Tag: McConnell

Why McConnell and McCarthy locked arms on the debt crisis

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McConnell’s move helps McCarthy’s negotiating position — and perhaps just as importantly, it boosts his own standing within a Senate Republican conference that has shifted rightward, a lurch that sparked the first-ever rebellion against his leadership last fall.
McConnell said Biden isn’t the first president he’s pushed to work with a House controlled by the opposing party.
“This is the very same advice I gave Donald Trump after the Democrats took the House. It wasn’t the first thing on their mind to negotiate with Nancy Pelosi. But they did,” McConnell said. “My advice in private is the same as I’ve been saying publicly … quit wasting time here. And in the end, the deal will be made between McCarthy and Biden.”
Five months ago, it was impossible to imagine the reserved McConnell on the same page with the chummy McCarthy. During Biden’s first two years in office, they split on everything from gun safety to infrastructure to the billions of dollars in Ukraine aid tucked into a bipartisan spending deal. McCarthy quickly moved to repair his relationship with Trump after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, while McConnell never spoke to Trump again.
Their rifts created deep tension between House and Senate Republicans, who at times seemed at polar ends of the GOP as McCarthy positioned himself to win the speakership and McConnell steered the party away from Trump. Democrats privately believe McConnell will jump in to help save the day on the fast-approaching debt deadline, but conservatives see him as joined with McCarthy “until hell freezes,” as Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) put it.
So when lawmakers get to the White House on Tuesday, expect McCarthy to do most of the talking for Republicans.
Asked if she anticipated a quiet McConnell during their slated meeting, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) replied: “Yes. He’s like: ‘I’m here to support McCarthy.’”
As McConnell and McCarthy set up Tuesday’s meeting during separate phone calls with Biden, the two Republicans spoke several times to coordinate their message, according to a person with direct knowledge of their talks.

Andrew Bates, a White House spokesperson, replied to questions about McConnell’s call with Biden by stating the administration does not comment on private discussions with congressional leaders. He added, however, that “avoiding default is a critical priority for our economy — one that presidents from both parties have acknowledged is non-negotiable.”
Despite McConnell’s and McCarthy’s clear personality differences, Republicans argue that the two are more alike than not: Both are political animals focused on their legacies who maintain a close read on their party and members. McConnell drolly surmised that McCarthy “has an interesting set of players” to deal with in the House, from the conservative Freedom Caucus to moderates.
McCarthy’s closest allies see his relationship with the Senate leader maturing. Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) described “a better line of communication now. And that has made a big difference.”
“Where the McConnell and McCarthy teams have come to an understanding is first with communication — better communication — and a mutual recognition of their different challenges,” McHenry said.
And Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.), who once interned for the Senate Republican leader, recalls a longtime McConnell-ism: that being a Senate leader is “kinda like being the undertaker at a cemetery.”
“You’re over everyone, but nobody’s listening,” Barr recounted, describing McConnell as “empathetic to Speaker McCarthy’s job, which is also about the difficulty of bringing together a lot of independent-minded people.”
The duo is converging on the crucial issue of Ukraine aid, too, following a rocky stretch. After McCarthy rebuked a Russian reporter over the war during an overseas trip, McConnell even took to the Senate floor to praise the Californian.
Scott Jennings, a Kentucky-based GOP strategist and longtime McConnell confidante, said that gesture was a sign of “respect and support.”
McConnell has navigated past fiscal fights where the political odds looked stacked against him, but Republicans who are close with both leaders say that mutual destruction would result if he steps out of line with McCarthy now. In fact, McCarthy could lose his gavel, causing chaos in the House, if McConnell were to negotiate a side deal with Democrats.
“Whether it’s political ideology or pure pragmatism, [Senate leaders] recognize that a deal that’s not good with House conservatives is not making it through,” said first-term conservative Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio).
McCarthy’s House already passed a package of blunt spending cuts coupled with a one-year debt ceiling increase that Republicans are using as leverage against Democrats who vow they’ll only accept a straightforward hike. Tuesday’s meeting with Biden, McCarthy, McConnell, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will be this spring’s first tangible move to break the deadlock.
“If there is a path forward, it’s going to require serious and swift cooperation with Sens. Schumer and McConnell, Leader Jeffries and Speaker McCarthy. And that’s partly why I think there’s so much anxiety about the possibility of default,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a close Biden ally.
Republicans are almost universally insistent that, in light of the House GOP’s passage of its plan, the next step is Biden’s to take. They’re feeling especially confident after McCarthy proved he could corral his party, with only a handful of votes to spare, in favor of raising a borrowing limit that many promised never to touch.
McCarthy may feel a squeeze if the Democratic-controlled Senate sends back its own legislation, but that would require nine or more GOP votes to break a filibuster.
Despite the growing McConnell-McCarthy warmth, House conservatives still harbor strong suspicion of the Senate GOP leader due to his opposition to Trump and support for multiple bipartisan bills last Congress. That group of McConnell skeptics includes some of the same members who initially blocked McCarthy’s path to the speakership.
“Nothing McConnell does surprises me; his actions are against everything [and] everyone who promotes conservatism,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) wrote in a text message.
Others in the bloc of 20 who voted against McCarthy during the speaker race, such as Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), bashed McConnell in the wake of the Senate’s approval of a $1.7 trillion spending bill in December. In light of that display, some Senate Republicans also believe it’s McCarthy turn to take arrows for cutting a tough deal, according to one person familiar with the Kentucky Republican’s thinking.
McConnell was blunt in seeing no upside to working with Biden on a side agreement, even after steering his party out of similar debt ceiling impasses just two years ago.
Any such accord with the president, McConnell said in the interview, “would produce nothing. Because the House of Representatives is not going to pass a bipartisan debt ceiling deal negotiated, presumably, with Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer.”
So does McConnell have any advice for McCarthy on future negotiation with Biden, whom McConnell served with for decades?
“[McCarthy] doesn’t need any advice from me about how to handle himself. I just think that the solution here is so obvious,” McConnell said. “This is going to be decided when the speaker and the president reach an agreement.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

