WASHINGTON, November 6 (RIA Novosti) — The US Republican Party's victory in the House of Representatives and Senate gives new lawmakers an incentive to cooperate with the US Democratic party and the President, or face major defeats in the next election cycle, former Alabama Senator Martin Frost told RIA Novosti Wednesday.
"There is a party incentive inside the Republicans to try to get things done because they have so many [candidates] up in the next election," Frost said responding to whether the new Congress would have more stimulus to legislate than the outgoing Congress.
The onus is on US President Barack Obama to cooperate with the new majority in Congress in order to "build a legacy," Frost noted.
"The public was in a throw-the-bums-out mood," and targeted the party in power, the Democrats, the former senator explained.
"Don't think that the public's bloodlust for throwing people out of office was satisfied just with the 2014 election. If Congress can't function, there are a lot of people who will be in trouble in 2016 [elections]," he added.
Senator Frost, who served in government from 1979 to 2005, is hopeful that the Congress and the President will work together, but recognizes the difficulties, including the more extreme, obstructionist factions of the political parties.
The 2014 midterm elections saw the Republican party gain 7 seats in the Senate and win majority control of that chamber. Three elections are still too close to call in Alaska, Virginia, and Louisiana. The Republican majority in the US Senate will mean that the party controls the entire legislative branch, which had been split between Democrats and Republicans since the 2010 brought a Republican majority to the US House of Representatives.
During the last session of Congress, while the House was able to pass over 350 bills, the Senate only ratified 185 of them, according to a government transparency website GovTrack that helps voters track legislation.
