Mitch McConnell Archives - Page 2 of 2

Biden Administration Expects Neera Tanden to Meet ‘High Bar of Civility,’ Psaki Says

March 1, 2021February 28, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that President Joe Biden’s administration expects Neera Tanden to meet “a high bar of civility.”

“Well, first I’ll note that when Neera Tanden testified just a few weeks ago, she apologized for her past comments and that she would be joining an administration, whereas we’ve noted in here, there’s an expectation of a high bar of civility and engagement, whether that’s on social media or in person,” Psaki said. “We certainly expect she would meet that bar.”

Commentary: The Uniparty’s Wishful Thinking

February 20, 2021February 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) committed a mortal political error on Saturday when, after voting to acquit President Trump on constitutional grounds, he accused the former president of the crime of being “practically and morally” responsible for the invasion and vandalization of the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and the deaths of five people.

McConnell Ties $2,000 Checks to Section 230 Repeal, Voter Fraud Investigation

December 31, 2020December 30, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced legislation authorizing direct cash payments of $2,000 Tuesday, but with a catch to which Democrats will likely object.

The bill combines $2,000 payments with a repeal of Section 230, a provision that grants social media companies liability protections against content users post on their platforms, and the establishment of a commission to study allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Virginia Republicans Criticize CASH Act for Not Including Spending Cuts

December 30, 2020December 29, 2020 Eric Burk

Three of Virginia’s Republican congressmen voted against the Caring for Americans with Supplemental Health (CASH) Act on Monday night, noting that while the bill would increase a taxpayer stimulus from $600 to $2,000, it failed to include the necessary budget cuts. Despite that, the bill did pass the House, 275 to 134.

Virginia Republicans and Democrats Call for Bipartisan COVID-19 Relief Bill

December 9, 2020December 8, 2020 Eric Burk

As Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia) signals that a $908 billion relief package will be ready for the Senate to consider soon, Virginia Republicans are calling for a similar bill in the House of Representatives. But Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA-09) is warning leadership not to bundle it with a budget appropriations bill.

GOP Unveils $1.4T Spending Bill Amid Post-Election Turmoil

November 11, 2020November 10, 2020 The Associated Press

Republicans controlling the Senate unveiled a government-wide, $1.4 trillion spending bill on Tuesday, a largely bipartisan measure that faces uncertain odds during this period of post-election tumult in Washington.

The GOP-drafted measure contains funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall and other provisions opposed by Democrats, but top leaders in both parties want to try to mount a drive to enact the unfinished spending bills — which, along with a separate COVID-19 relief effort and annual defense policy bill, represent the bulk of Capitol Hill’s unfinished business for the year.

Commentary: A Republican Senate Will Keep Biden in Check? Oh, Please!

November 7, 2020November 6, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

In February 2020, Mitt Romney became the first U.S. senator in history to vote to convict the president of his own party. Despite a laughable impeachment case concocted by House Democrats and clear evidence of corruption tied to the Democratic presidential candidate whom the impeachment effort was designed to protect, Romney nonetheless supported the removal of Donald Trump from the White House.

“My faith is at the heart of who I am,” Utah’s junior senator claimed while working up tears from the Senate floor on February 5. “The grave question the Constitution tasks senators to answer is whether the president committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of high crime and misdemeanor. Yes, he did.”

Commentary: Republicans Leading in the Senate May Save America from Democratic One-Party Rule

November 5, 2020November 4, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

States are still counting votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina — and with disputed deadlines currently allowing absentee ballots to still be received days after the election in Pennsylvania and North Carolina — it is simply too close to call the presidential race.

President Donald Trump carried Ohio, Florida and Iowa by big margins despite many mainstream news polls saying he would lose those states handily — which are little better than astrology at this point — and is still promising to take the race for the White House to the Supreme Court with litigation, presumably challenging any late ballots that come in.

Commentary: ‘Never Trump’ Now Means ‘Never Constitution’

September 27, 2020September 26, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

We went from Never Trump to Never Constitution in a nanosecond, it seems.

Entrenched foes of the president base their opposition on the unproven allegation Donald Trump is staining our democracy and defiling the Constitution. That arc now has reached almost full circle as the president’s enemies, desperate to deprive him of any victory, are concocting harebrained compromises outside the clear boundaries of the Constitution related to the next Supreme Court justice.

Commentary: No Reason for Senate GOP to Wait Until After Election to Confirm Trump’s Ginsburg Replacement to Supreme Court

September 25, 2020September 24, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is under enormous pressure from his Democratic colleagues not to confirm whoever President Donald Trump may nominate to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court before the election.

But in truth, there is simply no reason, neither constitutional nor political, for Trump and McConnell to wait at all.

Senate GOP Lines up with Trump to Quickly Fill Court Seat

September 23, 2020September 22, 2020 The Associated Press

Senate Republicans have swiftly fallen in line behind President Donald Trump’s push to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat as one of the last holdouts, Sen. Mitt Romney, said Tuesday he supports a vote despite Democrats’ objections it’s too close to the Nov. 3 election.