May 8, 2023
Biden wants McConnell at the debt ceiling table, despite (or because of) their history

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But now that hope has burst into public view.
Next week’s meeting between Biden and the so-called Big Four congressional leaders marks a new stage in the standoff. And it is a conscious effort by the White House to get McConnell to have some skin in the game.
Biden and his team have consciously side-stepped the one-on-one negotiation Republicans want to have between the president and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. But they have calculated it is no longer politically tenable to have no talks at all. So they’re formally setting up a parallel track of conversations around raising the debt limit and addressing the budget, a coy way to talk about the GOP demands to reduce spending while keeping to the president’s pledge to not negotiate over default.
“The meeting is primarily about negotiating the normal budget progress, where all four leaders have a stake,” said a senior administration official who was granted anonymity to explain why the top leaders were invited. “And, of course, any bill to avoid Congress forcing a default on the American people has to pass both chambers of Congress.”
The possibility that McConnell will help Biden keep his pledge to not link the debt limit and budget seems unlikely at best. The senator said he would attend the meeting but moved to distance himself from the negotiation, insisting that any resulting deal has to come between the president and McCarthy.
“The speaker of the House has been sitting at the grown-ups table for months waiting for President Biden to act like a leader,” McConnell said Wednesday. “I accept his invitation to join the meeting myself but I’ll continue to lend my support to the speaker.”
Still, the effort by Biden’s team to work through him underscores the improved reputation McConnell has among Democrats in the post-Donald Trump era and the long-standing relationship he and the president enjoy.
McConnell has a long history of engagement in negotiations with Biden, including on the debt ceiling. After Biden’s election, they continued to talk periodically — even as McConnell sought to block the president’s top legislative priorities. Biden has gone to great lengths to praise McConnell and work they’ve done together over the past few decades. The president even visited the Bluegrass State earlier this year to fete McConnell as a friend and “a man of his word.”

