Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Senate’s Republican party, was known for blocking Democratic legislation and maintaining the unity of his party, earning him the moniker “the grim reaper.”
But now that he has helped pass several significant bipartisan victories that Democrats, in particular, are praising, his own conference has fractured, and some House Republicans are enraged.
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, a supporter of House GOP leadership and a co-founder of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, said of those Senate Republican votes: “Of course, there was a big frustration.” I believed that to be completely incorrect.
The division is most obvious between McConnell and House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, who has whipped his members to oppose some of the major initiatives that McConnell has supported. This has some Republicans worried about how the two will get along if the GOP gains a majority next year.
Republicans in the Senate are frequently losing battles because they don’t stick together, a Republican member of the House told CNN. We in the majority would like the Senate to be a partner rather than a barrier.
McCarthy, who regularly meets with McConnell while both chambers are in session, claimed that he has voiced his concerns to McConnell about the amount of mandatory spending in bills that the Senate has forwarded to the House.
McCarthy argued that “they go too big.”
In the past year, McConnell and a few of his lieutenants have backed bipartisan agreements on infrastructure, gun control, and the global chip shortage – all of which the majority of Senate Republicans opposed, placing McConnell in the minority of his own party.
The most recent thing that infuriated some conservatives was McConnell’s threat to block the passage of a more expansive version of the chips bill because Democrats were pushing their own party-line economic package.
However, as Democratic negotiations seemed to be coming to a standstill, McConnell ultimately decided to support a toned-down version of the chips bill. When the chips bill passed and was headed to President Joe Biden’s desk, Democrats abruptly announced a deal on their economic strategy.
At the time, some Republicans were openly critical of his approach.
When questioned about McConnell’s threat on Thursday, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz responded, “I think that was a mistake.” “You should act on your threats when you make them. Bluffing is useless if you don’t follow through.
McConnell’s supporters claim that part of his willingness to support bipartisan agreements, even if doing so puts him at odds with McCarthy and the majority of his party, is motivated by a desire to preserve the Senate filibuster and a desire to demonstrate that the GOP is not inherently opposed to moderate legislation.
According to McConnell’s supporters, he has assisted Republicans in obtaining the best agreement possible by appointing Republicans to participate in bipartisan negotiations on a variety of issues.
Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky, a member of the Republican Party, stated that Leader McConnell “has a different role than other members of the Republican caucus in the Senate and members here.”
He plays the long game, and I would never question his tactical choices to deal with his members in those states. His job is to regain the majority.
McConnell made it clear that he thought the gun violence bill, the first significant piece of gun legislation in three decades, could appeal to suburban voters upset by the increase in mass shootings when he supported the bill this summer.
“It is no secret that we have made less progress in suburbs. We pretty much control small towns and rural areas in America, and I believe this is a reasonable solution to the issue at hand, McConnell said, adding that he hoped it would be “viewed favourably by suburban voters that we need to regain to hopefully be a majority next year.”
And given that public works projects have long enjoyed bipartisan support, McConnell claimed that when he supported the infrastructure deal last summer, it had become “unnecessarily” politicized.
However, McConnell didn’t hold back when questioned on Thursday about his support for the chips bill in light of the Democratic victory on their economic package.
According to McConnell, the agreement reached by Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Chuck Schumer of New York is “an unmitigated disaster for the country” and “we’re going to fight it as hard as we can.”
Other Republicans blamed Manchin, who initially resisted including tax and climate provisions in the bill before approving both as part of a comprehensive package that also targeted prescription drug prices and extended expiring health care subsidies.
Cornyn described Manchin’s flip-flop as “amazing.” “Nobody around here is worth trusting anymore.”
The McConnell detractors, though, extend beyond Capitol Hill.
Former president Donald Trump, with whom McConnell severed ties after the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, has repeatedly called for someone to unseat McConnell as GOP leader, but no one has stepped up to the plate or has the support internally to stop him from remaining in that position.
In his own Senate conference, McConnell enjoys a good reputation after helping to install three conservative Supreme Court justices.
However, the situation is different in the House, where hostilities between the two chambers are not new.
His detractors there are questioning McConnell’s judgment and expressing resentment that he and other Republicans helped Democrats secure a string of significant victories in a climate that was otherwise challenging politically for Biden’s party.
And if Republicans win the majority next year, they’d have to work with a Biden administration on must-pass issues like government funding, which would exacerbate the division between House and Senate Republicans on everything from policy to politics.
Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, a longtime McConnell opponent who recently lost his bid for the Senate, said of the Kentucky senator, “Mitch McConnell is one of the best allies that Democrats have ever had.” To the detriment of us conservatives and our values, he makes far too many compromises.
According to some Republicans, Schumer outwitted McConnell.
On Wednesday, McConnell and a few of his lieutenants decided to support the chips bill because it seemed like Democratic negotiations on the economic deal were about to fail. However, they found out hours after their vote on the chips bill that Democrats had reached an agreement on the economic package.
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When asked if the GOP was tricked into passing the chips bill before the Democrats’ economic agreement was reached, Senate Republican Whip John Thune told CNN, “I think everyone got surprised certainly by representations that had been made by Democrats about this deal, and I think there were a certain amount of people being blindsided — not only on our side but on the Democrats’ side.”
When asked if McConnell handled the situation correctly, Thune responded, “You’ll have to talk with him about that.”
Republicans in the House have said they understand the predicament McConnell is in with a 50-50 Senate.
Republican congressman from Oklahoma Tom Cole, a seasoned veteran, said, “I think he thought in each case, they got the best deal they could.” He is the only person in this building who is adept at knowing when to hold and fold them.
Elise Stefanik of New York, chair of the House GOP Conference, added that the Democrats should be the target of the real rage.
She stated, “Chuck Schumer is the target of the greatest outrage in my district.
