Sunday Express: US Midterms and Foreign Policy

The world awaits the outcome of the US mid-term elections, which will decide all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 33 seats in the Senate. If Democrats win either chamber, the president’s policies will face new scrutiny: A “Democratic majority's greatest influence will be oversight, the ability to call hearings and, if necessary, subpoena witnesses, as they chair committees like Foreign Affairs, Armed Services and Intelligence,” explains Sunday Express. “If Republicans defy opinion polls and maintain control of the House after weeks of campaigning by Trump, they are expected to embrace his policies.” Congress could revive its investigations over Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. Investigations could also cover a journalist’s murder in a Saudi consulate as well as US support of Saudi atrocities in the Yemen civil war, as well as any promises made to Russia or North Korea by the Trump administration. Democrats will move cautiously to avoid being seen as oppositional, interfering with efforts to ease the trade imbalance with China or reach an agreement on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons program – even though Republicans did just that by exiting the agreement on Iran’s nuclear weapons. – YaleGlobal