Grassley predicts unity, not loss of Alabama seat, will affect GOP agenda

CEDAR RAPIDS - Not being a political pundit, Sen. Chuck Grassley said Wednesday he'll refrain from speculating on what impact a Democratic victory in an Alabama Senate race will have on future elections.

However, Grassley, now in his fourth decade in the Senate, said Democrat Doug Jones's defeat of Alabama Republican Roy Moore is no cause for the GOP to panic. Jones, a former prosecutor, narrowly defeated Moore, who had been dogged by several allegations that while in his thirties he pursued sexual relationships with women as young as 14.

The outcome has suggested to some that the GOP Senate majority will be in jeopardy in 2018.

For the time being, however, one fewer Senate Republican is less important than the party's commitment to passing its agenda, Grassley said. That's because 95 percent of what the Senate does requires 60 votes to bring legislation to the floor. Once it gets to the floor, a simple majority is needed to approve legislation.

'It boils down to 51 or 52 or it could be even if we had 53, do Republicans want to keep the promises they made in the election?” Grassley told reporters. 'You have a platform you run on. You should stand on that platform.”

Republicans need to 'make up our minds we want to get the things done that we're going to get done,” Grassley said.

'We can't have one or two or three people like the tail wagging the dog,” he said. 'That's what we've had, particularly on health care. Thank God we don't have it in this tax cut bill.”

Getting 60 votes for cloture and then getting all Republicans on board is the basic problem for the Senate GOP, 'not the next election.”

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