Not only could he have, he was pressured to do so from many directions, including the White House. So, to even imply that McConnell would do it is to show a stunning amount of ignorance, even for someone employed by CNN.
Acosta: Democrats could think about it this way: If Mitch McConnell were in their shoes, what would he do? Given what we know, would we see him letting the filibuster stand? Is the filibuster more important than election rights, women’s rights… pic.twitter.com/90ZwDIoAdT
Democratic leaders are attempting to juggle several objectives in the coming days — namely, passing the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act, approving the National Defense Authorization Act, and raising or suspending the debt ceiling.
The House could vote as early as Wednesday to avert a shutdown, sending the stopgap measure to the Senate. While leaders have yet to settle on an end date, they are mulling mid to late January. That span would buy top lawmakers and the White House less than two months to hash out a bipartisan deal, which would include revamped spending totals for the military and all the other federal agencies that have been running on autopilot since the new fiscal year began on Oct. 1.
Democrats had originally eyed a short-term funding fix that would expire before the holidays, hoping to keep the pressure on Republicans to negotiate a broader funding deal before Christmas. But GOP leaders have shown no inclination to participate in those talks, leveraging the threat of sticking Democrats with non-defense funding levels established when Donald Trump was president.
This is not something any of the Democrats will accept. I doubt even Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) are okay with that. So, something will get passed. Something that just about everyone hates, probably. The gamesmanship is a little interesting. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has made it clear that he’s going to force the Democrats to go it alone on the debt ceiling. I don’t think he’s going to back down on that, but he may have to give them something else in return.
And as I keep saying, “thank God this man is not a Supreme Court Justice.” Those of you on the right who hate Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), just look at this man and remember.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the frantic bid to avert a default on the nation’s debt, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell held a position of unusual power — as the one who orchestrated both the problem and the solution.
McConnell is no longer the majority leader, but he is exerting his minority status in convoluted and uncharted ways, all in an effort to stop President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda and even if doing so pushes the country toward grave economic uncertainty.
All said, the outcome of this debt crisis leaves zero confidence there won’t be a next one. In fact, McConnell engineered an end to the standoff that ensures Congress will be in the same spot in December when funding to pay America’s bills next runs out. That means another potentially devastating debt showdown, all as the COVID-19 crisis lingers and the economy struggles to recover.
Notice how the AP does this. The Democrats control the White House, and both Chambers of Congress. They can’t get the debt ceiling raised, and it’s not the fault of any Democrats, but instead the fault of one man, a Republican, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY). This is nonsense.
Whenever you read or hear about Republicans “seizing” or “pouncing”, you know that the Democrats have screwed up, and the media is trying to distract you from it by talking about what the Republicans are doing.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wrote a scathing letter to President Joe Biden on Friday informing the president that Republicans would not bail out Democrats again if they failed to raise the debt limit by themselves.
McConnell’s letter also called out Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer’s (D-NY) speech on the Senate floor on Thursday evening, which was widely criticized after Schumer attacked Republicans despite Republicans having thrown him a lifeline to get out of a situation that would have been bad for the Democratic Party.
McConnell began:
Last night, Republicans filled the leadership vacuum that has troubled the Senate since January. I write to inform you that I will not provide such assistance again if your all-Democrat government drifts into another avoidable crisis.
The Senate Democratic Leader had three months’ notice to handle one of his most basic governing duties. Amazingly, even this proved to be asking too much. Senator Schumer spent 11 weeks claiming he lacked the time and the leadership skills to manage a straightforward process that would take less than two weeks. Whether through weakness or an intentional effort to bully his own members, Senator Schumer marched the nation to the doorstep of disaster. Embarrassingly, it got to the point where Senators on both sides were pleading for leadership to fill the void and protect our citizens. I stepped up.
Or, in other words:
Read the whole thing. McConnell’s letter is quite brutal and makes it clear that the Democrats can’t count on the Republicans to bail them out again.
I am writing to make it clear that in light of Senator Schumer’s hysterics and my grave concerns about the ways that another vast, reckless, partisan spending bill would hurt Americans and help China, I will not be a party to any further effort to mitigate the consequences of Democratic mismanagement. Your lieutenants on Capitol Hill now have the time they claimed they lacked to address the debt ceiling through standalone reconciliation, and all the tools to do it. They cannot invent another crisis and ask for my help.
There was some last-minute drama, as well. Schumer went to the floor and harshly criticized Republicans for provoking the crisis. Schumer won this round of his never-ending battle with McConnell, and he made sure everyone knew it. But Republicans — and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — didn’t like the tone of Schumer’s remarks. Senate Minority Whip John Thune complained personally to Schumer on the floor, while Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) complained to reporters.
