Free Republic

Republican congressional leaders John Boehner and Mitch McConnell have become a big, wide target on the 2016 campaign trail. Not just for Democrats, as you’d expect, but for presidential candidates of their own party who are calling out the House speaker and Senate majority leader for not doing more to advance a conservative agenda in Congress. Sen. Ted Cruz, one of the most anti-establishment candidates in the field, has taken the lead in criticizing the GOP leaders. Even some of the more establishment-oriented candidates like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have heaped blame on them. Those candidates are playing to...

Thursday on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) 93% said, “America is about done with” his opponent GOP front-runner Donald Trump because he is a “buffoon who insults women and calls them ugly,” and that has “become pitiful.” Paul said, “I think America is about done with him. I think we are ready to move on. I sensed that in the debate. There was up a silliness and lack of seriousness on his part that I think America will be done with him. The debate I think will reshuffle the pack. And I think...

WASHINGTON - Democrats in the US Senate blocked a last-ditch effort by Republicans on Thursday to add new conditions before President Barack Obama can waive any sanctions under the Iran nuclear deal. After Obama's fellow Democrats in the Senate twice blocked a disapproval resolution meant to kill the nuclear agreement, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced an amendment to the measure that would bar the president from lifting sanctions on Iran unless it recognized Israel's right to exist and released American prisoners. The vote was 53-45, meaning the measure failed to attract the 60 votes it would need to...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) attempt to pass an amendment to halt President Obama's Iran deal by demanding the release of four American hostages in Iran and to recognize Israel's right to exist has been rejected by Democrats. Senators voted 53-45 on an amendment from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that would have prevented President Obama from lifting sanctions on Iran until the country releases American prisoners and publicly recognizes Israel's right to exist. Sixty votes were needed to move forward. Many conservatives have argued that the Obama administration is putting Israel's security at risk by giving Iran a...

McConnell is always eager to do the right thing in the Senate…so long as the outcome is no longer in contention and he won’t actually have to fight for the cause he espouses. Yesterday, McConnell filed cloture on amendments that would prohibit Obama from lifting Iran sanctions until they recognize Israel’s right to exist and release the American hostages. McConnell is threatening to vote on more amendments that embarrass Democrats and put them on the record as siding with Iran against Israel. Does this sound like a tough GOP leader? Think again. Forcing Democrats to take tough votes is a...

Multiple House Republicans want Senate leaders to “go nuclear” over the Obama administration’s deal with Iran now that Democrats have stymied efforts to derail the accord by conventional means. A small but growing number of GOP lawmakers say that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) should invoke the “nuclear option” to change Senate rules and prevent a filibuster on a resolution to kill the deal. Their angst is intensified by their belief that Democrats will likely be able to block legislation withholding federal funds from Planned Parenthood, a standoff that increases the chances of a government shutdown. Less than two...

Linking the defunding of Planned Parenthood to a government funding bill is "an exercise in futility," according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The Kentucky Republican lawmaker, in an interview with Politico Friday, says he'll support instead a plan to fund the government into December with no conditions. "It's an exercise in futility," McConnell says of the Planned Parenthood defunding effort. "I'm anxious to defund Planned Parenthood" but "the honest answer of that is that's not going to happen until you have a president who has a similar view." "It's better to be honest with the American people and say,...

Name: Mitch McConnell State: Kentucky Party: Republican Born: February 20, 1942 Entered Office: January 3, 1985 Term Expires: January 3, 2021 Mailing Address: 317 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 Phone Number: (202) 224-2541 Email Address: Email Form Website: Official Website

A senior Senate Republican leadership source reached out to discuss the case I laid out this morning concerning a possible path to breaking Democrats' Iran deal filibuster. He said Majority Leader McConnell will schedule another cloture vote early next week, likely on Tuesday. If and when that fails (assuming none of the 42 filibustering Democrats relent), GOP leadership is considering a number of options, including forcing votes on one or more highly-charged amendments related to the Iran deal. This maneuver would respond to Democrats' politicized posturing in kind, contriving scenarios in which filibuster-sustaining votes would be politically painful to cast,...

Bill Hemmer: People on the outside see this and think that that’s just Washington doing what Washington wants to do. And, damn the laws. And, you know what’s going on in the campaign trail, Democrat or Republican. That’s why Bernie Sanders is getting 15,000 people at a rally. That’s why Donald Trump is at 32% of the polling right now. People do not like what is coming out of Washington and they think the smell stinks Mitch McConnell: Well I agree with that. This is a deal supported by Democrats only. A deal negotiated by a Democratic president. Let’s make...

