When Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) took to the Senate floor on Wednesday, he gave his fellow Republicans a brutal reality check on the 2026 midterms and a to-do list for the weeks they have left in charge, in a way one can. He didn't sugarcoat the results.

"This was not a normal midterm election. If you have concluded otherwise, congratulations, you're stupid," Kennedy said in a floor speech. "It was the size of the loss. Normally, there's about a seven-vote swing."

So what happened? Kennedy pointed squarely at the economy. "In my opinion, for what it's worth, the Democrats won because they did a better job of acknowledging the economic pain of the American people," he said.

He acknowledged that the big-picture numbers look decent, with GDP growth of about 3.5% last quarter. Ordinary families tell a different story. Over the 12 months through September, inflation ran at 3.7% while wages grew just 3.1%.

That squeeze traces back largely to Biden-era inflation, and voters are still paying for it, but high gas prices caused by the war in Iran obviously helped make Trump and the GOP the scapegoats.

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"People who get up every day and go to work and pay their taxes and obey the law and try to do the right thing by their kids and try to save some money for retirement are falling behind," Kennedy continued. "And they concluded that Washington was not listening and did not care. And the Republicans were in control of Washington."

Let's be honest, here. The Democrat Party spent four years jacking up prices under Joe Biden, then campaigned as the party that feels your pain. Republicans let them get away with it, and they paid the price.

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Here's the thing, though: Losing the majority doesn't mean that Republicans have to sit on their hands until January. A key priority, of course, should be confirming President Trump's judicial and other nominees before Democrats take control. Kennedy knows exactly what happens to those nominees otherwise.

"If we don't pass, if we don't confirm these people, my Democratic friends will not, I can assure you," he said.

Senate rules eat up floor time, and Kennedy said Republicans are ready to work through Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day to finish the job. He argued that confirmations alone fall short because Democrats have every reason to stall.

"My Democratic colleagues are not going to go along because they will be in charge in January, and so they can just wait us out," Kennedy explained. "I don't concede, unlike some of my colleagues, that attempting reconciliation would be a waste of time."

He's right, and the Republicans shrugging off reconciliation need to explain their alternative. Budget reconciliation needs only a simple majority, which makes it the one tool Democrats can't block.

Recalling something he'd read that morning, Kennedy offered his colleagues some colorful advice. "A smart man washes his hands after he urinates. A wise man doesn't urinate on his hands,” he said. “We need to stop urinating on our hands.”

Kennedy also borrowed a line from Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.), who has urged Republicans to "Keep it focused" because "You can't put ten things into a four-thing box." Kennedy's top pick is at least $200 billion for the military, and he warned that Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the incoming Appropriations Committee chair, has no intention of delivering.

"The future chair of the Appropriations Committee has already said that, in her opinion, a trillion dollar defense bill is silly," Kennedy noted. "Our Democratic colleagues may agree to some defense spending in a new budget, but they will extract in return much more domestic spending."

That's the Democrat playbook in a nutshell. They'll hold our troops hostage until they get their spending binge, no matter how much debt piles up. I would add the SAVE America Act to the reconciliation package myself. Requiring proof of citizenship to vote is common sense, and Democrats will never let it see daylight once they hold the gavel.

Republicans have a choice: They spend these final weeks licking their wounds, or they can lock in judges, fund the military, and protect elections before the Left gets its hands on the controls.