McConnell has a long history of engagement in negotiations with Biden.
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Patrick Semansky/AP Photo
By contrast, Biden has little significant history working with McCarthy — and his allies still eye the speaker warily given his lack of a track record leading the GOP conference, two Biden advisers said.
Even after passing a debt limit package, they said, some administration officials have complained privately that it’s still unclear what McCarthy wants in the debt ceiling negotiation — or could even accept — given his tight margin in the House and the last-minute arm-twisting it took to line up 218 votes, several of whom openly admitted they were only supporting it to jumpstart cross-aisle talks. That package included severe spending cuts, including to Biden agenda items, making it a non-starter for the president.
The White House sees other benefits in having McConnell — and, to some extent, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — at next week’s meeting. Aides hope to undermine House Republican messaging that Biden has an alternative to default: adopting the House bill. While that measure has the support of Senate Republicans — for now — it wouldn’t get the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate. Having the top senators at the White House meeting emphasizes that they, and not just Biden and McCarthy, have a role in the process.
“President Biden invited the four congressional leaders to the White House to discuss the urgency of preventing default,” said Michael Kikukawa, a White House assistant press secretary. “In that meeting, he will stress that Congress must take action to avoid default without conditions. And he will discuss how to initiate a separate process to address the budget and FY2024 appropriations.”
Then there are the more tactical matters. Having the four leaders join Biden ensures that a slew of “he said, he said” stories don’t emerge from a one-on-one meeting. A veteran of the Obama White House who now works in the Biden White House recounted the frustration felt after meetings between then-President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, when details were, in their view, often deceptively spun afterward to reporters.
Latest news on the debt ceiling
For veterans of those 2011 discussions, there is a certain irony in Biden including McConnell in the talks once more. The deal struck by the pair in 2011 angered many Democrats who, at the time, felt McConnell got the upper hand. It even led to then-Majority Leader Harry Reid extracting pledges from Obama to keep Biden out of the 2013 debt ceiling fight.
But the prospect of averting fiscal calamity in 2023 has led to some amnesia among Senate Democrats, several of whom said Tuesday they are eager to see McConnell at the table. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), an alum of the 2011 debt limit debate as the then-ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said it was important for all four leaders to be in the room.
“In the past, Sen. McConnell has played an important role in these debates and so that’s why I think it’s important to have them all together,” he said.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) stressed the role for Congress in a budget — not the executive branch.
“It’s really a House-Senate thing. The fact that he’s going to convene on [May] 9, I’m really happy about that,” he said. McConnell, Kaine added, has “played a constructive role in the past in making sure we didn’t default and he said, we’re not going to default.”
Next week’s meeting comes as lawmakers prepare off-ramps to the debt ceiling standoff. Senior White House officials had initially hoped that the business community would aid their efforts by pressuring Republicans to accept a clean debt limit hike, for fear of putting the economy at risk.
But despite direct outreach by Biden aides to business groups and Wall Street executives, few private sector leaders have publicly sided with the White House. Instead, the business lobby has largely encouraged Biden and McCarthy to begin negotiations in hopes of striking a compromise deal.
On Tuesday, Chamber of Commerce Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley told reporters “there is no path to a solution raising the debt limit that involves simply passing a clean bill.”
“That means that there has to be bipartisan negotiations,” he said, adding that the stubborn rhetoric out of the White House and GOP leadership over the last 24 hours had made him more concerned that the U.S. would end up in default.
“We’re calling on lawmakers in both parties and calling on the administration to get to the table, to get around these solutions and don’t wait until the 11th hour.”
Adam Cancryn contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

May 3, 2023
How McConnell is trying to front-run Trump ahead of 2024

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So when Justice entered the Senate race on Thursday, it highlighted the crux of McConnell’s 2024 strategy. After several Trump-inspired candidates fell short last fall and denied the GOP the majority, the Kentucky Republican hopes to run a Senate campaign plan that’s divorced from the presidential race. That means getting candidates who can win even with the former president back on the ballot next year.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice speaks during an announcement for his U.S. Senate campaign.
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Chris Jackson/AP Photo
McConnell’s gambit underscores the reality that, with the presidential primary still ramping up, he is probably Trump’s greatest foil in the Republican Party right now. He has not changed his mind about Trump’s conduct after the 2020 election, according to confidantes, and he sees Trump’s nomination as complicating the task of defeating Joe Biden next year.
But McConnell, true to form, is not letting emotion or his low view of Trump get in the way of the task at hand. The Senate GOP leader doesn’t talk about Trump in public, and does so little in private.
That’s despite Trump going after McConnell mercilessly and unleashing racist attacks on his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. And despite McConnell savaging Trump as “practically and morally responsible” for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“McConnell spoke very clearly on … his enormous disagreements with the [former] president. And I think the personal attacks at his wife, Elaine Chao, have really rubbed Sen. McConnell the wrong way,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of McConnell’s leadership team.
“Sen. McConnell is just looking forward,” Capito added. “He’s not really focused on that disagreement of the past. We all know where he stands.”
The Kentucky Republican sees a path back to the Senate majority through the red states of West Virginia, Ohio and Montana, races that the party can win even with Trump at the top of the ticket. And while he’s not looking to influence the GOP presidential primary, he views the Senate and Senate races as within his control.
Asked about Trump this week, McConnell said: “My principal focus and most of my colleagues’ principal focus is on trying to get the Senate.” It was his second consecutive weekly Trump dodge, the first being a deadpan response to the former president’s indictment: “I may have hit my head, but I didn’t hit that hard,” he said, referring to a recent concussion.

