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Some commentators have accused Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of caving to Democratic pressure by agreeing to hold the vote on final passage of the national health care bill on Christmas Eve morning as opposed to the originally-planned 7 p.m. "Mitch McConnell Surrenders," reads one blog headline. "McConnell Weasels Out," reads another. But according to a well placed GOP Senate source, it was Majority Leader Harry Reid who approached McConnell in hopes of holding the vote earlier, and McConnell, who was prepared to go ahead with the evening vote, got some key concessions from Reid in return for agreeing to...

I listened to Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell on Sean Hannity’s radio show yesterday. He sounded tired and barely able to rally the troops against the Democrats’ government health care takeover. He told Sean’s guest host at the end of an obligatory-sounding critique of Harry Reid that, and I quote, “We’re going to fight ‘em all the way to the finish line.” That’s what he said: “We’re going to fight ‘em all the way to the finish line.” Before the cloture vote on sneaky Sunday, Sen. John McCain had sounded the same message with more energy, invoking John Paul Jones...

WASHINGTON — It may be the only bipartisan agreement that Congress reaches this year on overhauling health care. Republicans, under pressure not to wreck Christmas for lawmakers and their staffs, agreed Tuesday that Senate passage of the Democrats' controversial bill seemed inevitable and scaled back procedural-delay mechanisms to allow a vote by the morning of Christmas Eve.Had the full debate continued, the Senate would have voted at around 9 p.m. Thursday, too late for many lawmakers and their staff members to get home in time for the holiday. Instead, the vote is set for 8 a.m. President Barack Obama had...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Tuesday set a Christmas Eve vote on final congressional approval of a bill to provide a two-month increase in the federal debt limit. The measure, passed last week by the House of Representatives, would increase the debt limit, now at $12.1 trillion, by $290 billion. Senate Democrats may approve the measure largely by themselves because most, if not all, Republicans are expected to vote against it, Republican aides said. Democrats control the Senate, 60-40.

Senate Republicans have agreed to end their filibuster of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) health care reform bill a few hours early on Christmas Eve, a move that will allow the GOP to technically stick to its promise to force Dec. 24 vote on the measure while still making it possible for Senators to return home for the holiday.

I just heard on the radio, the McConnell might allow the final vote to happen earlier Christmas Eve? Anyone else hearing this?

WASHINGTON -- Republicans on Monday slammed the provisions Democrats inserted in their far-reaching health-care overhaul bill at the last minute to win over individual senators. With Senate action now almost certain by Christmas, a battle to shape perceptions of the legislation is heating up, and Republicans are wasting no time attacking it as sullied by backroom deals. "If this bill cannot pass without the carve-outs and the special deals, what other evidence could we possibly need that this bill is bad policy?" said Sen. Mike Johanns (R., Neb.).

Senate Republicans blasted the chamber's new healthcare bill in no uncertain terms on Saturday. "Make no mistake, this bill will reshape our nation and our lives," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement. "This bill is a legislative trainwreck of historic proportions." McConnell's Democratic counterpart, Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.), unveiled the final language for his party's healthcare bill while simultaneously sewing up the 60th vote for the bill in Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.). "The history that's being made here is the ignoring of the will of the American people," McConnell said. Other Republican lawmakers dumped on...

Here is video of GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calling the Democrats' Senate Health Care Bill a "legislative train wreck." McConnell was reacting to news that Democrats now have the 60 votes to invoke cloture and move to a vote on final passage on the bill. They hope to do so on Christmas Eve. McConnell said the bill will lead to higher taxes, and that it includes "permissive language" on government-funded abortions. He said the bill will cut back on Medicare, Medicaid, and Hospice funding. McConnell pointed out that the bill now contains a special deal for Medicaid funding...

American Thinker readers are invited to poll their U.S. Senators concerning their reactions to Climategate. Recently, AT contacted the press offices of GOP Senators DeMint, Graham, McConnell, Hutchison, and McCain and posted their statements, or more accurately their absence of statements, on Climategate.

