Senate Democrats put GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell on blast in a new report released on Tuesday that blames him for singlehandedly standing in the way of securing America’s elections.
“For years, Sen. McConnell has fought to increase the impact of dark money and corporate spending in our elections,” the report states. “But now, after reportedly fighting efforts to expose Putin’s interference during the 2016 elections, Senator McConnell is blocking bipartisan reforms that would secure our elections from foreign interference.”
The report lays out a litany of ways McConnell has undermined American democracy for political purposes – from his defense of corporate money flooding U.S. elections to his steadfast opposition to campaign finance reform.
Most recently, McConnell has stood in the way of bipartisan legislation to secure U.S. elections from foreign interference. The intent of such legislation is to ensure that what happened in 2016 doesn’t happen again.
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“It has been almost 1,000 days since the U.S. intelligence community concluded that Russia interfered in our elections – but instead of working with Democrats to improve the integrity of our democracy, Senator McConnell is blocking commonsense election security measures,” the report says.
Protecting Trump is more important than securing American democracy
As the report lays out, Mitch McConnell has always been a fan of letting special interests have outsize influence in American elections. But the Senate majority leader is now making it clear that he’s okay with foreign interests and adversaries tilting the playing field, so long as his party stands to benefit.
Not to mention: If McConnell plays ball on this issue and joins Democrats in passing legislation to secure American elections from interference, it would be an admission by the Senate leader that the Trump presidency was made possible with the help of a foreign adversary.
In Mitch McConnell’s new role as Donald Trump’s Senate lapdog, he’s not about to let that happen – and American democracy will suffer as a result.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
