{"id":1582246,"date":"2022-08-01T08:03:06","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T12:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1582246"},"modified":"2022-08-01T08:03:17","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T12:03:17","slug":"3-big-blunders-showing-mitch-mcconnell-isnt-the-legislative-genius-he-thinks-he-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/3-big-blunders-showing-mitch-mcconnell-isnt-the-legislative-genius-he-thinks-he-is\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Big Blunders Showing Mitch McConnell Isn\u2019t The Legislative Genius He Thinks He Is"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F3-big-blunders-showing-mitch-mcconnell-isnt-the-legislative-genius-he-thinks-he-is%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1582246&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>For someone held up as a legislative genius\/strategical mastermind, Mitch McConnell sure has had a run of clunkers lately.<\/p>\n<p>The Kentucky senator and Senate minority leader, who <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/03\/23\/mcconnell-embraces-nickname-darth-vader-warns-of-ending-filibuster\/\">embraced<\/a> the moniker Darth Vader for his purported ability to thwart Democrats\u2019 ambitions, looked foolish last week. The Republican leader flopped when his Democratic counterpart, Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced a deal with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on a tax-and-spending binge mere hours after McConnell and 16 other Republicans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.senate.gov\/legislative\/LIS\/roll_call_votes\/vote1172\/vote_117_2_00271.htm\">voted<\/a> on final passage of a pork-laden spending bill they had previously vowed to stop.<\/p>\n<p>But last week\u2019s debacle, in which Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/07\/28\/mccarthy-mcconnell-bill-votes-00048565\">said<\/a> Republicans \u201cgot rinky-doo\u2019d \u2014  that\u2019s a Louisiana word for \u2018screwed,\u2019\u201d represents only the most recent instance of McConnell\u2019s stratagems coming a-cropper. In reality, Schumer has out-maneuvered McConnell on most of the important legislative packages during the 117th Congress:<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Cave #1: Debt Limit<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>As I <a href=\"https:\/\/thefdrlst.wpengine.com\/2021\/09\/17\/a-republican-vote-to-raise-the-debt-limit-is-a-vote-for-democrats-3-5-trillion-spending-spree\/\">explained last fall<\/a>, once House and Senate Democrats agreed to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/117th-congress\/senate-concurrent-resolution\/14\">budget resolution<\/a> in August that did not include an explicit provision to raise the debt limit via <a href=\"http:\/\/thefdrlst.wpengine.com\/2017\/05\/11\/need-know-budget-reconciliation-senate\/\">budget reconciliation<\/a>, Democrats forfeited all their leverage over the debt limit. After that point, they needed Republican cooperation to raise the debt limit \u2014 either one Republican senator needed to attend a committee markup, to allow Democrats to amend the budget resolution so all 50 Democrats could raise the debt limit via budget reconciliation, or 10 Republicans needed to vote for the bill on the Senate floor to overcome a filibuster.<\/p>\n<p>McConnell had an enormous amount of leverage \u2014 and what did he do with it? First, he and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.senate.gov\/legislative\/LIS\/roll_call_votes\/vote1171\/vote_117_1_00411.htm\">ten other colleagues<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/10\/08\/mitch-mcconnells-surrender-in-the-debt-ceiling-fight-opens-the-floodgates-for-dems-3-5-trillion-spending-bill\/\">gave Democrats their votes<\/a> to pass a short-term increase in the debt limit last October. Two months later, he and Schumer <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/12\/08\/mitch-mcconnell-bails-out-chuck-schumer-on-debt-limits-and-spending\/\">concocted a backroom deal<\/a> creating an entirely new process for Democrats to raise the debt limit. In this case, Republicans didn\u2019t vote for the debt limit itself \u2014 but 14 Republicans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.senate.gov\/legislative\/LIS\/roll_call_votes\/vote1171\/vote_117_1_00490.htm\">voted for the process<\/a> that allowed the increase to take place.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to the debt limit, McConnell would likely argue that his position represented a case of discretion being the better part of valor. He didn\u2019t demand substantive concessions like <a href=\"https:\/\/thefdrlst.wpengine.com\/2021\/09\/17\/a-republican-vote-to-raise-the-debt-limit-is-a-vote-for-democrats-3-5-trillion-spending-spree\/\">forcing Democrats to nix<\/a> their Build Back Bankrupt bill entirely because he feared that a confrontation of that magnitude could compel Sens. Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., to vote with their colleagues to nix the legislative filibuster, which he <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/03\/23\/mcconnell-embraces-nickname-darth-vader-warns-of-ending-filibuster\/\">had vowed to protect<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But McConnell shouldn\u2019t have spent months <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/mcconnell-slams-reconciliation-set-for-a-hell-of-a-fight\">picking a fight<\/a> he knew he would <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/10\/08\/mitch-mcconnells-surrender-in-the-debt-ceiling-fight-opens-the-floodgates-for-dems-3-5-trillion-spending-bill\/\">end up losing<\/a>. In August 2021, Democrats omitted a debt limit increase from their budget resolution, and forfeited their leverage in the process, because they feared it would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2021\/09\/12\/dems-toil-to-avoid-default-shutdown-in-pivotal-fall-511158\">jeopardize the resolution\u2019s passage<\/a> and because Schumer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2021\/09\/09\/biden-mcconnell-debt-limit-threats-510922\">believed<\/a> that McConnell, in the end, would cave. McConnell did just that.