Tag: Mitch McConnell

Republicans Sound Alarm on RNC Security, Secret Service Turns Deaf Ear

Virginia Star Staff
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle

Republican lawmakers have approached the U.S. Secret Service with concerns about security issues at July’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but Secret Service has so far been unwilling to compromise, sources told the Daily Caller.

“We have identified a critical flaw with the Security Perimeter that creates an elevated and untenable safety risk to the attending public,” counsel to the Republican National Committee Todd R. Steggerda wrote to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle in April.

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Trump Endorses Wyoming Senator for Next Senate GOP Whip

Virginia Star Staff
John Barrasso

Former President Donald Trump endorsed Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming to be the next Senate GOP whip Thursday.

Barrasso, who currently serves as the Senate Republican Conference chair, threw his hat in the race after current Minority Whip John Thune announced he’d vie to succeed Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Trump threw his support behind Barrasso for the position in a Truth Social post after the chairman endorsed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in early January for 2024.

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Mitch McConnell Endorses Trump in 2024 Presidential Race

Virginia Star Staff
Trump McConnell

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell endorsed former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race on Wednesday.

The relationship between McConnell and Trump has been strained for years; the two have reportedly not spoken since December 2020 and the senate leader blamed the former president for incting the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol in 2021. McConnell’s endorsement announcement for Trump comes just hours after the 2024 Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley dropped out of the race on Wednesday, according to The Washington Post.

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John Barrasso Passes on Senate Leadership Run, Goes for Number Two Slot Instead

Virginia Star Staff
John Barrasso

Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, will not run for leadership of the conference following the retirement of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell from the position, according to a press release emailed to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Barrasso has served in the Senate since June 2007 and was elected chairman of the conference in 2018, where he is among a trio of senior senators alongside McConnell and Senate Minority Whip John Thune who lead Senate Republicans. After McConnell announced his retirement from his post on Feb. 28, Barrasso was speculated to be considering a candidacy for the leadership, but on Tuesday announced he was running for the role of Assistant Republican Leader, who nominally holds the role of the party whip.

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Mitch McConnell’s Legacy: $27.6 Trillion in National Debt

Just the News
Mitch McConnell

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday announced plans to step down as GOP conference leader in November, marking an end to his more than 20-year stint in Senate leadership that saw the U.S. accumulate a mountain of debt.

“One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” he said on the Senate floor. “So I stand before you today … to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. However, I’ll complete my job. My colleagues have given me until we select a new leader in November and they take the helm next January.”

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Commentary: This Has to Be the End of the Road for Mitch McConnell

Virginia Star Staff
Mitch McConnell Senate

Mitch McConnell has to be finished as the caucus leader for the Republicans in the Senate. Now. He has to resign, and if he won’t, then that caucus needs to get together and force him out.

Now. Not next week, not next month, not after this election cycle. Now.

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Commentary: The Marxism Behind the Open Border

Virginia Star Staff
Illegal Immigrants

America’s illegal immigration problem created by President Joe Biden’s administration embodies an ideology and achieves a very specific purpose — one that receives nearly no mention because to note it would reveal the game. Illegal immigration is a classic Marxist redistributionist plot. In this case, what’s being redistributed is America’s wealth to third-world nationals with no discernible skills and no intention of becoming “American.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, acting on behalf of the Biden administration, worked tightly with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to craft a terrible piece of legislation meant to jam not only House Republicans (McConnell’s favored enemy) but the people the House members represent.

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Sanctuary States Beg Biden for Aid amid Immigration Crisis

Virginia Star Staff
Illegal Immigrants

Seven sanctuary state governors signed onto a letter Monday begging President Joe Biden and Democrat and Republican leaders in the House and Senate for help in dealing with the surge of migrants arriving in their areas of the country.

Governors from the sanctuary states of New York, California, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New Mexico joined with the governors of Arizona and Maryland in sending a letter to Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, citing their need for federal support in dealing with the crisis. Meanwhile, negotiations over permanent border security funding are continuing in Congress amid the ongoing surge of illegal immigration, and the governors are asking for more funding as part of the deal that is ultimately made. 