It’s vintage McConnell, and precisely the posture that made him the longest serving Senate party leader of all time — even after Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) mounted the first-ever challenge to his leadership spot. But McConnell’s end-around of Trump comes with some political risk: His conference, including Scott’s replacement as Senate campaign chair, is beginning to coalesce around the former president — who has 10 Senate endorsements, with more coming.
That means, if McConnell began speaking out against Trump, he’d be driving a wedge within the Senate GOP. He might also give Trump fuel.
“I don’t think it generally makes sense to give President Trump a target. He’s able to fire up the base in part by finding someone to attack, and the best way to keep from providing ammunition to President Trump is to stay quiet,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who opposes Trump’s 2024 bid. “He called him an old crow and Leader McConnell said: ‘Yep, I’m an old crow.’”
McConnell spent the last two years helping build a separate GOP identity from Trump, blessing bipartisan deals on gun safety and infrastructure that otherwise drew the ire of conservatives and often the former president himself. That occasionally collaborative bipartisan spirit surprised senators in both parties, who were used to McConnell’s “grim reaper” persona of blocking Democrats and jamming through judicial picks.
What McConnell won’t do, though, is pick a fight with the GOP frontrunner, whom he clearly does not want to win the nomination. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who supports Trump, said that “Mitch is trying to pick his battles wisely.”
“He understands that the drama of Trump probably doesn’t help day-to-day activities in the Senate,” Graham said of McConnell. “Any leadership person is going to have to make some decisions that are not popular with their base.”
And while it may seem surprising, McConnell is fine with National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Steve Daines’ (R-Mont.) endorsement of Trump; he even got a heads-up before the Monday announcement.
Daines is close to the Trump family and taking a more interventionist role in primaries than his predecessor, so even Senate Republicans who are tired of the former president believe the Montanan’s move could ultimately help them get more electable candidates in their biggest races next year.
Still, a Trump nomination could complicate the task of winning the next tier of Senate races in states won by Biden in 2020: Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. But after the 2022 debacle netted Democrats a seat, the GOP leader and most of his colleagues are focused on ousting Manchin, as well as Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), more than anything else.
“The thing about Mitch is, he wants a majority in the Senate,” said one Republican senator who spoke candidly on condition of anonymity. As for McConnell’s repeated parries on the former president, this senator recalled a McConnell mantra: “Just because a reporter is asking a question doesn’t mean you need to answer it.”
And given the volume and intensity of Trump’s attacks on McConnell, it’s reasonable to assume that McConnell’s endorsement probably wouldn’t go far in a Republican presidential primary anyway. It could even hurt his ability to get the Senate majority, said another confidante: “He believes that him getting involved in the presidential cycle makes it harder for candidates to win. Not easier.”
“The practical reality of winning the Senate is probably entirely divorced from what happens in a presidential primary because of the map,” this McConnell ally added. “If Trump’s the nominee, I don’t know what happens but I can probably tell you he’s not going to lose West Virginia, Montana and Ohio.”
McConnell’s position won’t necessarily win him plaudits for courage from anti-Trump Republicans or Democrats who were impressed with McConnell’s clear-eyed and critical review of Trump’s Jan. 6 conduct. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who has served with McConnell since 1997, simply said it is “normal” for McConnell to stay quiet about Trump.
“I hope he lends his voice to those who are decrying what Trump stands for,” Durbin said optimistically.
But it tracks with the majority leader’s seven-term legacy: He exercises political power where he can, to deny Democrats a Supreme Court seat or force a confrontation over the debt ceiling, while generally not picking fights he cannot win. A tit for tat with Trump is politically untenable for McConnell.
That doesn’t mean he can be totally hands-off. If Trump were to endorse Mooney over Justice, it could complicate even McConnell’s best-laid plans.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 28, 2023
The one thing Trump and McConnell agree on: A hatred for this group

