'We’re on defense': Mitch McConnell juggles priorities after getting 'blindsided' by Kevin McCarthy

14 December 2022

During an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy took a shot at Republicans, including Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, for considering moving forward with the Democrats’ year-end spending bill, CNN reports.

Ingraham asked McCarthy if he’d been talking to McConnell – who she lauded as “very smart” – about waiting until [McCarthy] is Speaker of the House next month. “I mean, this omnibus thing takes away your power for ten months,” she said.

“We’re 28 days from Republicans having the gavel. We would be stronger on every negotiation,” the California Senator said. “So any Republican that’s out there trying to work with [Democrats] is wrong.”

Ingraham asked, “Does that include McConnell?”

“Yes,” McCarthy emphatically replied. “Why would you want to work on anything if we have the gavel inside Congress?”

McConnell was reportedly “blindsided” by McCarthy’s comments, although the two leaders have a reputation of bumping heads over important political decisions.

When asked by reporters this week about his comments to Ingraham, McCarthy shifted his aim at Democrats.

“Well, my message is to Democrats who want to spend more,” he claimed. “I wouldn’t be adding more money after all that they compounded on and all that they spent, especially just last year.”

Regarding his current stance on the bill, McConnell said, “We’re on defense. We’re dealing with the cards we were dealt,” noting that Republicans successfully secured ample funding toward defense programs to be included in the bill. He said the package is “the best [Republicans] could do” considering the Democrats have current control.

Regarding other Republican members' reactions to the discourse, Senate Minority Whip John Thune refers to it as a typical “House-Senate dynamic.”

“The conference in the House, obviously, a lot of times can be in a different place than the conference in the Senate,” Thune said. From his perspective, it seemed that McCarthy attempted to represent all House Republican views during his interview with Ingraham.

Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Scott Perry said, “You’ve got Mitch McConnell preparing to roll the House right now on additional trillions of dollars in spending. Tell me how something changes here. I’m interested to hear, but right now, I don’t see anything changing.”

Optimistically, South Dakota Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson says, “Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy are gonna be just fine.”

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