Political Wire

McConnell Takes Credit for Improving Economy

· 52 Comments

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) claimed the economy is improving because Americans know Republicans are in control of Capitol Hill.

Said McConnell: “After so many years of sluggish growth, we’re finally starting to see some economic data that can provide a glimmer of hope; the uptick appears to coincide with the biggest political change of the Obama administration’s long tenure in Washington: the expectation of a new Republican Congress. So this is precisely the right time to advance a positive, pro-growth agenda.”

First Read: “So after years of making President Obama and Democrats own the state of the economy, McConnell is now taking credit for the improving — two days into his new job? And based on the expectation that the GOP was going to take over the Senate? If anything, this is a reminder that the Republican Party realizes that — if the economy continues to get better and better — they can’t allow Obama to get all of the credit. Oh, and we get a new monthly jobs report tomorrow.”

McConnell Pledges Dramatic Changes in Senate

· 29 Comments

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told colleagues on the first full day of the new Congress to expect a dramatic change from his predecessor, Democratic leader Harry Reid (D-NV), The Hill reports.

“He pledged he would decentralize power in the Senate, which had become concentrated in Reid’s office during the past eight years of Democratic rule… He promised to ‘open up the legislative process’ to allow senators on both sides of the aisle more opportunity to offer and vote on amendments.”

Said McConnell: “It’s time to change the business model. We need to return to regular order. We need to get committees working again. We need to recommit to a rational, function appropriations process.”

How McConnell Can Get to 60 Votes

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Wall Street Journal: “Six is the number of Democratic senators that Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s new Republican Majority Leader, will have to woo over to his side to reach the 60 votes needed to break filibusters. Republicans have 54 seats and therefore a majority in the new Senate, which is nice for them. But it doesn’t guarantee much of anything, because most items of importance can be filibustered to death, and breaking a filibuster requires a super-majority of 60 votes.”

McConnell Sees Democrats Working With Him

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Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told Roll Call that he thinks Democrats “are ready to join him in crafting a more open, functional Senate.”

Said McConnell: “The worst experience any majority can have is that you convene and you look around and nothing’s ready to go. So what I said to the members who hoped they would be chairmen [was], ‘Let’s don’t have that problem. Be thinking now about legislation that you have, preferably that enjoys some Democratic support, because we certainly didn’t think we were going to have 60 and we don’t.'”

Inside McConnell’s Plan to Retain Senate Majority

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Even takes the reins as Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell (R) and his allies “are quietly trying to engineer a bold plan that would enable party leaders to rely more on major contributions to independent groups while also removing restrictions on the ability of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and other party committees to interact with candidates,” Politico reports.

“The outside cash would be raised by a pair of linked groups — a super PAC and 501(c)4 non-profit — that could accept unlimited cash to boost key GOP Senate candidates, according to sources familiar with the plan. The inside cash would flow to the NRSC, which could operate more freely under an election law change McConnell began pushing this week.”

Obama Meets McConnell in Private Meeting

· 6 Comments

President Obama met with incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) at the White House on Wednesday, in a rare one-on-one conversation between the two leaders, the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Such conversations have been an infrequent occurrence for the Democratic president and the Senate’s top Republican. The Kentucky senator, who will become majority leader in the new Congress, occasionally has attended White House meetings with other lawmakers. But a spokesman for the minority leader said Mr. McConnell last attended a private meeting with Mr. Obama in 2011. Vice President Joe Biden also was present for that conversation.”

McConnell Is Now Leader of the Republican Party

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Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “won’t become majority leader until next month, but he’s already acting the part,” The Hill reports.

“The Kentucky Republican, who will visit President Obama Wednesday at the White House, has taken the lead on a variety of thorny issues, spelled out his agenda for the next Congress and is working to protect the Senate GOP majority in 2016. McConnell on Tuesday laid out his vision for immigration, taxes and healthcare reform.”

McConnell Is ‘Perplexed’ by Obama

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Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told the Wall Street Journal that President Obama has lurched to the left since suffering a “butt-kicking” during November’s midterm elections.

Said McConnell: “By any objective standard the president got crushed in this election. So I’ve been perplexed by the reaction since the election, the sort of in your face dramatic move to the left. I don’t know what we can expect in terms of reaching bipartisan agreement.”

[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]I wonder if Obama was perplexed when McConnell said his only goal was making him a one-term president. [/speech_bubble]

McConnell Tries to Roll Back Campaign Finance Laws

· 18 Comments

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is trying to use a massive appropriations bill to loosen campaign finance rules, the Huffington Post reports.

“The Republican leader’s office is attempting to attach a policy rider to the omnibus bill that would effectively end limits imposed on coordinated spending by federal candidates and political party committees.”

[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]I was surprised to learn we still have campaign finance rules. [/speech_bubble]

McConnell Already Plotting to Keep Majority in 2016

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Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “is quietly pushing his fellow Republican senators to beef up their political shops. He’s considering a new super PAC that could spend millions on Senate races. And he’s locking down operatives for another cycle who were key to GOP triumphs this month,” Politico reports.

“The under-the-radar moves less than three weeks after the 2014 midterms and a month-and-a-half before McConnell takes over for Harry Reid makes clear the brutal reality in front of Republicans: Their majority could be short lived.”

What Next for Republicans on Immigration?

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First Read notes it’s almost impossible to imagine what GOP-passed legislation might look like. Republicans couldn’t even agree on a political strategy to combat the president’s ‘constitutional overstep’ – the thing that unites them. How will they find common ground on an issue as complex, messy and demographically fraught as immigration reform?”

“There’s a danger here for the GOP if they get too focused on the process and ignore the policy challenge facing them. If they focus too much on tactics, it will quickly frustrate the public which clearly has less patience for gridlock than everyone in Washington realizes. Republicans would be in a very different place on this issue right now and on their criticism of the president’s action if they had ANY bill – even one that might not get presidential support — to show the public. But they don’t have ANY bill… not a singular one that is border security first. Nothing.”

[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]John Boehner has proven himself unable to control his caucus so the onus will be on Mitch McConnell, an extremely skilled legislator, to take the lead for Republicans. [/speech_bubble]

McConnell Seeks Super PAC to Keep GOP Majority

· 3 Comments

“Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is exploring the creation of a super PAC dedicated to supporting Senate Republicans on the 2016 ballot,” sources tell the Washington Examiner.

“Senate Republicans were at a financial and advertising disadvantage for most of the 2014 cycle, as Senate Majority PAC, the super PAC of outgoing Majority Leader Harry Reid, carpet-bombed the airwaves in targeted states on behalf of Democratic candidates. McConnell wants an organization that can do the same for Republicans in 2016, a presidential year, when his barely-minted majority faces a tough Senate map, with incumbents up for re-election in states like Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.”

McConnell Suddenly Believes in Science

· 21 Comments

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) regularly deflects questions about climate change by saying he is “not a scientist,” the New Republic reports.

“But apparently McConnell will make an exception when it comes to the Keystone XL pipeline. In remarks on the Senate floor, hours before a vote on a bill that fast-tracks construction of the pipeline, McConnell pointed to the ‘science’ supporting the legislation.”

Said McConnell: “Those who took a serious look at the science and the potential benefits reached the conclusion long ago. They understand that the whole drama over Keystone has been as protracted as it is unnecessary. We hope to turn the page on all of that today.”

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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