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Even lawmakers keeping an open mind about how the Club approaches the current cycle don’t hide their concern over the group’s past tactics.
“There’s a lot of work to be done on understanding the main goal is not to make a point on any one political issue, but to win,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), against whom the Club once tried to recruit a primary challenger.
But the Club hasn’t been content merely to cross Senate GOP leaders. The group has launched an offensive against Trump too, raising the spectre that a primary that was already destined to be brutal could end up bloody. In recent weeks, Trump has returned the volley, privately indicating that he would be far less likely to endorse down ballot candidates who are allied with the Club, according to two people close to the Trump campaign.
While it has never been known as a go-along-to-get-along institution, the Club has been increasingly embracing its position as party antagonist. And it enters the cycle with two powerful foes.
“It goes with the role, because if we weren’t willing to take some incoming and people not liking us, we couldn’t do our job,” said David McIntosh, the group’s president. Asked whether it was more important to elect candidates with the group’s political philosophy or to take back the majority, McIntosh said the former. “We have both goals,” he explained. “But the primary one is that focus on the economic conservatives.”
For many in GOP circles, the Club’s talents lie not in its ability to win elections but to generate attention. For that reason, they’re often loath to engage publicly with the group. But McIntosh insists that the organization’s motivation is fealty to principle. And if that means angering bigwigs, he’s comfortable with it.
He began the cycle by briefing reporters that Trump’s toxicity was hurting the party’s chances with swing voters and announcing that the group had not invited him to its annual donor retreat. Then, he outlined his plans to zero in on key Senate races.
In West Virginia, the Club announced it will spend at least $10 million to boost Republican Rep. Alex Mooney just as GOP recruiters are on the cusp of convincing the wealthy and popular Gov. Jim Justice to run. In Montana, the group is nudging Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale, who lost to Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) in 2018, to make another go while the NRSC has been heavily recruiting Tim Sheehy, a Navy SEAL and wealthy businessperson.

And in Ohio, the Club is beseeching GOP Rep. Warren Davidson
to take on Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in what is already an extremely crowded field.
In 2020, Trump carried all three states. In 2024, they represent Republicans’ best opportunity to retake the Senate. All three of the Club’s preferred candidates in these states are members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus with profiles that might not endear them to swing voters in a general election.
And there is fear elsewhere in the party that those candidates or a divided primary will only boost the three veteran Democratic incumbents in those races.
“That’s an old shopworn line that the moderates have used for 20 years. And the data shows they’re wrong,” McIntosh said in dismissing those concerns. “The milquetoast kind of establishment Republicans actually do worse.”
But inside the NRSC, operatives are desperately trying to lock in candidates with broad appeal. One example: They have been trying to recruit Justice, a coal-mining magnate-turned-West Virginia governor who is increasingly expected to launch a run against Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.
The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC with close ties to McConnell, released a poll showing Justice was the only candidate who could beat Manchin.
Privately, strategists gripe that Mooney, a former Maryland state senator, could face carpetbagger attacks and struggle to fundraise while Justice, who is worth hundreds of millions, could write his own checks. Mooney backers counter that the congressman could easily run to the right of Justice, a Democrat-turned-Republican who supported President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill.
The Club signaled its intent to boost Mooney with that $10 million or more cash infusion and McIntosh said that “unless Governor Justice is just dying to be in the Senate” he hoped he would sit out the race and “bring the whole party together.”
Both Justice and Mooney are hoping to claim the MAGA mantle by securing the backing of Trump himself in a state he carried by 39 points in 2020. Justice, who hunts with the former president’s sons, is actively trying to nab Trump’s endorsement, according to a person close to the governor. As is Mooney, who endorsed Trump last year. The congressman discussed the race with Trump and is also hoping for his backing, according to a person close to his campaign.
Tensions are running even higher in Montana where the Club is eagerly recruiting Rosendale, a two-term congressman, to take on Tester. Austin Knudsen, the state’s attorney general, is also weighing a run but many Republicans in D.C. and Montana are excited about a potential campaign by Sheehy, a political neophyte with no record to attack and who could self-fund a bid.
“He’s a great kid and a good business guy and smart,” Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) raved about Sheehy. “He’s going to represent the younger generation.”
Rosendale lost to Tester by more than 3 points in 2018 after being branded as a carpetbagger with a noticeable Baltimore accent. Privately, Rosendale has told friends and allies that he plans to run for Senate, according to a person familiar with his plans. Publicly, he has remained noncommittal, and he raised just $127,000 in the first quarter and spent more than that.
“Jon Tester does not represent the state of Montana,” Rosendale said in response to a question about his Senate plans. ”The voters in Montana will make a decision over the next 12 to 18 months on who they want to replace him.”
Asked why Rosendale would fare better against Tester six years later, McIntosh said the Club depleted its resources boosting him in the primary in 2018 and blamed Republican leaders for failing to come in for the general election.
“I am now very aware of that, and realize I can’t count on McConnell, because honestly, I don’t think his motive is simply to get the majority,” McIntosh said. “It is frustrating to watch the establishment not fund somebody and then say, Oh, they couldn’t win.”

