Saturday, May 29, 2021

McConnell doubles down to pressure Republicans, asking for 'a personal favor' to block January 6 commission

 PARTY BEFORE COUNTRY!

WHAT'S MITCH MCCONNELL HIDING? 


McConnell doubles down to pressure Republicans, asking for 'a personal favor' to block January 6 commission


By Jamie Gangel and Michael Warren, CNN

Updated 4:37 PM ET, Thu May 27, 2021






Washington (CNN)In the last 24 hours, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has ramped up the pressure on his GOP Senate colleagues to oppose a bill creating a January 6 commission, according to two Republicans familiar with his effort.

One of those Republicans told CNN that McConnell has even made the unusual move of asking wavering senators to support filibustering the bill as "a personal favor" to him.
"No one can understand why Mitch is going to this extreme of asking for a 'personal favor' to kill the commission," said the Republican.
    A McConnell aide told CNN that he was not aware of all of McConnell's private conversations but said that what the Kentucky Republican says privately is no different than what he says publicly.
    McConnell's blunt appeal comes as Gladys Sicknick, the mother of fallen Capitol Hill police officer Brian Sicknick, is meeting with GOP senators to encourage them to support the 9/11 style commission to investigate the events of January 6; 14 GOP senators agreed to talk to her on Thursday. The two Republicans familiar with McConnell's effort say it suggests the GOP leader is doing everything he can to make sure the bill does not move forward.
      Only three Republican senators so far have expressed their support for the commission: Sens. Mitt Romney, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. Democrats would need a total of 10 Republican senators to break a GOP filibuster in order to advance the bill.
      Collins, of Maine, has worked to tweak the bill to respond to McConnell's concerns but the minority leader is still opposing the commission. After meeting with Sicknick, Collins said she thinks her amendment to fix the "flaw" in the House bill addressed the major objection to the bill, and that she has secured the agreement of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on her amendment.
        "My hope is that we can get, with this amendment, a sufficient number of Republicans to pass the bill. We owe it to the brave men and women who defended our lives that day. And in some cases did so at the cost of their lives. And that's why I feel so strongly about that," she said.
        While Republican leaders believe there could be some defections in the ranks, they don't believe there will be 10, according to GOP sources familiar with the matter. Leadership believes the case they've made to their members has taken hold: That the commission would be used for political gain by Democrats and would undercut GOP efforts to take back the majority in both the House and the Senate.
        But McConnell's maneuvers this week show he's leaving nothing to chance, especially after 35 House Republicans voted in support of the bill, going against the wishes of GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Hours before that vote on May 19, McConnell came out against the commission in a statement on the Senate floor.
        He'd previously spent days voicing his skepticism about the legislation privately among his fellow Republican senators.
        Other members of the GOP conference fell in line behind McConnell against the bill last week, including Sen. Richard Burr, the retiring North Carolina Republican who voted to convict Donald Trump in January. Burr issued a statement last Thursday opposing the House bill.
        According to one Republican on Capitol Hill, McConnell sent an email to the rest of the GOP conference highlighting and recommending Burr's statement.
        But despite those overt signals, Republicans say the Kentucky senator has been even more insistent this week as the debate on the January 6 bill in the Senate approached. According to the other Republican familiar with the effort, McConnell made an impassioned case against the commission to a group of GOP senators behind closed doors this week.
        "I've made my position pretty clear," McConnell told CNN's Manu Raju when asked if he was lobbying his colleagues hard on this.
        Despite his opposition to a commission to further investigate the Capitol riot, McConnell has publicly stated that the events of January 6 were encouraged by Trump.
        "Former President Trump's actions that preceded the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty," said McConnell in a February floor speech after he voted to acquit Trump on a single article of impeachment. "Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day."
          McConnell was also telling Republican colleagues after January 6 that he wanted Trump "gone" and hoped the Republican Party would move on from him.
          But since then, McConnell seems to have accepted Trump's continued popularity within the party. Less than two weeks after his floor speech condemning Trump, he told Fox News' Bret Baier he would "absolutely" support the 2024 Republican nominee for president, even if that nominee is Trump.

          CNN's Dana Bash, Manu Raju, Kristin Wilson and Morgan Rimmer contributed to this report.