Trump, who will announce his nominee Saturday, is all but certain to have the votes to confirm his choice.

GOP’s Slimmed-Down Virus Bill Scuttled by Senate Democrats

September 11, 2020September 10, 2020 The Associated Press

Senate Democrats scuttled a scaled-back GOP coronavirus rescue package on Thursday, saying the measure shortchanged too many pressing needs as the pandemic continues its assault on the country.

The mostly party-line vote capped weeks of wrangling over a fifth relief bill that all sides say they want but are unable to deliver. The bipartisan spirit that powered earlier aid measures has given way to election-season political combat and name-calling. The 52-47 vote fell well short of what was needed to overcome a filibuster and seems likely to end hopes for coronavirus relief before the November election.

Mitch McConnell Campaign Hires Covington Catholic Student Nick Sandmann as Grassroots Director

August 30, 2020August 29, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

The reelection campaign of Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell announced on Friday that it had hired as a grassroots director Nicholas Sandmann, the Kentucky teen who was catapulted into national prominence last year due to an incident at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Sandmann was among the teen students from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, KY, who in January of 2019 were videotaped in what initially appeared to be an aggressive confrontation of an elderly Native American man, Nathan Phillips, at the Lincoln Memorial.

Federal Unemployment Benefits Expiring as Democratic Leaders Demand Non-COVID-19 Related Policies

August 2, 2020August 14, 2020 Admin

The additional $600 weekly federal unemployment benefits expire Friday after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rejected a White House offer to temporarily extend them.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that, “Senate Republicans tried several ways to extend the expiring unemployment assistance. Democrats blocked them all and refused another dime for COVID-19 relief unless they get to pass a bill that includes an unrelated tax cut for rich people in blue states.”

White House Drops Payroll Tax Cut After GOP Allies Object

July 24, 2020July 23, 2020 The Associated Press

The White House reluctantly dropped its bid to cut Social Security payroll taxes Thursday as Republicans prepared to unveil a $1 trillion COVID-19 rescue package, yielding to opposition to the idea among top Senate allies.

“It won’t be in the base bill,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, speaking on CNBC about the payroll tax cut, killing the idea for now. The cut in the tax that finances Social Security and Medicare has been a major demand of President Donald Trump.

McGrath Wins Kentucky Dem Primary; McConnell Showdown Awaits

July 1, 2020June 30, 2020 The Associated Press

Former Marine pilot Amy McGrath overcame a bumpier-than-expected Kentucky primary to win the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination Tuesday, fending off progressive Charles Booker to set up a bruising, big-spending showdown with Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Voting ended June 23, but it took a week until McGrath could be declared the winner due to the race’s tight margins and a deluge of mail-in ballots. The outcome seemed a certainty early in the campaign but became tenuous as Booker’s profile surged as the Black state lawmaker highlighted protests against the deaths of African Americans in encounters with police.

House Passes Bill to Make DC a State

June 27, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

The House of Representatives passed a bill Friday that would make Washington, D.C., a state amid increasing congressional support for the nation’s capital to be granted statehood.

The “Washington, D.C. Admission Act,” which had 227 Democratic cosponsors, was originally introduced by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.’s nonvoting at-large representative in Congress, in October of last year. It passed Friday 232-180 without any Republican support.

Senate GOP Propose Police Changes

June 18, 2020June 17, 2020 The Associated Press

Senate Republicans unveiled proposed changes to police procedures and accountability Wednesday, countering Democratic policing legislation with a bill that is less sweeping but underscores how swiftly the national debate has been transformed five months before elections.

Republicans are embracing a new priority with the “Justice Act,” the most ambitious GOP policing proposal in years, in a direct response to the massive public protests over the death of George Floyd and other black Americans. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he believes America is not a racist country but “the stain is not totally gone” from slavery and the Civil War.

Commentary: Without Exception, Republicans Must Actively Oppose the Anarchists Ruining the U.S.

June 13, 2020June 12, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

Republicans are facing their biggest test in generations.

The mentality of a psychotic mob of radicals has taken control of the country and its institutions. With remarkable speed, America’s mayors, governors, media, lawmakers, health experts, artists, sports leagues, generals and troops, powerful corporations, and the wealthiest men on the planet, have all loudly endorsed this mob, its hatred of America, and its demands for radical transformation.

Five Democratic Senators Kneel at George Floyd Memorial

June 6, 2020June 5, 2020 Jason M. Reynolds

Five Democrat senators knelt during a moment of silence for George Floyd in a caucus meeting on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon.

Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) knelt, which lasted for eight minutes and 46 seconds, The Hill reported. That was the length of time fired Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck before he died. Chauvin faces a second-degree murder charge over the incident.

Commentary: If Left Unchallenged, Unrepentant McConnell Is Set to Plague Conservatives for Years to Come

June 5, 2018June 4, 2018 Admin

by Jeffrey Rendall Mitch McConnell in 2020? No, the senate majority leader isn’t clandestinely plotting a presidential primary challenge to Donald Trump in two years and as far as can be determined McConnell’s not tossing out hints he’s conspiring with #NeverTrumpers to overturn the Trump presidency through a coup…