Former President Donald Trump (left) and then-Montana State Auditor Matt Rosendale (right) shake hands during a campaign rally in Missoula, Mont. in October 2018. Rosendale has declined to endorse him, telling POLITICO he planned to remain neutral.
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Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo
Trump looms large in Montana. Rosendale has notably declined to endorse him, telling POLITICO he planned to remain neutral. Yet he traipsed to Mar-A-Lago to attend Trump’s post-indictment rally earlier this month — a move that befuddled some consultants in the former president’s orbit.
The former president’s campaign is closely tracking which members have endorsed him, according to two people close to the operation. Those people note that Republican operatives who want to dissuade Trump from backing an opposing candidate send Trump’s team news clips showing the Club’s support for that candidate.
The Club, which spent some $150 million in the past two elections, is still a major player in Republican politics and has close ties to many of the party’s top donors. Its spending is dwarfed by that of the Senate Leadership Fund but it will have the resources to cause headaches in primaries.
Some of its candidates would be well-positioned, if not favored, in a primary. But in others the path to victory is less clear. In Ohio, the group is pushing Davidson, a fourth-term member, to enter a field already crowded with wealthy businessmen.
“It’s safe to say I’m actually very actively looking at the race every day,” Davidson said in an interview. “I would clearly be the conservative.”
The group hasn’t always been on a different page from national Republicans. Both the Club and Trump aligned to support Blake Masters in 2022, with the Club spending more than $3 million to push Masters through a crowded primary. But Masters went on to lose to Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).
“They didn’t do a really great job last time around,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said of the Club. “Their folks were underperformers and I just think people are tired of the anger and the vitriol and actually want to see people get along and get some things done.”
The Club did not back some of the other notable 2022 Senate losers, such as Don Bolduc in New Hampshire or Herschel Walker in Georgia. And it has had some success in boosting candidates to Congress, notably current Sen. Ted Budd, who won an open seat in North Carolina in 2022 with both Trump’s backing and the group’s support.
“I think they’ve really tried to get fiscally responsible people to win Senate races,” said Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), another Club-backed candidate. “They were very influential in Ted Budd winning the primary and the general last time.”

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 18, 2023
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will return to the Senate on Monday, moving to quash speculation about his future.

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The Kentucky Republican has been out of the building since he fell last month.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 13, 2023
Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell released a statement condemning the detention of a Wall Street Journal reporter in Russia.

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The two also said the U.S. had been “denied consular access” to the reporter “against standard diplomatic practice and likely in violation of international law.”