          LINK

          photo
          VIDEO OF THE DAY: Joe Manchin comes out with jaw-dropping response to Republican obstruction
          Republicans continue to negotiate in bad faith, frustrating GOP-friendly Democrats like Manchin, who thus far has refused to eliminate the filibuster to cut through right-wing obstructionism.

          Take Action: Demand the Senate pass common sense gun safety laws!




          photo
          Tucker Carlson FINALLY gets shut down
          No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: We've been waiting for this.

          Matt Gaetz floats presidential run despite being target of sex trafficking probe
          Will the primaries for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination be run at least partially out of prison?

          Paul Ryan enters GOP civil war, challenges Republicans to move past Trump
          Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are gearing up to use their first successful legislative filibuster of the Biden administration to kill a bipartisan commission into Trump's insurrection — the party's latest rebuke to democracy.

          Take Action: Support Joe Cunningham's plan for South Carolina to replace Confederate Memorial Day with an Election Day holiday!

          Biden mocks Republicans for promoting recovery plan they voted against
          While in Cleveland touting his ambitious infrastructure plans, President Biden took a moment to call out the hypocrisy running rampant through the GOP, eliciting laughter from the crowd.

          Intelligence officials said to have untapped evidence on virus origins
          Following a briefing by intelligence officials regarding unreviewed evidence that could potentially provide answers on the origins of the virus, President Biden called for a redoubling of efforts to uncover the truth.

          photo
          Richard Ojeda unleashes fury on #KremlinCruz after the Senator crossed a line by mocking US military personnel
          OD Action partner: Ted Cruz won't be able to skedaddle to Cancun after watching this 60 sec clip.

          Prosecutors announce fresh charges against "MAGA Caravan" leader, others in January 6 insurrection
          Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

          GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski slams McConnell for trying to block the Capitol riot commission for "short-term political gain"
          McConnell and other Republicans reportedly fear such a commission could hurt the GOP in the 2022 midterm elections, a position the Alaska senator described as "a decision for the short-term political gain at the expense of understanding."

          Feds probing whether Ukraine used Giuliani to meddle in 2020 election
          The investigation into the use of Rudy as a Ukrainian pawn reportedly started in the last months of the Trump presidency.

          Children should keep masking up, CDC director says
          CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in congressional testimony on Wednesday that grade-school-age children can still contract and spread the virus.

          photo

          Seriously?

          Meanwhile...

          Hope...


          Today’s Action: Reduce our military budget when we withdraw from Afghanistan!

          President Biden has a goal to pull our military from Afghanistan by mid-July – ending America’s longest war (though our tentacular "War on ISIS" is still active in many countries, as are our financial contributions to other wars, including Saudia Arabia’s war on Yemen and Israel’s occupation of Palestinians).

          The devastating war in Afghanistan has cost up to $50,000,000,000 a year in American taxpayer money. Which means the end of this war should allow an accompanying reduction in military spending...so that we can use that money for desperately needed domestic issues that Republicans always insist "we can’t afford."

          Call or email your Members of Congress and demand the $50 billion/year spent on the war in Afghanistan is cut from the military spending when the war ends! Reduce the military budget and increase domestic priorities!

          23 Members of Congress have written to President Biden with this request. They correctly point out how much of an impact $50 billion/year could make in addressing basic human rights needs in our country, from ending homelessness to increasing health care access to continuing to battle the pandemic.

          The war in Afghanistan is a 20-year stain in our history: approximately 40,000 Afghan civilians and over 2,000 American troops dead. Let’s now urge Congress to use that $50 billion to improve lives...not destroy them.

          Email or call (202.224.3121) your Members of Congress and urge them to remove the cost of the war in Afghanistan from the military budget, and reinvest that $50 billion/year into human rights domestic priorities!


          -
          Labels: , , , , , , ,

          No comments:

          Post a Comment

          Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

          Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

          Trump’s CRAZY 4AM POST Leaves MAGA with REGRET

            CORRUPT DOG KILLER KRISTI NOEM TOM HOMAN  MARCO RUBIO  MIKE HUCKABEE  ELISE STEFANIK ARAB AMERICANS  ABBAS ALEWIEH - UNCOMMITED MOVEMENT I...