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Commentary: SBF Trial Should Spur Dark Money Legislation

RealClearWire

Last week, in the trial of former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, details emerged about how the now-disgraced entrepreneur attempted to co-opt U.S. senators from both the Republican and Democratic parties.

With $50 million in donations to secretive dark money vehicles linked to both party’s respective Senate leaders, Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell, Bankman-Fried presumably sought to influence future crypto regulations.

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Newsom’s Identity Politics Pick to Fill Feinstein’s Seat Isn’t from California, Raising Constitutional Questions

M.D. Kittle

California Governor Gavin Newsom has tapped Laphonza Butler, a far left abortion-on-demand activist, to fill the Senate seat long held by Democrat Diane Feinstein, who died Friday. There’s one very big problem. Butler, a lesbian who fits Newsom’s identity politics-driven pledge to pick a black woman to serve out Feinstein’s current term, isn’t a resident of California.

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Commentary: McConnell, It’s Time to Resign

Virginia Star Staff

When asked on Wednesday whether he planned to run for reelection in 2026, Mitch McConnell did not answer. Except that he did. The 81-year-old’s half minute of almost catatonic silence served as a loud “no.”

On Thursday, the Capitol physician described the Senate minority leader as “medically clear.” The doctor did not state that McConnell’s March concussion caused the incident — or the similar zone-out that occurred last month — but the peculiar wording of the statement may lead readers to draw that conclusion.

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Top Montana State Republican Lawmakers Break from National GOP, Reveal Their Senate Pick

Virginia Star Staff

Republican leaders in both chambers of Montana’s state legislature along with 37 other lawmakers are backing U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale for Senate in 2024, who has yet to launch a bid and is not the favorite of the GOP in Washington, D.C.

Former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy was recruited to run by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Steve Daines of Montana and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and has received endorsements from GOP Gov. Greg Gianforte along with numerous other national Republicans. Montana’s Senate President Jason Ellsworth, Speaker of the House Matt Regier and other legislators argued Rosendale is the best candidate to beat Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and challenge the “establishment” in Washington, D.C., according to the letter.

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Americans Want McConnell to Resign amid Health Concerns: Poll

Just the News

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell faces intense opposition to his remaining in elected office, a recent survey has revealed.

64% of eligible voters said that he should resign, according to a Redfield & Wilton poll, conducted for Newsweek. that figure includes members of both parties. The same percent of Biden voters said McConnell ought to resign while Trump voters expressed the same sentiment by an even wider, 71%, margin.

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Montana Conservatives Balk at Republican Leadership’s Senate Pick for 2024

Virginia Star Staff

As prominent national Republicans line up behind a political newcomer and decorated veteran as their pick to win back a coveted Senate seat in 2024, grassroots Montana conservatives are frustrated with what they perceive as unwelcome outside influence attempting to sway the primary race.

National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Steve Daines of Montana and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell recruited Tim Sheehy, who quickly secured endorsements from Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte and several other senators since his late June campaign launch. However, Montana Republicans and grassroots activists who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation view Sheehy as the D.C. establishment’s candidate and would rather see GOP Rep. Matt Rosendale run for the seat currently held by Democratic Sen. Jon Tester.

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Conservative Senators Demand Spending Cuts, Fiscal Reform in Debt Ceiling Deal

M.D. Kittle

Fiscal hawks in the Senate reiterated their demands for fiscal reforms and spending cuts Tuesday as they voiced their support for House Republicans to lead the heavy-lifting on addressing the nation’s debt ceiling crisis. “We have an opportunity to stop the madness, and it’s incumbent on the Republican majority in the House and Republicans in the Senate to use every lever point we have,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) at a press conference on the debt ceiling and runaway spending.

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Commentary: Four Issues to Unify the GOP and Realign America

Virginia Star Staff

If Republicans hope to unify their party and realign American politics in their favor, they will need to do more than pour billions of dollars into television ads that highlight rampaging looters and the despairing jobless. They have to offer hope tied to an achievable agenda. Americans are ready for an alternative to Democratic fearmongering and stagnation. Give it to them.