Mitch McConnell: Democrats are ducking Senate rulesBy MANU RAJU | 12/16/09 6:32 PM EST Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) accused Democrats Wednesday of circumventing Senate rules by ending the reading of a 767-page amendment without permission from other members of the body. Earlier Wednesday, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) forced Senate clerks to read an amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would have established a single-payer health care system. The reading paralyzed the Senate until the third hour, when Sanders withdrew the amendment. At that point, the Senate carried on with debating the health care bill, which Democrats are...

Whatta boss that Harry Reid is -- al ways looking out for the welfare of his members and staff. Seems the Senate majority leader asked Republicans to forego a scheduled debate so that everyone could stay home until Monday. "I see no reason to punish everybody this weekend," he said. A real standup guy, that Harry Reid -- notwithstanding the fact that, days earlier, he was quite emphatic on the need to work through the weekend. "Fourteen thousand people lose their health insurance every day in America," he said. "The American people don't get weekends off from this injustice." Why...

After Lying Low in Wake of 2008 Presidential-Election Loss, Arizona Senator Mounts Opposition to Obama's Top Priority. BY NAFTALI BENDAVID & GREG HITT Sen. John McCain kept a relatively low profile for months after he lost the 2008 presidential election to Barack Obama. Those days are over. In the health-care battle, the Arizona Republican has suddenly emerged as the John McCain of old -- a vigorous political combatant. He has publicly hammered Democratic proposals, engaged in heated exchanges on the Senate floor and lent his voice to automated telephone calls pressuring Democratic senators in Arkansas, Colorado and Nebraska on their...

Since coming to Capitol Hill, current Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been recognized by some in the media as a master strategist when it comes to playing the legislative rules for all they’re worth. But, with amendments to the Obama government health care takeover sailing through the Senate almost as quickly as they’re read, some conservative insiders are wondering why the GOP is not taking advantage of Senate rules to slow down the votes and delay the final vote until after Christmas. That would be Harry Reid’s worst nightmare come true. According to the latest Rasmussen Poll, only 41% of...

D]uring the 2008 campaign, Mr. Obama promised to reduce the federal deficit. But his tsunami of deficit spending – in the failed “stimulus”, nationalization of GM and Chrysler, his $3.6 trillion budget for FY 2010 and more – has created an enormous voter backlash. In his first 100 days, he increased spending and grew government faster than at any time since World War 2. So says Jeb Babbin in his article, Roll Obama Back, Babbin’s main point is that Democrats have made a horrible mess of the economy and war and if Republicans are going to save the American people...

We need to peel off one Democrat to kill this thing. For those of you glued to your laptops when the abortion known as PelosiCare was passed a couple of weeks ago, this Saturday's fight in the Senate will consist of 10 hours of debate, which were won by Republicans in return for their not having the entire bill read on the floor. According to Roll Call (subscription required, but the snippet is there), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) will join the other 39 Republicans in the filibuster. The first vote is scheduled for 8:00 p.m., so, if my math is correct,...

The U.S. Senate will not rush consideration of healthcare reform legislation sought by President Barack Obama, and lawmakers can expect a number of amendments, the chamber's top Republican said on Sunday. "This will be on the floor for quite a long time," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told "Fox News Sunday" ahead of possible action this week on a procedural vote to bring the legislation up for debate on the Senate floor. McConnell would not elaborate on a time frame for consideration or say whether the measure to reform the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system could clear the chamber by...

To regain its strength, an out-of-power party like the Republicans needs ideas to fuel its recovery and leaders to promote and deliver them. In this war of ideas, those committed to presenting a sensible, philosophically grounded conservative case to Americans play a special role. Because conservatives are distrustful of concentrated power, it is awkward to select just seven Washington power players, but here are my picks...