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Cave #2: Chips Bill<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In late June, when word leaked that Schumer and Manchin had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/06\/17\/dems-manchin-schumer-00040321\">resumed serious talks<\/a> about reviving Build Back Bankrupt, McConnell sent out a very clear warning that any attempt to pass \u201ca partisan reconciliation bill\u201d would lead to the death of a bipartisan bill promoting semiconductor chip production:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"tSR90ok5QxGN1ZawagOmydhLq724zIHVqjUg5pKjYyD20lAlJUz41xEMTnitMFCkGTLcmZFDX3AosvIfshPCV9bOP3bQucW6Y\"><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Let me be perfectly clear: there will be no bipartisan USICA as long as Democrats are pursuing a partisan reconciliation bill.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LeaderMcConnell\/status\/1542600738823618564?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 30, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Both before and after McConnell\u2019s threat, Democrats never stopped pursuing \u201ca partisan reconciliation bill.\u201d They just spent two weeks <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/administration\/3561529-biden-to-senate-pass-health-bill-and-ill-tackle-climate-through-executive-action\/\">setting their sights slightly lower<\/a> than they had in early July, focusing \u201conly\u201d on health care.<\/p>\n<p>To borrow Kennedy\u2019s phrase, McConnell got \u201crinky-doo\u2019d\u201d on the semiconductor bill only because he caved on the principle he first laid out on the last day of June: That any attempt to pass \u201ca partisan reconciliation bill\u201d \u2014 no matter how large or small \u2014 would lead to the death of the chip legislation. When Democrats publicly shifted towards a health-care-only reconciliation, McConnell gave the green light for passage of the chips legislation, which backfired on him in dramatic fashion last Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>But that attitude, whereby lawmakers generally approve of something slightly smaller than the Democrats\u2019 big-government approach, typifies the Republican \u201cleadership\u201d in Washington. As it happens, the 17 Republicans who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.senate.gov\/legislative\/LIS\/roll_call_votes\/vote1172\/vote_117_2_00271.htm\">voted<\/a> to pass the chips bill last Wednesday approved legislation stuffed with corporate welfare and pork-barrel spending, just slightly less than the original versions of the legislation that passed the House and Senate.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Cave #3: Infrastructure and Reconciliation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Overhanging the entire debate about Democrats\u2019 \u201cpartisan reconciliation bill\u201d lies the argument that McConnell and other Senate Republicans made last summer: That agreeing to a $1 trillion bipartisan spending binge on \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/07\/21\/the-debate-over-infrastructure-funding-gimmicks-is-exactly-whats-wrong-with-washington\/\">infrastructure<\/a>\u201d would prevent Democrats from ever congealing around a tax-and-spending package via budget reconciliation.<\/p>\n<p>That premise always seemed dubious at best, since Democrats\u2019 differences surrounding the legislation came more in degree than in kind. Even Manchin supports higher taxes and more government spending, albeit not as much as progressives and socialists like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.<\/p>\n<p>If the coming week plays out as Democrats hope, Biden and Schumer will have achieved passage of both a bipartisan infrastructure bill and a partisan tax-and-spending package. If the latter does clear Congress, and here\u2019s hoping that it doesn\u2019t, Biden should extend McConnell an invitation to the White House signing ceremony. After all, he\u2019s earned it.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Mr. Jacobs is Founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group and the author of the book The Case Against Single Payer. He is on Twitter: @chrisjacobsHC.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For someone held up as a legislative genius\/strategical mastermind, Mitch McConnell sure has had a run of clunkers lately. The Kentucky senator and Senate minority leader, who embraced the moniker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1164,"featured_media":1897861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1582246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_finder_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/01\/3-big-blunders-that-show-mitch-mcconnell-is-not-the-legislative-genius-he-thinks-he-is\/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=3-big-blunders-that-show-mitch-mcconnell-is-not-the-legislative-genius-he-thinks-he-is","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1582246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1897861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1582246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1582246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1582246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}