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 7, 2023
McConnell returns home after treatment for concussion

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McConnell fell on March 8 at a private dinner in D.C. and subsequently was hospitalized for a concussion; he also suffered a rib fracture. He was then moved to an inpatient rehab facility several days later. In the meantime, his condition and return has been the subject of immense interest in the Senate. In consultation with McConnell and his staff, Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) has been helping run the Senate GOP during McConnnell’s absence.
McConnell’s GOP colleagues, including Thune, reported this week that they’d spoken to him on the phone, and McConnell has been texting with them about congressional business. He’s also been keeping tabs on Senate races, texting with Gov. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) about his possible entry into the West Virginia Senate race.
“I’m in frequent touch with my Senate colleagues and my staff. I look forward to returning in person to the Senate soon,” McConnell, 81, said on Saturday.
The Republican leader also fell and fractured his shoulder in 2019.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 26, 2023
Members of Congress from both parties had nothing but warm words for Mitch McConnell as he recovers from a fall and concussion earlier this week.

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He’s expected to be in the hospital for several days.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 10, 2023
McConnell hospitalized for concussion

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Following the lunch, Republican senators expressed relief and appeared optimistic about the minority leader’s condition.
“I understand his biggest concern right now is that he missed the halibut. he is a big fan of Sen. Murkowski’s halibut,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) after the lunch. “He’s going to be OK.”
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said he expected McConnell to be kept over the weekend but that his understanding is McConnell “feels fine.”
The fall took place at the Waldorf Astoria hotel at a private dinner. The McConnell-aligned Super PAC Senate Leadership Fund also hosted an event in the building that evening, which several senators attended, including Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
Senate Republicans earlier in the day were in the dark over the Kentucky Republican’s health status.
“I trust him and his team and his doctors to tell us what’s going on,” Graham said. “Just hope he’s doing well.”
McConnell isn’t the only senator who has been hospitalized recently. In recent weeks, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) checked himself into Walter Reed for clinical depression. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), meanwhile, was in the hospital recently for shingles.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said earlier in the day that he was not surprised about the initial lack of information, noting the incident had just happened and that “if anybody can hold information close he can.”

McConnell, who is 81 and had polio as a child, previously fractured his shoulder in 2019 after tripping on his patio at home.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 9, 2023
Club for Growth endorses Scott and dings McConnell

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A spokesman for Club said the group’s super PAC intends to spend on Scott’s behalf in next year’s election, which as of now features no Republican primary opponents. The group spent $60 million on Senate races this past cycle.
The Club for Growth supported Scott in his 2018 Senate campaign and McIntosh praised the Senator as a “proven conservative who has promoted economic growth.” Scott, a former healthcare executive turned Florida governor, narrowly defeated a Democrat in his bid for Senate that year after spending more than $60 million of his own cash. As of now, there are no notable Democratic challengers for his seat.
The dig at McConnell by the Club for Growth comes at a tense moment between the Senate Minority Leader and Scott.
During the 2022 midterms, Scott chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee, clashing with McConnell throughout the cycle on matters of strategy. A super PAC aligned with McConnell, the Senate Leadership Fund, stepped in to pour $240 million into Senate races last year as the NRSC’s resources were strained. But they eventually cut off funding for poorly performing Republican nominees in Arizona and New Hampshire. Republicans ultimately lost a seat during an election in which they were favored to win back the Senate majority, as Scott, McConnell and their allies each pointed fingers over whose strategy was to blame.
But the persistent clashes have been over Scott’s campaign season proposal to require Congress to reapprove federal programs, including Medicare and Social Security, every five years. McConnell has sought to distance the party from the idea and even recently said he believed Scott’s own election would be endangered because of it.
After the midterms, Scott announced he would challenge McConnell as GOP leader — which he did unsuccessfully. McIntosh, in an interview at the time, said he did not foresee McConnell losing the position, but predicted “a sea change in terms of how much power he has as the leader.”
A spokesperson for McConnell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Despite no current threat in his 2024 reelection bid, Scott has already begun to build up a campaign operation, bringing on additional campaign staff in Florida and ramping up his political activity in the state. Next week, Scott has a series of campaign events planned, followed by small rallies and roundtables in March.

The Club for Growth’s endorsement comes as Scott is poised to also have the backing of SLF and the NRSC, which have no plans to oppose his reelection bid, both groups said.
Scott in a statement to POLITICO said he is “proud” to have the Club’s endorsement.
“The establishment in Washington has failed and they’re the only ones who don’t realize it,” Scott said. “We need more champions in Washington who are willing to fight the status quo and work to rescue America from the failures of Joe Biden, Democrats, and the Washington establishment.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 15, 2023