Tag: Sen. McConnell
Tensions rise in Senate’s legislative ‘graveyard’
Long-simmering tensions about the slow pace of legislation are boiling over in the Senate.
Senators are lashing out at each other in an increasingly public blame game about who is responsible for the chamber’s legislative agenda, which has largely ground to a halt this year.
The Senate is in its third week of voting only on nominations, though they’ll need to pass a stopgap spending bill before leaving for the weeklong Thanksgiving break.
View the complete November 20 article by Jordain Carney on The Hill website here.
Mitch McConnell Piously Urges ‘Civility’ In Politics
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called for “civility” on Monday after his reelection campaign publicly mused about the death of one of his rivals.
McConnell told Kentucky residents in a speech that America has a “behavioral problem” adding, “People are acting out and it’s not, I don’t think, limited to one ideological place or another. You’ve just got a lot of people engaging in bad behavior.”
Americans have to “learn how to behave better, how to be able to disagree without anger,” he said.
View the complete November 19 article by Oliver Willis on the National Memo website here.
Every Republican for himself: Mitch McConnell told senators in closed-door meeting to come up with their own Trump defense
According to a report at HuffPost, Republican lawmakers, left without guidance by the White House on how to push back at the House impeachment hearings being conducted by the Democratic-led House, are being forced to come up with their own defense of embattled President Donald Trump.
With reports that the White House is the scene of a pitched battle over a which plan to use to fight the Democrats, Senate Republicans are floundering when confronted by the press on how they feel about impeachment hearings that could lead to them to have to vote on whether to force Trump from office.
According to the report, “Republicans have no unified argument in the impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump, in large part because they can’t agree on how best to defend the president — or for some, if they should.”
Trump judicial pick blows off Democrats’ questions on Ukraine
An appeals court nominee has ignored a request from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, but still advances
An appeals court nominee has ignored a request from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to say whether he played a role in White House events now at the heart of the accelerating House impeachment probe — and Republicans haven’t let that halt his move through the confirmation process.
The committee voted 12-10 along party lines Thursday to advance the nomination of Steven Menashi, who works in the White House counsel’s office. President Donald Trump picked him for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit based in New York.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., filed cloture on the nomination Thursday afternoon. That move lines up a vote on Menashi early next week, just as the House holds its first public impeachment hearings focused on the events surrounding Trump’s controversial July 25 call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
View the complete November 7 article by Todd Ruger on The Roll Call website here.
Trump, GOP senators throw themselves a party to celebrate judicial overhaul
Mitch McConnell to POTUS: ‘Boy, you didn’t blow it. Neil Gorsuch is an all-star’
President Donald Trump and Republican senators took a victory lap Wednesday to celebrate their push to put nearly 150 of their picks on federal benches from coast to coast.
“It starts with Mitch — because you never gave me a call and said, ‘Maybe we can do it an easier way,’” Trump said during a lively ceremony in the White House’s ornate East Room.
He was referring to using most of the Senate’s floor time to move judicial nominees, and not backing down when some of those individuals received pushback from Democrats — and even some Republicans.
View the complete November 6 article by John T. Bennett on The Roll Call website here.
House Dems mourn bills buried in McConnell’s ‘legislative graveyard’
Halloween-timed display tweaks Senate leader for boasts of killing House bills
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries is stepping up his office’s Halloween decorations while expressing his frustration with a stalled agenda he blames on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Throughout the week, the chairman’s office has been displaying a “legislative graveyard,” featuring decorative tombstones inscribed with bills that have passed the House, but have yet to move in the Republican-controlled Senate.
The tombstones represent more than a dozen bills, including ones addressing climate change, pensions and gun purchase background checks.
View the complete October 31 article by Clyde McGrady on The Roll Call website here.
After McConnell advice, Trump lays off GOP senators on impeachment
The president’s team is betting that the cult of his personality and the power of his prolific Twitter feed will be enough to keep senators on his side.
Sitting inside the White House, Mitch McConnell gave Donald Trump some straightforward advice: Stop attacking senators — including Mitt Romney — who likely will soon judge your fate in an impeachment trial.
The one-on-one meeting last week between the Senate majority leader and the president covered several weighty issues including Syria, according to two people familiar with the conversation. But like everything these days when it comes to Trump, impeachment was high on the president’s mind.
And in this case, Trump appears to have listened to the man in the Senate who controls the future of his presidency.
View the complete October 30 article by Burgess Everett and Nancy Cook on the Politico website here.
McConnell to Republicans: Defend Trump on process
NOTE: Lawyers have a saying that if you have no facts to support your case, you attack process. We’re seeing that now with the GOP Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is urging Republicans to focus on Democrats and their tactics in seeking to mount an effective defense of President Trump on impeachment.
One GOP lawmaker, summing up McConnell’s message to Republicans at a private lunch meeting Tuesday, quoted the GOP leader as saying, “This is going to be about process.”
McConnell recognizes that some members of his conference are uncomfortable defending Trump on charges his administration linked aid to Ukraine to that country’s government running politically motivated investigations meant to help the White House.
View the complete October 23 article by Alexander Bolton on The Hill website here.
McConnell tightlipped as impeachment furor grows
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is keeping a low profile amid the growing impeachment battle surrounding the White House over President Trump’s political dealings with foreign governments.
McConnell made news in the first days of the two-week congressional recess, when he said he would have “no choice” but to move impeachment if the House sends over articles.
Since then, however, he’s largely gone quiet, turning his attention to issues like opioid funding, getting money for Fort Campbell and judicial nominations.
View the complete October 12 article by Jordain Carney on The Hill website here.