“You name the country. Where are we in better shape now than we were when he came to office? Nowhere.”
— Sen. Mitch McConnell, quoted by The Hill, on President Obama’s “mind-boggling” foreign policy.
“You name the country. Where are we in better shape now than we were when he came to office? Nowhere.”
— Sen. Mitch McConnell, quoted by The Hill, on President Obama’s “mind-boggling” foreign policy.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has told Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) “that he sees no other alternative for the speaker job, and has painted a somewhat apocalyptic short-term future if Ryan won’t accede,” Bloomberg reports.
“A failure to efficiently deal with the debt ceiling in November, or pass a resolution to fund the government in December could have serious repercussions for the party, McConnell argues, that could imperil the GOP’s hold on the Senate. It could also have an adverse impact on the party’s chances to win the White House, according to McConnell and other leading Republicans, who have talked to Ryan.”
Politico: “By moving to quarantine Cruz from the rest of the conference over the past three months, the majority leader demonstrated that he’s learned the lessons of the Cruz-backed government shutdown in 2013 and the Texas senator’s rogue strategy last winter that helped Democrats confirm a raft of judges in the lame duck session. In doing so, McConnell cemented his position atop the Senate GOP, dashing any hopes among House Republicans, or conservative activists, that his future might be in doubt.”
“The message is clear: McConnell isn’t going anywhere, and everyone in the Senate knows it. Even Cruz won’t say he should resign.”
You are reading the free version of Political Wire.
“The departure of John Boehner as House speaker leaves Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on uncertain ground, without a battle-tested House partner from the Republican establishment and facing newly emboldened conservatives,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Mr. McConnell has publicly shown no signs of being rattled as the new guard of House Republicans have asserted themselves—sometimes even criticizing him directly from across the Capitol. But the terrain he must negotiate on issues like government spending is about to change abruptly, with new House leaders who could create complications.”
Sam Youngman: “Sunday’s headlines about Kentucky’s Republican presidential caucus almost looked very different. And, the truth is, were it not for the efforts of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his allies, Sunday’s conversation probably would have been about the rebuke Rand Paul received from in-state Republicans and the death blow they dealt to his struggling presidential campaign. Because Paul was going to lose Saturday’s vote.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “dismissed the growing talk that the fight over Planned Parenthood might result in a government shutdown come Oct. 1 — nor, he said, would he allow a default on the debt,” Roll Call reports.
Said McConnnell: “Yeah, we’ll fund the government. I can’t tell you what will finally end up in or out of a government funding bill, but I can tell you without fear of contradiction there will be no government shutdown.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “has found a way to seize the spotlight at a time his campaign for president is losing the battle for buzz.” The Hill reports.
“The Texas Republican on Sunday will attempt an unusual procedural move to overturn Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) blocking of his amendment on the Iran nuclear deal. McConnell, seeking to move a federal highway funding bill through the Senate fast, has cut off most amendments to the measure — though he is allowing a vote on reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank.”
“That decision has infuriated Cruz, who took to the floor on Friday to accuse his leader of lying to him.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in a blistering floor speech accused Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) of lying to him over a deal to vote on reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, The Hill reports.
Said Cruz: “The majority looked at me and said ‘there is no deal, there is no deal, there is no deal.”
He added: “Well, we now know that when the majority leader looks us in the eyes and makes an explicit commitment that he is willing to say thing that he knows are false. That has consequences for how this body operates,” he said. “If you or I cannot trust what the majority leader tells us, that will have consequences on other legislation, as well as on how this institution operates.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Matt Bevin (R) “are trying to put last year’s ugly Senate primary behind them,” Politico reports.
“McConnell, the Senate majority leader, will hold a fundraiser for Bevin, the GOP nominee in this November’s Kentucky gubernatorial race.”
“Senate Republicans appear to be closing the door on gutting the filibuster, brushing aside calls from presidential hopefuls Jeb Bush and Scott Walker to consider lowering the 60-vote threshold for repealing Obamacare,” The Hill reports.
“Sources close to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) say there’s virtually no chance he will go along with abolishing the filibuster, something he has strongly criticized in the past.”
Wonk Wire: Republicans need to accept Obamacare is here to stay.
