Every week, a group of nearly 100 conservative leaders convene for a 30-minute strategy call on a single issue: How to combat Democrats’ sweeping legislation to change the way federal elections are conducted.
Two weeks ago, the keynote briefer was Sen. Mitch McConnell, who made it crystal clear that defeating the “For the People Act” is his top priority of this two-year legislative session.
McConnell has conveyed his vehement opposition to the bill repeatedly in public. What’s different, conservatives say, is his personal level of commitment behind-the-scenes to educate activists on just how damaging the legislation would be to the future electoral prospects of Republicans. To those involved, they’ve noticed a level of engagement from the GOP leader they haven’t seen before.
Kentucky lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday that would remove Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s ability to appoint a member of his own party to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate if one occurred. The legislation, which Republican lawmakers pushed forward after discussions with U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, now heads to the governor's desk. Current state law allows the governor to appoint someone to fill the seat until the next regular election of the U.S. House of Representatives, which happens every two years.
The Justice Department under the Trump administration declined to open a criminal investigation into the actions by Ms. Chao when she was transportation secretary.
Breaking NYT: The Transportation Department's inspector general asked DOJ in December to consider a criminal investigation into what it said was Elaine Chao's misuse of her office in the Trump admin to help promote her family's shipping business. - Kyle Griffin
"I'M SHOCKED, SHOCKED, THAT THERE'S GAMBLING GOING ON HERE."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday touted the year-end deal on an omnibus spending package as a victory for Republicans because it will boost defense spending above the rate o…
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday touted the year-end deal on an omnibus spending package as a victory for Republicans because it will boost defense spending above the rate of inflation and increase nondefense spending at a lower rate than inflation, effectively resulting in a cut.
McConnell cast the result as the mirror image of what President Biden requested when he sent his budget request to Congress.
“The administration wanted to cut funding for our armed forces after inflation while massively increasing spending on nondefense. Republicans have taken the president’s bizarre position and flipped it on its head,” he said on the Senate floor.
McConnell said the bill, which will be released to the public on Monday afternoon, “provides a substantial real-dollar increase to the defense baseline and a substantial real-dollar cut to the nondefense, non-veterans baseline.”
Republican sources say the boost in defense-related spending compared to what they’re calling the “real-dollar cut” to nondefense spending is more dramatic when the generous increase in spending on military veterans, which is classified on the nondefense side of the spending ledger, is factored in.
McConnell also highlighted the fact that the omnibus is expected to exclude what he called “left-wing goodies,” such as the Safe Banking Act, which would prohibit federal regulators from penalizing financial institutions that do business with legitimate cannabis-related businesses.
“The bipartisan bill that our colleagues have negotiated equips our armed forces with the resources they need while cutting nondefense, non-veterans spending in real dollars,” he said. “This is a strong outcome for Republicans, and much more importantly, it’s the outcome that our nation’s security needs.”
The consumer price index, which measures inflation, rose by 7.1 percent over the past 12 months, which by McConnell’s account means the omnibus will increase defense spending by more than 7.1 percent while increasing nondefense spending by a smaller percentage.
Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) expressed disappointment on Monday afternoon that nondefense social spending programs will receive a smaller increase than defense programs but he noted that Democrats didn’t have much leverage to insist on parity.
McConnell is “in a bargaining position,” Durbin said, and “taking advantage of his leverage.”
“I don’t like it but we’re in a pretty desperate situation,” Durbin added, referring to the Democrats’ loss of the House majority in the midterm elections.
Democrats were eager to strike a deal with McConnell and Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, before Republicans take control of the House in January.
No Republican senator will back President Biden’s infrastructure plan as written, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said at a press conference on Monday. “I don’t think there will be any Republican support — none, zero — for the $4.1 trillion grab bag which has infrastructure in it but a whole lot of other stuff,” McConnell told reporters. “We’re open to doing a roughly $600 billion package which deals with what all of us agree is infrastructure….If it’s going to be about infrastructure, let’s make it about infrastructure.” McConnell’s reference to a “$4.1 trillion grab bag” would include Biden’s roughly $2 trillion infrastructure package as well as his $1.8 trillion “American Families Plan,” which invests heavily in education and childcare. The minority leader has previously vowed to “fight” the infrastructure bill “every step of the way.” “My view of infrastructure is that we ought to build that which we can afford and not either whack the economy with major tax increases or run up the national debt even more,” McConnell said in April. In addition to repairing roads, bridges, and other infrastructure networks, the Biden infrastructure bill provides $174 billion toward a national network of charging stations for electric vehicles, along with other incentives to manufacture EV’s. Senate Republicans have proposed a $568 billion infrastructure plan that would upgrade roads, public transit, and rural broadband access over the next five years. However, with the Senate tied 50-50 and Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking vote, Democrats will likely attempt to pass their infrastructure plan via budget reconciliation rules. Those rules allow legislation to pass the Senate via a simple majority vote, rather than the filibuster-proof 60-vote threshold.
Legislation informally referred to as the Daniel Cameron Election Bill is moving through the Kentucky General Assembly.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has compiled a short list of successors in his home state of Kentucky, preparing for the possibility that he does not serve out his full term, Kentucky Republicans tell The Intercept.
Under current law, the power to appoint McConnell’s replacement falls to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. But new legislation McConnell is pushing in the Kentucky General Assembly would strip the governor of that power and put it into the hands of the state GOP.
