| > Congress has had Democrat control many times over the decades, they could have pushed this through any time. It's not that simple. A party's agenda will include several things they want to pass when they have a majority, with different priorities. For many of the items on their agenda there will not be unanimous support within the party and there won't be unanimous opposition from the other party. The result is that for some of their agenda items they will have to get some support from the other party. Those other party members, even if they actually like the majority party's bill, will be reluctant to go against their own party and support it because their party might retaliate, doing things like deprioritizing those members bills or giving them less important committee assignments. The majority party might have to offer those minority members some incentive to get their support, such as agreeing to support bills that those members are pushing even if those are against the majority party's agenda. And so parties have to pick their fights. Making tax preparation easier is not something that a lot of voters care deeply about, and so doesn't become something that is worth pushing through through when you've got a small majority. Every House seat is up for election every 2 years, and it is very common for a party that has both the presidency and majorities in both the House and the Senate to lose that House majority in the midterm election. You want to spend the time before that on your high priority items. |