Tag: Mitch McConnell

Trump trashes McConnell to fellow Republicans

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President Trump lashed out at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday night for acknowledging Joe Biden won the election, sending a slide to Republican lawmakers taking credit for saving McConnell’s career with a tweet and robocall.

Why it matters: It’s an extraordinary broadside against McConnell by the sitting president and most popular Republican in the party, ahead of a crucial runoff election in Georgia on Jan. 5 that will determine control of the Senate.

  • “Sadly, Mitch forgot,” reads the top of the slide sent to Republican senators by Trump’s personal assistant, written in red for emphasis. “He was the first one off the ship.”

Between the lines: While both the message and its delivery targeted McConnell, they also carried a subtle warning to other Republicans who may follow suit as the president grasps at the last straws of his election-fraud claim. Continue reading.

Mitch McConnell Warns Republicans Not to Fight Biden’s Electoral College Win

WASHINGTON — Fending off a messy fight that could damage Republicans ahead of Georgia Senate runoffs, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned fellow GOP senators on Tuesday not to join President Donald Trump’s extended assault on the Electoral College results.

In public remarks and private warnings, McConnell worked to push ahead to the Biden era and unite a fractured Republican Party ahead of the runoff elections that will determine Senate control.

First, the Republican leader heaped praise on Trump’s “endless” accomplishments as he congratulated President-elect Joe Biden during a morning Senate speech. Then he pivoted, privately warning Republican senators away from disputing the Electoral College tally when Congress convenes in a joint session Jan. 6 to confirm the results. Continue reading.

Mitch McConnell congratulates Joe Biden, Kamala Harris for election win

WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recognized former Vice President Joe Biden as the president-elect for the first time Tuesday, one day after the Democratic ticket sealed an Electoral College victory. 

“The Electoral College has spoken,” McConnell said during a speech on the Senate floor in which he also praised President Donald Trump’s accomplishments. McConnell said he wanted to “congratulate President-elect Joe Biden” and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

“The President-elect is no stranger to the Senate. He has devoted himself to public service for many years,” McConnell said of Biden. 

Window quickly closing for big coronavirus deal

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Congress is quickly running out of time to cut a year-end deal on a big coronavirus relief package, with only a matter of days left before the next funding deadline.

Lawmakers have been holding talks for weeks but are struggling to close the gap on the biggest issues — state and local aid and legal protections for businesses from coronavirus lawsuits — even as pressure grows for more resources to prevent a sustained spike in COVID-19 cases and cities reimpose restrictions.

There’s now growing skepticism about the prospects for a sweeping agreement. With the clock ticking, lawmakers are warning there are too many moving parts and too many competing factions. Continue reading.

Mitch McConnell doesn’t even want to send relief to health care workers

Hospitals nationwide are in desperate financial straits, short-staffed, and running out of beds.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is holding up talks on a bipartisan bill that could include badly needed aid for hard-hit hospitals around the country with demands that Democrats give up state and local relief funding before he’ll let the Senate vote on it.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for talks on the developing framework for a $908 billion COVID relief package that would include $35 billion for hospitals.

The initial summary of the bill did not include stimulus checks for individuals, though negotiations continue on that front. Continue reading.

‘One person standing in the way’: Abysmal jobs report ramps up pressure on McConnell for COVID relief

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The Labor Department’s release Friday of an abysmal jobs report showing that U.S. hiring slowed dramatically in November served as another occasion for Democratic lawmakers, progressive advocacy groups, and economists to demand that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell end his months-long obstruction of a desperately needed coronavirus relief package.

Devoid of any “silver linings”, the fresh jobs numbers further undercut the Kentucky Republican’s argument just last month that the economy is trending in the right direction and therefore requires less stimulus to drag it out of recessionary territory. According to Friday’s report, the U.S. added just 245,000 jobs in November, down from 610,000 in October and the fifth consecutive month hiring has slowed.

“Congress knows how to help workers and families. It knows how to prevent the looming recession. One person is standing in the way. Mitch McConnell’s political games are costing lives and livelihoods.”

Sen. Ron Wyden

Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, warned that with key federal unemployment programs set to expire at the end of December and coronavirus infections on the rise nationwide, “millions of workers and their families are in for an even harsher winter” unless Congress takes decisive action. Continue reading.

Pelosi bullish on COVID-19 relief: ‘We cannot leave without it’

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Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) expressed optimism Friday that the parties will come together to secure a coronavirus relief package before Congress leaves Washington for the winter holidays.

Addressing reporters in the Capitol, the Speaker said party negotiators still have a number of disagreements to iron out to win such an agreement, but indicated the sides are making steady progress and all but guaranteed that a bipartisan deal will be sealed in the coming days.

“We’ll take the time we need and we must get it done,” Pelosi said. “We cannot leave without it.” Continue reading.

McConnell, Schumer spar as pressure grows for coronavirus deal

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) sparred over coronavirus relief on Thursday as pressure grows for leadership to cut a deal.  

McConnell, speaking from the Senate floor, said he believed a deal on coronavirus relief was “within reach,” but didn’t embrace a bipartisan proposal gaining steam within his own caucus.  

McConnell argued Congress should pass a coronavirus relief bill that covers areas on which both sides agree, including more small business aid through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and extending soon-to-expire programs created through the March CARES Act.  Continue reading.

McConnell in tough position as House eyes earmark return

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Plans by House Democrats to bring back earmarks at the start of the next Congress have put Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in a tough spot.

McConnell, a longtime member of the Appropriations Committee, isn’t personally opposed to bringing back earmarks, but he is risk averse and doesn’t want to spark a fight with Tea Party conservatives and Republicans considering White House runs in 2024, say GOP lawmakers.

The GOP Senate leader has been coy when asked about the topic. Continue reading.

A Senate insider has a dark warning about Mitch McConnell

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Democrat Adam Jentleson can recite chapter and verse about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s bitter partisanship: he served as deputy chief of staff for former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid during the Obama years. And in an interview with New York Magazine, Jentleson has a warning for President-elect Joe Biden: expect the worst from McConnell.

Jentleson discusses the state of the U.S. Senate in his upcoming book, “Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy.” It remains to be seen whether McConnell will be Senate majority leader or Senate minority leader in 2021 — that will be determined by what happens in the two U.S. Senate runoff elections in Georgia in January. And when New York Magazine’s Ben Jacobs asked Jentleson, during the interview, “how important” the outcome of those Senate races will be for Biden’s incoming administration, he replied, “It’s all the difference in the world.”

Jentleson told Jacobs, “It is night and day. That ranges from prospects for passing legislation and having his nominees confirmed to who controls the committees and the day-to-day business and sets the agenda of the Senate. So, it’s two seats that could lead to two very different prospects for Joe Biden when he is inaugurated in January.” Continue reading.