With one “fiscal cliff” averted and more on the horizon, the new Congress takes over with the seats still warm and feelings still hard from the old one. The hostilities just carried over, with the spirit of compromise gone already and positions dug in ever deeper as the next deadlines on the debt ceiling and automatic spending cuts approach. In the next round of cliff hanging, what roles will Louisiana’s senators and representatives play, and how will the outcomes affect their politics? For Louisiana politics, the key vote in the cliff crisis was Republican Sen. David Vitter’s for the deal, which the upper chamber passed 89-8. Though it was not Vitter’s intention, his vote did give some cover back home to Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, as three potential challengers to her 2014 re-election—Reps. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge; John Fleming, R-Minden; and Jeff Landry, R-New Iberia—voted no. Going forward, the two senators are bound to part company on the debt and spending showdowns, leaving Landrieu exposed the more she votes with fellow Democrats and President Barack Obama. She could draw the line against possible Democratic proposals to end energy industry tax breaks. Beyond that, her best hope could lie in another bipartisan gang of however many emerging to offer a middle position and to give her some separation from the president. Vitter’s cliff vote also was interesting because he stayed solidly within the fold of GOP senators. Read the full column here.
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com.)
