The Democrats' Control of the Senate

The Democrats are in control of the Senate, because it's basically removed the Senate from this negotiation. No one's caring about the Senate, other than Sheldon White House, who seems to me to be desperate for attention. So not having the Senate be a factor here may actually have been a contributing force to McCarthy's negotiating position. And so you don't have the figures in the Republican Party, who if the constellation of forces were different, might have been incentivized to speak from their platforms.