Will 2013 Be Payback Time?

The gridlock that has plagued Washington for the past three years is unlikely to change no matter how this fall's elections turn out.

That's because whichever party controls the House and the Senate — and it could be one of each, as it is today — in the 113th Congress it is likely to do so by narrow margins.  In the Senate that means the minority party has to get only 41 votes to block anything the majority or the president wants. That is how Republicans have been operating and if they win the majority next year the Democrats are likely to return the "favor." 

And that applies to the man in the White House as well.  If Mitt Romney is president, it will be payback time for the Democrats when his appointments and agenda go to Capitol Hill.  If Barack Obama wins a second term it will be more of the same.

Read more about it in my latest Jerusalem Post column.