The presidential race is getting the vast majority of the attention in the 2012 campaign but the battle for the majority in Congress is also critical. Republicans won back control of the House in 2010 by winning 63 Democratic seats, and the man charged with keeping that majority predicts it will get even bigger. Texas Rep. Pete Sessions is chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. He expects the GOP to add another five to seven seats when the dust settles in November. Sessions says favorable redistricting in states like North Carolina and Texas and open seats in Oklahoma and Arkansas will help his party. Conversely, Sessions worries that newly drawn districts in Illinois and California will make life difficult for Republicans. Sessions also admits a convincing win by either party at the presidential level will have an impact down the ballot. He also rejects the Democratic assertion that House Republicans are obstructing the Obama economic agenda, noting that Senate Democrats won’t even back Obama’s plans and nonpartisan economists believe the president’s plan would grow the national debt yet again. He also vows House Republicans will have a much more responsible approach to spending than they did from 2001-2007. He says tough spending cuts will come because “the medicine is necessary to save the patient” and entitlements must be addressed.