Standing in the way of Republicans developing a comprehensive agenda they can agree on is the deepening rift within the party. On one side is the legacy party, represented by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah), and other so-called moderate Republicans. Opposing them is the MAGA movement led by Donald Trump and backed up by, among other groups, the Freedom Caucus, which now constitutes a majority of House Republicans.

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Commentary: Republicans Need to Change Strategies After Disappointing Midterm Results

Virginia Star Staff

Who or what was responsible for the Republican nationwide collapse in the midterms? After all, pundits, politicos, and pollsters all predicted a “red tsunami.” 

Moreover, the average loss of any president in his first midterm is 25 House seats. And when his approval sinks to or below 43 percent—in the fashion of Joe Biden—the loss, on average, expands to over 40 seats. 

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Rick Scott Announces Challenge to Mitch McConnell as Senate GOP Leader

Virginia Star Staff

Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida will challenge Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for his role in the upcoming leadership election, per a letter he wrote on Tuesday.

Scott’s office circulated a letter among GOP senators and senators-elect announcing his intention to run in the election, which will be held on Wednesday in the Old Senate Chamber, per Fox News. Though the contents of the letter have not yet been released, McKinley Davis, Scott’s spokesperson, later confirmed the plan to Axios.

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McConnell Creates New Rift Inside GOP, Earning Censure from Alaska State Party

Just the News

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who caused a stir this summer by questioning the quality of his party’s candidates, has created a new rift inside the GOP by spending millions to defeat Alaska GOP Senate nominee Kelly Tshibaka.

McConnell’s leadership PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, has been running attack ads against Tshibaka in an effort to boost moderate incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

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Mitch McConnell Backs Electoral Count Reform Bill Ted Cruz Warns All Republicans to Oppose

Susan Berry, PhD

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced Tuesday he will back legislation that intends to make it more difficult in the future to object to the results of presidential elections.

The Electoral Count Act and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022, a bill sponsored by Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and supported by other liberal-moderate Republicans, was dismissed, nevertheless, by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who said it is based on Democrats’ belief voter fraud “helps elect more Democrats.”

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Commentary: Republicans Don’t Get It

Virginia Star Staff

When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) looks around his adopted hometown of Washington, D.C.—a city shamelessly and aggressively using every lever of federal power to destroy Donald Trump and the 76 million Americans who dared to vote for him in 2020—he sees only one menace to the well-being of the nation:

January 6 protesters.

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Commentary: America Needs a Red Flag Law For Senile Senators

Admin

America’s geriatric senators increasingly represent a threat to themselves and to others. Take Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for example. She has filed paperwork to run again in 2024, despite the fact she turns 90 next year and associates say she can’t hold a coherent conversation or remember the names of close colleagues.

This is a woman who has the power to vote to send Americans to war. Just this past spring, she helped pass legislation that sent billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, a country currently at war with a nuclear power. America’s senators have enormous power to harm the country. They have access not just to firearms but to the world’s most powerful military force and even nuclear weapons.

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U.S. Senate Reaches Agreement on Gun Control Bill

The Center Square

The U.S. Senate voted late Tuesday to advance a gun control bill with 14 Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, joining Democrats to approve the measure.

The vote was reached after weeks of negotiating a bipartisan bill in response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in which a gunman shot and killed 19 children and two teachers.

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Senate Confirms Biden’s ‘Radical’ FTC Pick Criticized for Anti-ICE Stance

Virginia Star Staff

The Senate voted Wednesday to confirm President Joe Biden’s nominee Alvaro Bedoya to the empty fifth seat on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The 50-50 Senate vote was broken with a tie breaking vote by Vice President Kamala Harris, and gives Democrats a 3-2 advantage at the FTC. Bedoya, who is professor at Georgetown Law, was previously criticized by Senate Republicans for his past comments on social media and in other outlets opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after President Joe Biden announced his nomination.

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Roe v. Wade Has Completely Transformed the Midterms

Virginia Star Staff

Both Republicans and Democrats have been forced to reconfigure their election strategies only six months before the midterms due to the unprecedented leak from the Supreme Court indicating Roe v. Wade will be overturned.

