Free Republic

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is starting the new year making very clear whose side he is on–and it is not Republican voters. After betraying the incoming GOP House majority by negotiating a $1.7 trillion omnibus funding bill in the lame duck Congress last month to deny House Republicans the chance to control federal spending this year, McConnell is set to host Joe Biden in Kentucky on Wednesday at a “bipartisan” celebration of Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed in 2021 with help from McConnell. NBC News was first to report on the McConnell-Biden event which will...

But the White House is strongly pushing back on McConnell's increased timeline, with Press Secretary Sean Spicer saying the August deadline for a comprehensive tax overhaul still stands. "I think we feel confident that we're going to get a lot done," Spicer said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) praised President Obama on the "fast track" trade bill, saying the Democrat commander in chief has "done his country a service." "I’d like to thank the President too. No, you’re not hearing things. President Obama has done his country a service by taking on his base and pushing back on some of the more ridiculous rhetoric we’ve heard," the Republican leader said. "He was right to remind everyone that ‘you don’t make change through slogans’ or ‘ignoring realities.’" McConnell added that Obama "should be recognized" for his role in the trade fight.

The United Kentucky Tea Party on Monday said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell should drop out of the Republican primary in their state so conservatives can rally around Matt Bevin, the GOP candidate who is challenging Mr. McConnell from the political right. The tea party group cited Mr. McConnell’s dramatic vote last week to extend the nation’s debt limit and polling that suggests he could lose to the eventual Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes, in the general election. “Senator McConnell’s recent vote with [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid to hand President Obama a blank check for the next year has...

The $2 billion Kentucky Kickback is not the only treat in McConnell’s bag of Halloween tricks. The final deal to sell out the American people with Obamacare and perennial debt includes a hallmark of the 2011 McConnell debt ceiling plan. Section 1002 of the bill provides for McConnell’s infamous resolution of disapproval. Basically, within three weeks of the President’s official request for a debt limit increase (until Feb 7, 2014 in this case), Congress can force a vote to disapprove of the request. There’s one problem, though. That resolution must pass with 2/3ds majorities in both houses. So why slip...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will have a challenger from the right in Matt Bevin, a local businessman and Tea Party candidate who plans to announce his run for Senate this week. Bevin, who has been exploring the race since February, is reportedly already buying airtime and has met with multiple conservative groups about his run. He'll launch a 3-day, 8-stop tour of the state after he formally announces his intentions on Wednesday. Bevin is a partner at a Kentucky investment firm and the owner of Bevin Brothers Manufacturing, a Connecticut bell-making company founded 160 years ago. He previously...

Forget the Presidential race. We can get back to it another day. This is the most important fight for the conservative movement in America right now and it happens next week. Well, it was going to happen in January. But conservatives started gaining momentum. Naturally, Mitch McConnell had to go try to pull the rug out from under conservatives. Far be it for fresh ideas to enter into the hallowed corridors of Senate Republican power. I’m talking about the Senate Republicans’ leadership fight for Vice Chairman of the Republican Conference. There is an election to fill that seat. The election...

As the budget talks heat up and the time to reach any deal necessitates compromise, many on the right are becoming disillusioned with the evolution of the new budget. Among these is Sarah Palin, who told Sean Hannity tonight that she thought Sen. Mitch McConnell’s plan “makes no sense” and that now, more than evern, “we have to reload. We will not capitulate.” Palin argued that much of the debt problem was due to the direction that President Obama had taken the country, away from “a strong foundation of reward for work ethic and development of natural resources.” Now that...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday praised Republican Leader Mitch McConnell for putting forth a plan to raise the debt ceiling, calling it a “serious proposal” that he’s continuing to study. “He spent a great deal of time working on this. I commend him for his thoughtful and unique proposal, something that we have to look at very closely,” Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said on the Senate floor. “I’m heartened by what I read. This is a serious proposal, and I commend the Republican leader for coming forward with it.” McConnell laid out his plan on Tuesday as he...

He Wants Us to Believe Mediocrity is a Sign of Success One must wonder what Mitch McConnell paid or did to have the Washington Post’s Perry Bacon, Jr. write this total fluff piece on Mitch McConnell. When he was fighting campaign finance reform a decade ago, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was dubbed Darth Vader by his critics. He embraced the nickname, even announcing “Darth Vader has arrived” at a news conference.Well, when the article starts out with a gross distortion of the facts, we can only conclude that McConnell is desperate to hang on to power and distract from his...

WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell may have a tepid relationship with fellow Kentucky Republican Sen. Jim Bunning, but he's giving GOP rising star and 2010 Senate candidate Florida Gov. Charlie Crist a thumbs up. According to Crist's Web site, McConnell gave the governor a full-throated endorsement. "Decisions are being made every day in Washington that have a direct impact upon the lives of all Americans and we need Charlie Crist in the U.S. Senate to ensure that those decisions will benefit the citizens of Florida.” Crist, McConnell and other party luminaries are slated to attend a campaign fundraising...