Barreling into a thorny election season, Republican leader Mitch McConnell said America’s decision to entrust the Senate to his party in 2014 been a resounding success and should continue in the new year.
The Kentucky Republican cheered a series of accomplishments, from a rewrite of the No Child Left Behind education law to fixes to Medicare’s outdated payment system, while blaming Democratic intransigence for Congress’ inability to fund the government through the normal spending process.
“It’s pretty darn clear,” he said, citing multiple filibusters of appropriations bills.
Mr. McConnell is hoping to protect what’s effectively a 54-46 Senate majority with 24 GOP incumbents on the ballot this November — Democrats must defend just 10 seats — in a topsy-turvy election year starring Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee whose personal feuds and more strident positions on immigration, trade and other topics have turned off members of his own party.
As Mr. McConnell eyes Senate races that amount to a “knife fight in a phone booth,” his discomfort with the top of the ticket was on full display in a press conference wrapping up Congress’ pre-election agenda.
“This is not something I’m going to discuss today — the impact of the presidential race on the Senate,” he said, later adding, “because I choose not to.”
His Democratic rivals said Mr. McConnell shouldn’t have that luxury, tying eight years of GOP friction with President Obama to Mr. Trump’s free-wheeling candidacy.
“He’s their Frankenstein,” retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, said. “They own him.”
They also brushed off polls that suggest voters will support Senate GOP incumbents regardless of their feelings about Mr. Trump, saying it is “happy talk” on the part of Republicans.
“I think we will win a majority in the Senate,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat who is poised to lead Democrats next year.
Congress skipped town late Wednesday after averting a shutdown showdown, approving a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open through early December after they broke an impasse over assistance for Michigan residents suffering lead-laced water.
The bill includes $1.1 billion in new money to combat Zika and $500 million for flood relief in Louisiana, Maryland and West Virginia.
Leaders agreed to put off work on the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, until a water projects bill comes back to Congress after the election.
As Mr. McConnell blamed Senate Democrats for derailing the appropriations process, his rivals took credit Thursday for pushing the GOP to fund the fight against a series of health crises, saying Republicans are hamstrung by hard-right members in the House who often balk at new spending and bipartisan policy items.
Democrats said Mr. McConnell himself has been an obstacle to key priorities, including hearings on Judge Merrick Garland, Mr. Obama’s pick to fill the Supreme Court.
“The Republican Senate has been a flop,” Mr. Reid said.
Mr. McConnell didn’t flinch, saying either Mr. Trump or Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton will choose who replaces late Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February.
He also encouraged the next president to warm up to America’s role in the “trade business,” even as both Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton lay out their opposition to Mr. Obama’s push for Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multinational trade agreement.
Both Mr. McConnell and Speaker Paul D. Ryan have said they do not plan to bring up the agreement in the lame-duck session after the election, arguing the political environment is too caustic and it would fail.
Criminal justice reform is also off the table, Mr. McConnell said, as members of his caucus oppose it as soft on crime.
Instead, Mr. McConnell said he wants to push legislation that speeds medical cures during the lame duck, while passing batches of “minibus” spending bills to fund the government past Dec. 9.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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