Mitch McConnell and his deputies in the Senate Republican leadership are responding very cautiously to Olympia Snowe’s decision to become the first GOP vote for a Democratic health care reform bill. That’s about all they can do. “My job as whip is not to twist her arm but to bring all the information that we can bring to bear on the issue and hope that people vote the way we would like to see them vote,” said McConnell’s No. 2, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). Kyl said a heavy-handed approach “doesn’t work.”

WASHINGTON -- Senate leaders on Thursday announced a climactic Finance Committee vote next week on health care legislation, even as Democrats and Republicans kept feuding over its cost and breadth of coverage. Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Finance Committee will vote Tuesday on a 10-year, $829-billion proposal that would expand coverage to 94 percent of eligible Americans-while reducing the federal deficit. A positive cost report on the legislation Wednesday from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office marked a turning point for its main author, Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont.

While the Department of Defense apparently is still attempting to block Senator Jim DeMint's fact finding trip to Honduras, he told Mark Levin this evening that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell interceded to lift the stop placed by John Kerry. ... Update: "They're telling me if I will just let a couple of their nominations go through without debate or a vote, then they will let me go on the trip," said Senator DeMint. Sounds like John Kerry learned a lot from then Senator Al Gore, who on the Senate floor asked for the highest bidder for his vote, one way...

Clyde and Bill just got off a blogger conference call with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to discuss the state of the health care debate. The conversation covered the issues of the Administration's heavy-handed attempts to suppress political free speech by barring Humana from telling its insureds the truth about ObamaCare, the status of the legislation in the Senate, and the potential use of reconciliation by the Democrats to ram it through with 51 votes. Senator McConnell dismissed the President's substantive involvement in the debate, dryly noting the president "would sign anything the Congress sent him, provided it had...

Not so long ago, Democrats were thrilled by the long length of Barack Obama's coattails. Creigh Deeds would be a lot more thrilled today if he could just step off. Mr. Deeds is the Democratic state senator running for governor of Virginia, and while he's at it, running away from his commander in chief. It ought to worry Democrats that their top recruit for the year already views their Washington agenda as a liability. It ought to worry Mr. Deeds that there seems no escape. The Virginian's problem is that he's a little too important to party leaders. The Obama...

Speaking on the Senate floor today, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell again highlighted an issue he first raised yesterday (video here) about how Democrats reacted to a health insurance company trying to inform its customers about how proposed health reform legislation in Congress could affect Medicare benefits.

Hard to believe what you are gonna see in this report.The Federal Government in this case (HHS) is telling health insurers what they can and can't say in their own mailings, now it has included what they can or can't put on their own website. Is this still America? for how long with these fools at the helm?

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is NOW speaking on the Senate floor about recent reports of intimidation in the health care debate. Specifically, the development concerning Humana, which is located in Louisville, KY. Background information below:

Sen. Mel Martinez will hold a health care forum tomorrow in Hialeah with Sen. John McCain and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. “This is going to be a frank discussion with health care providers, patients, and other stakeholders to air concerns about the current system and what steps Congress should take to address the problems," the retiring Martinez said in a statement.

KANSAS CITY, MO - Three Republican senators came to Children's Mercy Hospital Monday to meet with health care professionals. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell said we should focus on only the problems that need fixing and not revamp the whole thing. Senator McConnell joined Senators John McCain and Kit Bond before an invited crowd of mostly health professionals on Monday. "We have committed an act of generational death by laying on our children, grandchildren these multi-trillions of dollars," Sen. McCain said. "All of it, it strikes me argues once again for a much more targeted, incremental approach to health care...

In this uncertain moment for the party of Lincoln, behold the jaunty, robust specimen of Republican centrism. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California strides into a conference room in his Sacramento office with a smile, having wrestled down his state’s mammoth budget deficit in a compromise with a Democratic-controlled Legislature. . . . . . Now, across the country, see the slight, dour spokesman for orthodox Republicanism. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, leader of the shrunken Republican minority, will never be mistaken for a bodybuilder or a movie star. . . . . . Mr. Schwarzenegger does not rule out an...

