
registration and permission to access. You will be invited to register when you click on the padlocked link.
As the Republican party’s political woes mount, the prospect of ‘divided government’ – a situation that occurs when at least one chamber of Congress is not controlled by the president’s party – following the November 7 mid-term elections has increased. The Democrats seem certain to at least make significant gains in both the House and the Senate.
The conference call will discuss the most important economic and political consequences of Democratic gains during the mid-term elections, including:
- A renewed push for comprehensive immigration reform;
- An attempt to revise the July 2005 energy bill, emphasising increased efficiency and conservation, in addition to higher domestic production;
- Democratic attempts to introduce new minimum wage stem cell research legislation;
- The possibility that a more Democratic Congress could push for protectionist trade measures;
- The prospects for a return to fiscal responsibility, through the enactment of ‘pay-go’ rules on government spending;
- Whether the new Congress will call for a timetable for US troop withdrawals from Iraq; and
- The consequences of more robust congressional oversight for Bush’s foreign policy and executive authority in the ‘war on terror’.
Request more details of this call
