The Democratic Party could keep control of the Senate after the midterm elections this fall, according to U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, but a thinner majority will mean more compromise going forward.
“I think Democrats will keep control of the Senate, but I do believe it will be a much slimmer majority and it will require even more cooperation between the parties,” Baldwin said during a stopover in Shawano on Thursday.
Baldwin made her comments after a visit to Cooperative Resources International.
Baldwin said there has already been more cooperation in Washington than typically makes the headlines, including a Water Resources Development Act passed last week that she said would be hugely important to Wisconsin’s water infrastructure.
She said she hopes for passage next week of the Workforce Investment Act, aimed at career and workforce readiness.
Baldwin said it would help address one of the problems talked about at CRI, which was a need for trained scientists in the agricultural industry.
“We have job openings, people want to work, but there’s a skills mismatch,” she said. “This is a federal initiative to close that gap.”
Baldwin, who is not up for re-election this year, said attention is starting to pivot now toward the midterm elections, but she said there are important pieces of legislation that could still be accomplished.
Some of the Senate races in play could hinge on the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
“The time has passed for campaigning on repealing or defunding it,” Baldwin said. “It’s time now is to celebrate the huge step forward.”
Baldwin said the law isn’t perfect and both sides should work together to fix what doesn’t work.
However, she said, “there’s a lot of things to celebrate in it.”