Posted on 12/08/2014 3:22:49 PM PST by upchuck
Sen. Mitch McConnell wants to hit the ground running in January — and he thinks Democrats are ready to join him in crafting a more open, functional Senate.
In an exclusive interview in his Capitol office suite, the incoming majority leader told CQ Roll Call he’s been preparing his would-be chairmen to move quickly since spring.
“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,’” the Kentucky Republican said.
McConnell pointed to conversations he’s had with Democrats, whose cooperation will be required to get the Senate functioning as he would like.
“Up to half the calls I got after the election were from Democratic senators. I’m not implying that they were happy I won, but they were awfully curious as to whether I really meant it early last year when I pointed out that we needed to run the Senate in a very different way,” he said. “I think there’s going to be bipartisan gratitude for having a chance to be relevant, to not be marginalized.”
Asked about how he planned to address party discipline and splits in his majority, McConnell emphasized divides among Democrats.
“They are the ones in disarray. They are the ones criticizing Obamacare publicly as a mistake, a political mistake. They are the ones who are suffering the embarrassment of having the president veto a bill that has just been negotiated between the Democratic majority in the Senate and the Republican majority in the House,” he said, a reference to President Barack Obama’s threat to veto a tax extenders package.
“I think that’s what you ought to keep your eye on because that’s what makes possible, on a bipartisan basis getting to 60 votes, which we will need to do on virtually everything except the budget,” he said.
He had high praise for the incoming class of majority-makers.
“I always think there is sort of two kinds of people in politics: those that want to make a point and those that want to make a difference,” McConnell said. “And I think we’ve just added 12 new members to the ‘make a difference’ caucus. And I think we, you know, have some occasional differences over tactics, but I think we are gonna have a broad support within our conference for right-of-center progress.”
McConnell wasn’t saying he would never use procedural tools, such as the Rule 14 process, to bypass committees or filling the “amendment tree” to block amendments, but he certainly wants those tools to be far more rarely used than in recent years under Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
For starters, he doesn’t think it’s smart politics.
“The notion that protecting all of your members from votes is a good idea politically, I think, has been pretty much disproved by the recent election,” he said.
McConnell, 72, said many senators want to get outcomes, not just score points every week.
That’s not to say there won’t be partisan votes that won’t get a lot of Democrats on board.
“Number one: We certainly will have a vote on proceeding to a bill to repeal Obamacare. … It was a very large issue in the campaign,” McConnell said, reaffirming a commitment to see what can be done against it, also discussing plans to roll back parts of the health care law that have proved to be particularly unpopular.
“We actually had a show vote on the medical device tax … and 79 senators, including that great conservative Elizabeth Warren, said they didn’t like the medical device tax, so we will go at that law — which in my view is the single worst piece of legislation passed in the last half century — in every way that we can.”
McConnell said Republicans are reviewing how to go at the law through the budget reconciliation process — which would allow for passage of legislation through the House and Senate without needing Democratic votes — but said he wants fellow opponents of the law to be realistic.
“It is a statement to the obvious, however, that Obama — of Obamacare — is the president of the United States,” he said of the job with the veto power.
McConnell wants to set up the real standoff with the White House on the regular funding of the government, restoring the old practice of getting 12 spending bills to the president’s desk well ahead of Sept. 30.
“If you believe one of the biggest problems confronting the country is over-regulation by this administration, the single most effective way to begin to rein in the aggressive regulators who, in my view, have done great damage to this economy, is in the bills that fund the regulators,” McConnell said, citing the EPA as a top target. “So, we intend to give a very high priority — passing a budget is essential and will happen — step two, pass the individual bills that fund the government, and those bills will reflect widespread concern about the way the government has been run.”
But McConnell also wants to show his party can govern.
“What we want to be is a responsible, right-of-center governing majority,” McConnell said. “We don’t intend to engage in rhetoric nor actions that rattle the public, that rattle the markets.
“What we can’t control is what the president does with legislation we put on his desk,” he added.
But even there, McConnell sounded hopeful that his relationship with Obama will improve.
“The president and I did have a chance to talk this week and hopefully that will not be as unusual as all of you thought it was,” he said. “And the reason you thought it was, is, it was unusual. Hopefully we will have a greater opportunity to talk about the way forward more frequently.”
Republican “bipartisan” meeting...........Ok democrats if you promise to meet us half way......WHAT?! you want a
three/fourths? Yep, McConnell and the republican bipartisan
bills meet democrat wishes. I’ve seen the republicans lose too many bipartisan bills, over the years.
In other words: Amnesty, ObamaCare funded, more liberal judges for life, EPA does whatever it wants.
I see it as two battles...
One, for the Sinate... and MAX the R’s as much as possible, to make a buffer that may be whittled down in 2016. Someone like a Cruz needs to work with an ‘R House and Sinate. This battle was won.
The next battle is get this turtle guy onto the Back Bench where he belongs. I don’t know why the R Senators don’t hear the voters BLARING IN THEIR EARS, we don’t want you to work with ‘Rats, we want you to legislate Conservatively and BLOCK Ø. This means replacing the Sinate Majority Leader.
If Bevin couldn’t take him down, let turtle be just a seat warmer until next time when someone succeeds.
OK MITCH...LET’S STOP THE A$$ KISSING...
We didn’t vote for Senate control for you to play ‘goody two shoes’ in fact most of us voters didn’t want you as the head of the Senate..
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE, CONGRESS, THAT IS IF YOU WANT TO RETAIN CONTROL IN 2017.
NOTE TO TED CRUZ....Shake that fence Mitch is sitting on..wake him up...thanks in advance.
Well why not, since many of them are little more then closet rats to begin with! Rats of a feather, will herd together, you can count on it! WOW, look how great that Crat victory is turning out, right people?
The Democrats get in and say “F-— you” to Republicans.
The Republicans get in and say, “Now?”
The clown should realize that’s not possible without a functional, bipartisan president.
This is the reason why the Senate has not passed a budget since Obama took office.
If you want actually have a functioning government you need to have at least 6 Democrats on board.
McConnell sucks but at least give the guy a chance to screw up before trashing him.
mcconnell is a fool and a tool. He completely misreads the results of the past two election cycles. Hey, mcconnell...your days are numbered as part of the leach class. Has anyone called you a traitor yet?
They don't need the senate to put an end to funding Obamacare. They could do it anytime, since they hold the House.
I'm tired of people making excuses and saying "wait, give them a chance."
/johnny
The liberal pro government uniparty rules!
I give to the Senate Conservatives Fund.
Where are all the FR RINOs who said this would never happen?
God please spare us these RINO fossils.
“medical device tax... — which in my view is the single worst piece of legislation passed in the last half century”
Uh, no, that would be the individual mandate, among many others.”
You are correct of course but notice where the RINO corporatists loyalties reside.
The only 'battle' that was going to happen, was engineering the elimination and political irrelevance of Conservatives by the very Ruling Class leadership that maneuvered itself back into power.
Conservatives have won NOTHING. And we are about to find out in the next few months how horribly wrong we were to surrender our principles to yet again cast a vote for Ruling Class Liberals with an 'R' after their name.
Of course if the Dems had kicked butt in the midterm election, they would be just as willing to work with the GOP. {cough}
(Man, I’m glad I didn’t waste my time voting in the latest election.)
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