Reporters Notebook: Senate sneaks in one last political play before voters have their say
In politics, you sometimes just do what you can.All 100 duly chosen and sworn U.S.senators understood why the Senate met for a week at the end of September.Yes there was the college sports bill.
Yes there was the confirmation of Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling.Yes there was a big hearing with former special counsel Jack Smith.But you’d be badly mistaken if you thought both sides were really there to hammer out a package to bring down the cost of living for Americans.Don’t take my word for it.
Take the word of the senators.REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: A GUIDE TO THE COLLEGE SPORTS VOTE AND SENATE’S OHIO SHOWDOWNFormer Special Counsel Jack Smith testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Sept.29, 2026, in Washington, D.C.
(Getty Images)You are correct to say that Democrats blocked two bills that Republicans say voters really want.One was a measure to diminish the costs consumers pay for data centers and a plan to restrict stock trades by lawmakers.
The latter bill even included a voter ID requirement – crucial to the GOP and its base.But Republican senators knew that Democrats wouldn’t accept these proposals.This was about politics.And Democratic senators wouldn’t accept any of the GOP’s legislative propositions, either.So let’s start with the Ratepayer Protection Act.Both sides know that voters are tripped out about AI and utterly losing it when it comes to data centers.
An internal GOP memo in August revealed that the party was especially leery of what this meant for Sen.Jon Husted, R-Ohio Republican Ohio Gov.
Mike DeWine appointed Husted to the Senate last year to succeed Vice President JD Vance.Husted helped foster development of data centers as an official back in the Buckeye State.So, the final week of the Senate’s session before the midterms crawled with politics.REPUBLICANS FEAR THEY ‘HAVEN’T DONE A DAMN THING’ TO LOWER PRICES AHEAD OF MIDTERM RECKONINGThe U.S.
Capitol building is seen on...