Sunday shows: The post-Brown agenda

In the wake of Republican Scott Brown’s victory in the Massachusetts special Senate election Tuesday, lawmakers and administration officials will take to the airwaves Sunday in an attempt to define the political agenda moving forward.

Brown’s win over Democrat Martha Coakley has taken an immediate toll on healthcare negotiations in Congress. When Brown is seated, he will become the 41st GOP senator, breaking the Democrats’ 60-seat supermajority in the Senate.

{mosads}Since then, Democratic leaders have scrambled to come up with alternative ways to pass the legislation without another Senate vote that requires 60 senators to pass.

Due to stalled negotiations, the Senate appears to be on the cusp of taking a break on healthcare reform in favor jobs and the economy.
In the long term, Brown’s win in a deep-blue state like Massachusetts has Republicans clamoring that Democrats are doomed in this fall’s midterm elections. GOPers say that the Democrats are out of touch with independent voters, who think they have done too little to right the struggling economy.

Democrats, on the other hand, have downplayed the special election, saying that it is a single contest months from the election in which Democrats ran a weak candidate.

Two high-profile Obama administration officials this weekend will outline the Democrats’ agenda in a political environment some say may hamper their ability to move major legislation this year.

Senior White House adviser David Axelrod will appear on ABC’s “This Week” and CNN’s “State of the Union” to put forth the administration’s renewed focus on jobs and the economy.

Valerie Jarrett, another senior adviser, will talk up the agenda on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and “Fox News Sunday” will host White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

President Barack Obama is expected to use the State of the Union address on Wednesday to explain how he plans to strengthen the economy. Unemployment has remained high in most areas of the country and the overall economy has continued to show signs of weakness.

Senate Democratic leaders spent much of Friday morning preparing a jobs bill to roll out as soon as next week. The House narrowly passed its $154 billion jobs bill in December. 

CBS’ “Face the Nation” will host Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to discuss the Senate’s jobs bill and other legislative items the upper chamber plans to consider this year.

Though some Democrats have argued that the healthcare bill doubles as a job creation measure, Republicans have accused Democrats of ignoring jobs and the economy in favor of the healthcare debate.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will appear on “Meet the Press” to discuss the Republican agenda moving forward and will likely shine light on what role Brown will play in the Senate.

Also on “Face the Nation” will be Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) – one of Brown’s early backers and a key Republican senator on national security issues.

Another veteran Republican senator, Orrin Hatch (Utah), will speak to host John King on “State of the Union.”

Democratic and Republican campaign heavyweights will also hit the Sunday shows this weekend to discuss what Brown’s election means for the midterms.

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairman Robert Menendez (N.J.) will do double duty, appearing on “State of the Union” and “This Week.”

Countering Menendez will be National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman John Cornyn (Texas), who will talk on “Fox News Sunday.”

“This Week” will also host Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). DeMint recently established a political action committee named the Senate Conservatives Fund to bolster conservative Senate candidates running in GOP primaries.

DeMint has sometimes clashed with party establishment figures such as Cornyn for backing candidates in primaries he believes are too far left to be Republican lawmakers.