Republicans spent hundreds of millions to retake the Senate and make GOP senators potentially matter more than ever next term. They were so successful that the two senators who frequently matter the most on big legislative questions — Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski — now might not matter at all.
At least when it comes to floor votes.
With a 53-vote majority, the most moderate members of the Senate GOP, Collins and Murkowski, won’t be the lone deciding votes next term. To have a say over legislative items like a reconciliation package, they will have to find two more Republicans to join them — and their dissenting voices, amplified for years because of their position in the middle, may be dampened to a whisper.