Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tried to place the blame on Democrats for the government shutdown because they won’t give Trump wall money.
McConnell said on the Senate floor:
Today, my friend the Democratic Leader is proposing to add a Senate shutdown to the partial federal government shutdown and block even more of the people’s business — all to avoid more of what he already voted for. Maybe the Democratic Party was for secure borders before they were against them. Or maybe they’re just making it up as they go along. Or maybe they are that dead-set on opposing this particular President on any issue, for any reason, just for the sake of opposing him.
Of course, walls and barriers are not immoral. How silly. Enforcing our laws wasn’t immoral back in 2006 when then-Senator Clinton, then-Senator Obama, and my friend the Democratic Leader were proud to vote for physical barriers. Well, the only things that have changed between then and now are the political winds and the occupant of the White House. So this is no newfound, principled objection. It’s just political spite. A partisan tantrum, being prioritized over the public interest.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Video:
"Walls and barriers are not immoral. How silly!" Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says in a speech on the Senate floor, accusing Democrats of "political spite" and "a partisan tantrum" on the eighteenth day of the government shutdown https://t.co/8y8E7soMmH pic.twitter.com/MBRW7H8WPn
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 8, 2019
For more than two weeks, they’ve indulged in that partisan tantrum rather than negotiate in good-faith over border security funding — hardly something that should be a partisan subject in the first place. They’ve put that partisan tantrum ahead of keeping a quarter of the government open. And now, they’re saying their partisan tantrum is more urgent than pressing legislation that concerns our alliance with Israel or the Syrian civil war. Well, I hope that isn’t the case. I hope that my Democratic colleagues don’t pile on even more pointless obstruction. I hope they don’t block the Senate from turning to this important legislation — legislation that they support — later today.
The Shutdown Pressure Is Getting To Mitch McConnell
That was a nifty bit of fantasy that McConnell wove on the Senate floor. The reality is that the Senate Majority Leader was stabbed in the back by his own president who refused to sign a government funding bill because he was catching heat from his right flank. Democrats aren’t throwing the tantrum. Trump is tantruming because he promised a wall that he couldn’t deliver.
Democrats have no demands in these negotiations. They want nothing. It is Trump who is throwing a political tantrum, and Mitch McConnell is caught in the middle. The pressure is getting to McConnell, and his old game of blaming Democrats won’t work this time.
There will be no wall, and it Mitch McConnell who Trump will try to blame for his own failure.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
