So, What's Next?
Not only did Holland & Knight live-tweet the election results, it also held a recap yesterday morning, led by public policy head Rich Gold, right. He was joined by Kerry Feehery, Paul Bock, Kathryn Lehman and Karl Koch. Some issues we may see come up for the 114th Congress: Dodd-Frank regulations, the Affordable Care Act (perhaps targeting segments to repeal, like the medical device tax) and tax inversion. Panelists said the Senate has come to more resemble the House: a lot of uncertainty from one election to the next.
Immigration has become such a "political football" that it's impossible to separate the politics versus the policy, said the panelists. If Obama passes an immigration executive order, it will be "like a bomb going off" in terms of his ability to work with Congress. For the lame duck session of the 113th Congress (which appears to be the least productive in the history of the republic, according to this slide), main issues are tax extenders--60 tax provisions will expire Dec. 31--and appropriations--which can be dealt with using an omnibus, a short-term CR, or some sort of combination that's come to be known as a "cromnibus." (Not to be confused with a cronut.)