Many Democrats have made clear they intend to hammer opponents across the aisle on the implications of Roe being overturned and while Republicans have celebrated the decision, several have largely focused on the leak and others have been reluctant to press the abortion issue.

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Rand Paul Blocks Swift Passage of $40 Billion Ukraine Aid Package

Virginia Star Staff

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Thursday threw a wrench in the Senate’s plans to swiftly pass the $40 billion Ukraine package this week, delaying the vote until at least next week, and possibly beyond.

According to the Hill, Paul wanted to include language in the bill to expand the Afghanistan inspector general’s role to include oversight of the Ukraine funds. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) offered him a deal that would have set up votes Thursday afternoon on the funding bill and on an amendment from Paul.

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Commentary: No More Ballots in the Wild

Virginia Star Staff

When the French people voted for a new president in April, they did so on a single day using paper ballots filled out in the privacy of official polling stations. France, being a normal First World democracy, takes election security seriously. Electronic voting machines are virtually never used. Mail-in voting has been banned nationwide since 1975 out of security fears. Voter rolls are regularly purged of the dead and those who have moved. It is a given that every French voter must show identification before being allowed to fill out a ballot. 

The United States, by contrast, is an oligarchy (a regime where the elite rules) that is only pretending to be a democracy. This is why we use a Third World banana republic election system. 

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Source: Missouri GOP Senate Hopeful Greitens Not Quitting Race Despite Ex-Wife-Stoked Controversy

Julie Carr

Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, covered the plot by an ex-wife and her sister, a political consultant linked to Senate Majority Leader A. Mitchell “Mitch” McConnell (R.-KY.), to force Navy SEAL veteran Eric Greitens out of his run for the 2022 Missouri Republican Senate nomination.

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Commentary: McConnell’s ‘Exhilarating’ Insurrection

Admin

A dirty little secret about January 6—one of many—is that Democrats and establishment Republicans, not Trump supporters, wanted to shut down the official proceedings of that day.

Just as the first wave of protesters breached the building shortly after 2 p.m., congressional Republicans were poised to present evidence of rampant voting fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Ten incumbent and four newly-elected Republican senators planned to work with their House colleagues to demand the formation of an audit commission to investigate election “irregularities” in the 2020 election. Absent an audit, the group of senators, including Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) pledged to reject the Electoral College results from the disputed states.

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Still Teflon: The Trump Comeback No One’s Talking About

Virginia Star Staff

Former President Donald Trump now enjoys the highest favorability rating among the seven U.S. political leaders tracked in the RealClearPolitics (RCP) polling average, marking a striking political transformation from where he was 15 months ago while leaving office.

Trump has a favorability rating of 45.8%, more than three points higher than President Joe Biden’s rating of 42.6%, according to the RCP average.

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The Star News Network Interviews Author Peter Schweizer About Mitch McConnell’s Links to China

Julie Carr

  TRANSCRIPT: McCabe: In his new book Red-Handed, investigative journalist Peter Schweizer documents how the senate’s top republican, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, is tied through his wife to the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. He also told The Star News Network that his wife, Elaine Chao, as transportation…

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Top Republicans Pressure Manchin to Switch Parties

Admin

Republicans are upping their calls for West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin to switch parties after he said he would not vote for President Joe Biden’s domestic spending bill.

Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn told Nexstar that he texted Manchin to encourage him to switch after he came out as a “no,” telling him, “Joe, if [Democrats] don’t want you we do.”

While Cornyn said he did not get a response, he said that Manchin switching would be “the greatest Christmas present I can think of.”

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Senate Clears Way for Democrats to Lift the Debt Ceiling After Agreement Between Schumer, McConnell

Virginia Star Staff
Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell

A bill that would enable Democrats to raise the debt ceiling without overcoming a Senate filibuster passed the chamber Thursday afternoon with bipartisan support.