A senior Senate Republican leadership source reached out to discuss the case I laid out this morning (linked an excerpted by Allahpundit here) concerning a possible path to breaking Democrats’ Iran deal filibuster. He said Majority Leader McConnell will schedule another cloture vote early next week, likely on Tuesday. If and when that fails (assuming none of the 42 filibustering Democrats relent), GOP leadership is considering a number of options, including forcing votes on one or more highly-charged amendments related to the Iran deal. This maneuver would respond to Democrats’ politicized posturing in kind, contriving scenarios in which filibuster-sustaining...

Levin criticized McConnell for his handling of the Iran deal, and warned that with the current nuclear deal, America will end up going to war with Iran. “Now, let me tell you, we’re going to wind up going to war with this enemy,” “You watch, as some of you send your children and your grandchildren to war, because they’re gonna nuke up. They’re gonna have over $100 billion to do it. They’re gonna be armed by the Russians and the Chinese. All bets are off now.” “Now, let me tell you, we’re gonna wind up going to war with this...

On the floor of the U.S. Senate on Sunday evening, something remarkable—a little bit insider-y in Washington, but remarkable nonetheless—happened: The Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)52% , his entire leadership team, and most of the Republicans in the U.S. Senate voice voted through measures to fund Planned Parenthood in its entirety and to help protect President Barack Obama’s nuclear arms deal with Iran. The reason the voice vote is significant is because McConnell, especially, and his Whip Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)59% , purposefully launched what appears to be an unprecedented effort to duck accountability for their votes—and the...

WASHINGTON – Just days after publicly calling the majority leader a liar on the Senate floor, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has upped the stakes in his war on GOP brass by accusing Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., of spearheading the effort to keep taxpayer funds going to Planned Parenthood.In a statement that mentioned “gruesome videos of senior officials of Planned Parenthood discussing the selling of body parts of unborn children,” Cruz blasted McConnell for blocking an amendment by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to defund the abortion provider.“These videos are horrifying, and yet it saddens me greatly that the Republican leader...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who is taking a lead role in a campaign to end taxpayer support for Planned Parenthood, will send Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a letter next week urging him not to schedule a vote on or help push legislation that gives federal money to the organization. The letter, which is in draft form and circulating around the Senate for signatures, is Cruz's first official action against the organization in the new Senate session, which starts Tuesday. It comes as McConnell said this week that Congress won't be able to stop government money from going to Planned...

If you’ve been holding out any hope that Congress might actually put up a fight against Planned Parenthood’s $528 million in federal funding, think again. The House of Representatives may be holding a vote on it after Labor Day, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has reiterated that that’s all we’re going to see: The Senate Democrats have a big enough number to prevent us from doing things. They prevented us from doing any of the bills that appropriate money for the government, thereby forcing a negotiation when we go back in after Labor Day, which I’ll be engaged in...

Before the battle to withdraw federal funds from baby body parts trafficker Planned Parenthood has even begun the Senate’s Republican Majority Leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, has already surrendered. In an interview with Lexington, Kentucky TV station WYMT McConnell announced “that funding the government Mitch McConnellis the top challenge facing him when he returns to the Capitol next week” and he would work with the White House to come up with budget levels to keep the government open past Sept. 30 without a rider defunding baby body parts trafficker Planned Parenthood. “The Senate Democrats have a big enough number to prevent...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell strongly implied yesterday that he wouldn't push to defund Planned Parenthood in the September appropriations negotiations. McConnell seemed to express fears that such a fight could backfire on public perception of Republicans, particularly if it led to the threat of a government shutdown

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday he will back a plan to fund the government into December with no conditions, rejecting in his strongest terms yet calls from within his party to defund Planned Parenthood as part of a larger budget bill. “It’s an exercise in futility," the Kentucky Republican told POLITICO in an interview. "I’m anxious to defund Planned Parenthood" but "the honest answer of that is that’s not going to happen until you have a president who has a similar view." "It’s better to be honest with the American people and say, ‘That won’t get it done,’”...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said this morning that President Obama will win the "short-term battle" because Congress will not be able to block the Iran nuclear deal. But he said Republicans, and the Democrats who oppose the president, have "won the argument with the American people." "There is overwhelming opposition to the deal. The Israelis oppose the deal. Our Sunni Arab allies are nervous and apprehensive now, feeling they can't trust us anymore," he told Bill Hemmer. McConnell said he believes the issue has a "long shelf life" and that the debate will continue until Americans "render judgment"...