Manchin told Schumer the speech was “fucking stupid,” according to four sources. Then Manchin complained to reporters too. The incident doesn’t really signify anything, except to show how tense everyone is in the Senate these days. And it’s only going to get worse.
Well, that seems a slight blow to party unity.
Manchin is correct, though. Schumer needs to re-read How to Win Friends and Influence People. He’s been given a temporary respite, and there’s no guarantee that there will be another one. So, maybe, just maybe, the wise course is not to completely tick off those that you’ll need to rescue you next time.
A point Ed agrees with:
Furthermore, Schumer’s speech backfired in the sense that it further alienated not just some Republicans who are willing to collaborate in some policy discussions, but also Manchin — who still is the key to Schumer’s control of the Senate. Maybe this one tiff doesn’t “signify anything,” as Punchbowl asserts, but it does at least point out how unhappy Manchin is with his caucus at the moment, and how entrenched that division has become.
It will be interesting to see where this leads. Stay tuned.
The Democrats goal for 2021 is simple. Change enough of the rules so that they never have to fear losing power again. They want America to become a one-party state, and nothing must be allowed to stand in the way of that.
I’m starting to think that both political parties in the U.S. hate their voters. For the longest time I thought it was only the Democrats.
Data from the NBC News poll shows that the composition of the two major parties is changing, and one massive shift is coming in employment: the kinds of jobs Democrats and Republicans hold. There are signs across racial and ethnic demographic groups that Republicans are becoming the party of blue-collar Americans and the change is happening quickly.
If the movement continues it could have a large impact on the future of the GOP. Consider the scale of the change overall.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) should embrace this. If it continues long term, the Democrats are in deep trouble. But McConnell is more interested in appeasing his Chamber of Commerce buddies than he is in effecting conservative change in America.
I hope he realizes this and comes around, because I do think that there’s no better person on Capitol Hill at managing the details of getting things done in Congress. But if he continues on his current path, he’ll be Minority Leader until he retires.
“Mitch McConnell actually laughed about Donald Trump’s statement when he first saw this,” said CNN’s congressional correspondent Manu Raju, citing sources. “Mitch McConnell has no plans to respond. In fact, I’m told by multiple sources that he plans to ignore Donald Trump altogether as he tries to navigate the post-Trump era.”
Former President Donald Trump’s approval rating among Republicans remains very high following his acquittal in his second impeachment trial, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has seen his support fall in the latest poll from The Economist and YouGov.
Trump holds almost universal support among members of the GOP, while McConnell is disliked by about half of registered Republicans.
87% view Trump favorably.
12% view Trump unfavorably.
36% view McConnell favorably.
51% view McConnell unfavorably.
Maybe things will improve. After all, it’s always easy for the minority party in opposition to the President to accomplish lots of things that encourage people to vote for them.
Ahem. Yes.
Trump has fundamentally changed the Republican Party. People like Mitch McConnell represent the old version. They want to change it back. Personally, I don’t think it will be successful. Moreover, i don’t see how that’s a recipe for winning elections, even if it succeeds. Does Mitch want to advance conservatism or does he want to be the Minority Leader in the Senate until he retires? He should consider that.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell “got a load off his chest” with his speech closing out Friday’s second failed impeachment attempt against former President Donald Trump. “Unfortunately,” however, “he [also] put a load on the back of Republicans. That speech you will see in 2022 campaigns.”
Who’s responsible for that quote? It might surprise some it wasn’t Donald Trump Jr. or Rep. Matt Gaetz — it was Sen. Lindsey Graham, a moderate, hawkish Republican not up for re-election for six whole years.
"The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political 'leaders' like Sen. Mitch McConnell at its helm. McConnell's dedication to business as usual, status quo policies, together with his lack of political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality, has rapidly driven him from Majority Leader to Minority Leader, and it will only get worse. The Democrats and Chuck Schumer play McConnell like a fiddle—they’ve never had it so good—and they want to keep it that way! We know our America First agenda is a winner, not McConnell’s Beltway First agenda or Biden’s America Last.
The 2022 primaries are going to be interesting, but this battle may well cost the GOP the Senate, and possibly the House as well. It better be worth it.
Trump is correct, though. He has transformed the Republican party from it’s corporate fat cat image to a populist party of the people. McConnell wants to take it back to where we were. I do not believe that that McConnell’s vision is one that will win national elections. Trump’s brashness and coarseness cost him in the suburbs. But his ability to connect with the common man and the notion that he’s a fighter, won big in typically Democratic strongholds. Without that bloc, the GOP is doomed. They need to figure out how to maintain that bloc and get the suburbs back.
