'Dead set on killing his provision': Tensions flair between McConnell and 'vocal critic' Josh Hawley

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) has been among Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Kentucky) foes in the U.S. Senate. Donald Trump loyalist Hawley represents the ultra-MAGA wing of the GOP, while the 81-year-old McConnell is among the establishment Republicans who Trump has angrily railed against.

The tensions between McConnell and Hawley, The Hill's Alexander Bolton stresses in an article published on December 14, is evident in their disagreement over an annual defense bill.

McConnell, Bolton notes, "played a leading role in killing a Hawley-sponsored amendment to" the bill.

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"Hawley says McConnell was dead set on killing his provision, which would have provided compensation to St. Louis-area residents who were exposed to radiation from improperly stored nuclear waste left over from the Manhattan Project in the 1940s," The Hill's reporter explains. "Hawley's proposal appeared to have a good chance of being part of the final version of the defense bill after the Senate voted 61-37 in late July to include it as an amendment."

McConnell's allies, Bolton observes, have maintained that the Senate minority leader's opposition to Hawley's amendment was strictly a policy matter — not anything personal. But according to Bolton, "It's not lost on Senate insiders that Hawley has been a vocal critic of McConnell's leadership style and supported Sen. Rick Scott's (R-Fla.) attempt to oust McConnell from his leadership spot last year."

"McConnell sent a message to GOP senators who challenged him in the leadership election when he bumped Scott from the powerful Commerce Committee in February," Bolton notes. "He also removed Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who supported Scott's ill-fated leadership bid, from the Commerce panel. Hawley was outspoken in calling for a leadership change after Senate Republicans lost a seat in the 2022 midterm election, which shrank their minority to 49 seats."

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Read The Hill's full report at this link.