Brown Wins in Massachusetts, Changes Dynamics of Senate

On Tuesday, Scott Brown (R) defeated Martha Coakley (D) in the Massachusetts special election to fill the seat vacated by the late Senator Ted Kennedy.  Brown's victory is already impacting Senate proceedings by removing the Democrat's super majority of 60 votes.   Once Brown is officially seated, Democrats will have 59 votes and will be unable to overcome Republican attempts to filibuster controversial pieces of legislation, such as health care reform.  It appears changes to the health care proposal that passed the Senate late last year will have to be significant to gain any bipartisan support. The direction of health care reform remains uncertain, as Democratic leaders are plotting the next course of action in the wake of the election. The Senate still faces an uphill battle on many of AGC's priorities. The challenge of finding additional votes on funding infrastructure investment remains a hurdle in the Senate, as does passing a jobs bill without a source of funding. AGC commented on this issue this week in Engineering News-Record.