Here is video of GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on with CNN's John King today where he said Obama's $787 billion Stimulus Bill was a "mistake," and that, "We can fairly, safely declare it now a failure." . . . . . (Watch Video)

A Republican senator and a Democratic congressmen are teaming up to promote legislation to name a new Veterans Affairs Hospital in Louisville after the late World War I-era veteran Robley Rex. Sen. Mitch McConnell and U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth introduced bills on Wednesday to honor Rex, who died at the age of 107 earlier this year. Both lawmakers say Rex was a strong advocate for veterans. Rex joined the Army when he was 18, just after World War I. He spent time in France and Germany before he was discharged in 1922. He was still volunteering at the Louisville VA...

Here is video today on Meet the Press where GOP Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Democrats should not be trying to "scrap the best Health Care in the world" in their drive to pass Government Health Care. McConnell said that a fundamental problem is that President Obama and the Democrats do not believe America already has the best Health Care in the world. McConnell said it is a standing joke around the Senate these days to ask, "Where will all the Canadians go for health care" if the Obama plan passes. Host David Gregory challenged McConnell on the...

(snip) "I'm saddened to learn of the passing of Walter Cronkite, one of the most influential newsmen of our time," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "I will never forget our memorable visit together to Hanoi on the 10th anniversary of the fall of Saigon."(snip)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Friday that he'll oppose Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, lending his voice to a chorus of conservatives who've vowed to vote no on making the appellate judge the court's first Hispanic justice. McConnell's announcement followed several days of Sotomayor testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, during which several panel members tried to unravel Sotomayor's views on race and determine if ethnic loyalty rather than judicial oath would influence her rulings. A day earlier, Kentucky's junior senator, Republican Jim Bunning, said he also found the jurist "unsuitable to be a member...

A senior aide says Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell plans to announce his opposition to President Barack Obama's high court nominee on Monday.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate's top Republican is lashing out at Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor for ruling against white firefighters who alleged reverse discrimination. Sen. Mitch McConnell says Sotomayor's decision as a federal appeals court judge suggests she allows her own agenda to cloud her judgment and favors certain groups.

Here is video of Sen. Mitch McConnell laying out the delays and denials that are commonplace in Canada's Government-run Health Care System - a precursor of what Americans can expect if President Obama succeeds in bringing socialized medicine to the United States. Some have argued that socialized medicine would work fine in America, much like Medicare for retired-age people. However, those who suggest it would be like Medicare forget that Medicare has functioned within the framework of a robust private health care system. Once Socialized Medicine becomes law, the private system will ultimately collapse, changing the landscape of medical care...

HOUSTON - The man who lost last year’s presidential election is once again battling his political rival. Senator john McCain of Arizona brought the fight for health care reform to Houston's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center on Tuesday. Along with republican senators john Cornyn of Texas and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, McCain told a group of doctors and nurses, government run health care is not the answer. He predicted the month of July will be "a great debate" between democrats and republicans in Washington. Congress goes back into session next week and McCain expects the Obama administration to start a hard...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) on Sunday said the Senate needs more time to review the record of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor after new material surfaced from her time with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. “Just a day or so ago, we discovered that there are 300 or so boxes of additional material that has just been discovered from her time working with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund,” McConnell said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” “The committee needs to have access to that material and time to work through it so we...

He Wants Us to Believe Mediocrity is a Sign of Success One must wonder what Mitch McConnell paid or did to have the Washington Post’s Perry Bacon, Jr. write this total fluff piece on Mitch McConnell. When he was fighting campaign finance reform a decade ago, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was dubbed Darth Vader by his critics. He embraced the nickname, even announcing “Darth Vader has arrived” at a news conference.Well, when the article starts out with a gross distortion of the facts, we can only conclude that McConnell is desperate to hang on to power and distract from his...

Florida’s Republican Governor Charlie Crist is getting a big boost for his U.S. Senate bid from a bevy of GOP A-listers. Helping to raise money for Crist in Washington are Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chairman Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. The power trio will be on hand – along with yet other Republican luminaries – to help attract major donors at an event for Crist slated for June 22 at the NRSC, according to a report in The Hill, which obtained an invitation. The week...