Sen. Ted Cruz writes in his new memoir A Time for Truth that when he was a young lawyer learning how to argue a case in the Supreme Court, he had a role model: John G. Roberts, whom he described as “a brilliant Supreme Court lawyer,” the “best advocate” of his generation, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“That would be the same John Roberts, now chief justice of the Supreme Court, that Mr. Cruz has been lambasting of late for last week’s ruling upholding a key piece of President Barack Obama’s signature health-care law.”
Meanwhile, Politico reports that Cruz accuses Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in the book of “maneuvering to dry up his fundraising and plant hit pieces in the press aimed at hurting him politically.”
“There should be no confusion in anyone’s mind that as a people we’re united in our determination to put that part of our history behind us.”
— Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by the Louisville Courier Journal, supporting efforts to take down the Confederate battle flag.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “is daring Senate Democrats to vote against fast-track trade legislation they supported less than a month ago,” The Hill reports.
“The GOP leader has scheduled a procedural vote on fast-track for Tuesday, and is signaling he’s through offering concessions. The Kentucky Republican believes he’ll get the 11 Democratic votes he needs to move forward because pro-trade Senate Democrats have already gone out on a limb to support fast-track — despite the cries of organized labor and other groups on the left.”
Politico: “Many of the Democrats who voted for the trade bill when it first passed the Senate did so because workers aid was part of the package. They were also given assurances that a vote would be scheduled to reauthroize the Export-Import Bank, which expires at the end of the month.”
Politico: “McConnell, now the Senate majority leader, and Schumer, the Democratic leader-in-waiting, will now have to figure out how — and when — to drop their political swords. Despite serving 16 years together in the chamber, the two men have developed virtually no rapport in a body where trust and relationships are essential. To the extent they’ve engaged, it’s mainly been to launch political — and at times, personal — attacks.”
“But with Schumer set to replace Sen. Harry Reid as Democratic leader in the next Congress, the New York Democrat and the Kentucky Republican will soon have to work with each other on a daily basis — on issues as mundane as the Senate schedule and as profound as the country’s domestic and foreign policy.”
Sen. Mithc McConnell (R-KY) “has studied Senate procedure firsthand over five decades, and there is not much that can leave him flummoxed, even momentarily. But here he stood — thanks to, of all people, his fellow Republican, fellow Kentuckian, close political ally and the man he has endorsed for president — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY),” the Washington Post reports.
“With a dramatic series of procedural maneuvers, Paul had just dashed McConnell’s public pledge to extend a controversial National Security Agency surveillance program beyond a June 1 deadline before the Senate left for a week-long holiday break. The program allows the government agency to collect vast troves of call data from telephone companies as part of the fight against international terrorism. Paul sees it as a violation of individual privacy.”
New York Times: “As senators raced for the airport on Saturday after a six-week session that ended in disarray, they left behind a wreck of promises made by Mr. McConnell on how a renewed Senate would operate. Mr. McConnell has found himself vexed by Democratic delaying tactics he honed in the minority, five presidential aspirants with their own agendas and a new crop of conservative firebrands demanding their say.”
“Mr. McConnell promised that his party would instill more discipline, avoiding the last-minute legislative cliffhangers that have long marked Congress and left government workers and the capital markets in a state of constant unease. Instead, he allowed the Senate to depart with a key national security program dangling on the precipice of extinction. Senators also failed again to find a long-term solution for fixing the nation’s crumbling roads.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “is turning up the pressure on senators to make a deal on three important bills, vowing to keep the chamber in session until its work is done,” The Hill reports.
“The Senate is quickly approaching a week-long Memorial Day recess, but it still has to finish work on a ‘fast-track’ trade proposal, expiring provisions of the Patriot Act and highway legislation.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “may be forced to end debate on the Iran bill early this week, marking the first time he has shut down the open amendment process that was a central promise of his bid for control of the chamber,” National Journal reports.
“Sen. Tom Cotton’s surprise move on Thursday to force votes on his own amendment and one from Sen. Marco Rubio highlights the perils of McConnell’s commitment to an open amendment process. When Sen. Harry Reid was leader, he often ‘filled the tree‘ in Hill-speak, essentially preventing members from filing amendments without his express written permission. McConnell’s stated preference for a free-wheeling debate allows members to follow in Cotton’s footsteps and force votes on their amendments.”
“McConnell now has an unpleasant choice: allow the Senate to move to votes on the Cotton and Rubio amendments, or shut down debate and cancel votes on all of the remaining 67 amendments to the Iran bill.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.