The debt ceiling provisions were attached to a bill that prevents automatic cuts to Medicare. Ironically, the legislation, which passed the House on near party lines Tuesday, required 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, and passed after 14 Republicans joined Democrats in advancing it.

The provision was the product of a deal struck Tuesday between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Under it, Congress would pass a law allowing the debt ceiling to be raised with a simple majority this one time, and the bill’s passage puts the limit on a glade path to be lifted by Democrats alone ahead of Dec. 15, when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned a default could occur.

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GOP Alaska Senator Murkowski Announces Reelection Bid, Prepares for Battle with Trump Allies

Virginia Star Staff
Lisa Murkowski

Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced Friday that she will seek reelection in 2022, setting up another tough primary battle that includes efforts by former President Trump to unseat her.

A campaign video for Murkowski does not directly mention the challenge from Trump but warns voters about the race attracting much outside interest.

“In this election, lower 48 outsiders are going to try to grab Alaska’s Senate seat for their partisan agendas. They don’t understand our state and frankly, they couldn’t care less about your future,” she says.

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Former President Trump Calls In to Bannon-Headlined ‘Take Back Virginia’ Rally

Eric Burk

Steve Bannon headlined a get-out-the-vote rally for the MAGA base in Henrico on Wednesday evening, where speakers included Senator Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield) and Arizona State House Representative Mark Finchem, who is using 2020 election audits in that state in his campaign for Arizona Secretary of State. But the biggest reaction from the crowd came when former President Donald Trump called in for about five minutes.

“Glenn Youngkin is a great gentleman,” Trump said. “You have a chance to get one of the most successful businessmen in the country, and he did it in a quiet professional way, in Glenn Youngkin. I hope — he and others by the way — but I hope Glenn gets in there  and he’ll straighten out Virginia, and he’ll lower taxes, all of the things that we want a governor to do, and I really believe that Virginia is very, very, winnable.”

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House Approves Debt Ceiling Increase, Temporarily Delaying Nationwide Default

Admin

The House on Tuesday voted to lift the debt ceiling by $480 billion, temporarily averting widespread economic calamity after weeks of partisan gridlock and sending the bill to President Joe Biden’s desk.

The House briefly interrupted its weeklong recess to pass a rule governing debate for three separate bills to which the ceiling raise was attached. It passed on a party-line vote given Republicans continuing opposition to lifting the ceiling.

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Commentary: Biden’s Desperate Race to the Lying Bottom

Virginia Star Staff

On Monday, Joe Biden uncorked the largest lie of a 50-year political career overstuffed with them.

“My Build Back Better Agenda costs zero dollars,” he tweeted. “Instead of wasting money on tax breaks, loopholes, and tax evasion for big corporations and the wealthy, we can make a once-in-a-generation investment in working America. And it adds zero dollars to the national debt.”

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The John Fredericks Show: Former President Trump Talks Infrastructure, Mitch McConnell, and the 2024 Election

Julie Carr

Wednesday morning on The John Fredericks Show, host Fredericks talked with former President Donald Trump about exorbitant infrastructure spending, Mitch McConnell’s future, and running in 2024.

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Says Biden Won’t Be Impeached

Cooper Moran

Citing the slim Democratic Party majority in both chambers of congress, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) ignored calls within the Republican Party and insisted President Joe Biden will not be impeached.

“Well, look, the president is not going to be removed from office. There’s a Democratic House, a narrowly Democratic Senate. That’s not going to happen,” he said at an event in his home state.

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McConnell Says He Supports $800 Billion Package Focusing on ‘Traditional’ Infrastructure

Virginia Star Staff
Sen Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested that Republicans could back an infrastructure package costing up to $800 billion, a higher total than a plan Senate Republicans put forward in April.

Speaking with Kentucky Educational Television Sunday, McConnell reaffirmed Republicans’ opposition to President Joe Biden’s sweeping $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, which covers both traditional infrastructure and Democratic priorities like child care, affordable housing and climate change. McConnell said that any package must be limited to “traditional” infrastructure items like roads, bridges and ports to gain GOP support.

“The proper price tag for what most of us think of as infrastructure is about $600-800 billion,” McConnell said.

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