Leahy: No worries, Sotomayor told me she’d follow the law posted at 4:25 pm on June 2, 2009 by Allahpundit Send to a Friend | Share on Facebook | printer-friendly Small comfort that she’s unwilling to admit outright she’ll be applying The One’s “empathy” standard in close cases. Even those who profess a belief in forms of racial superiority have a limit to what they’ll say publicly, I guess. As for whether The One was correct in insisting that she misspoke when she made her “wise Latina” comment or whether, as anyone who’s thought about it for five seconds would...

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s decision to run for the Senate in 2010 set the stage for a potentially brutal GOP primary battle between moderates lining up behind Crist and conservatives backing his challenger Marco Rubio. Crist has a huge lead over Rubio in a new poll of registered Republicans in the Sunshine State. But the Senate race could showcase the deep divide that national Republicans are struggling to overcome after two consecutive election-year blowouts. Even more troubling for the beleaguered party – it’s just one of many moderate-versus-conservative primaries taking shape in top races next year.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Jim Bunning acknowledged Tuesday that during a meeting in December, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told him that "I was too old and I couldn't win" a re-election battle in 2010. Bunning, 77, went on to call McConnell a "control freak." He also said he'll fare well in Kentucky without McConnell's endorsement in the Republican primary, since during the senior senator's tenure as a member of the GOP leadership the Republicans have lost several seats and could lose more in 2010. "If Mitch McConnell doesn't endorse me that may be the best thing that could happen to...

Charlie Crist is a popular candidate best positioned to keep a Senate seat in Republican hands. But he has also broken with party orthodoxy on environmental and voting rights issues. BY PETER WALLSTEN Washington. With the Republican Party diminished in power and embroiled in debate over whether to broaden its ideology or adhere to core ideals, top GOP officials today took the unusual step of inserting themselves into a party primary, picking a moderate U.S. Senate candidate over a conservative in Florida. In endorsing Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas,...

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Kentucky's embattled junior senator is blaming GOP leader Mitch McConnell for losing Arlen Specter to the Democrats and costing the party Senate seats. Sen. Jim Bunning has been at odds lately with McConnell, Kentucky's senior senator. McConnell hasn't publicly asked Bunning to retire but hasn't endorsed him for re-election next year. Bunning says he's still in the race but Republican leaders have been sending not-so-subtle messages that he should retire rather than face a strong Democratic challenge.

After losing Arlen Specter to the Democrats, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell moved quickly to gauge the level of discontent of one of his caucus’ few remaining moderates. McConnell sat down privately with Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine on Wednesday and let her vent about what she thinks is going wrong with the Grand Old Party. It was a one-on-one follow-up to a New York Times essay in which Snowe contended the party didn’t need to lose Specter. After the meeting, Snowe had nothing but good things to say about McConnell, R-Ky., and focused her criticism on other wings...

Sen. Arlen Specter's switch to the Democratic Party is prompting his campaign donors large and small to demand their money back, including several Republican senators whose political action committees gave tens of thousands of dollars to the Pennsylvania lawmaker. Sen. Johnny Isakson didn't waste any time putting himself at the front of the refund line. The Georgia Republican asked Mr. Specter for a return of his leadership political action committee's $5,000 contribution Tuesday on the Senate floor - just hours after Mr. Specter announced he was changing his political stripes. "Senator Specter readily agreed to return the contribution," said Isakson...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—President Barack Obama came under fire Tuesday for including $80 million to close Guantanamo in a massive funding request to fight America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The $83.4 billion request to Congress was submitted on April 9, when lawmakers were on break over the Easter holidays. Tucked into the 99-page bill were a few paragraphs about Guantanamo—including a request for funds for foreign countries that accept prisoners. U.S. efforts to have other countries take in detainees have largely been a flop—stoking fears the men will end up in America. "The administration needs to tell the American...