Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Thursday praised President Joe Biden as “a first-rate person,” but isn’t thrilled with the company he keeps.
In remarks to reporters, McConnell vowed to fight the Biden administration’s political agenda that’s “going in exactly the wrong direction,” The Hill reported.
“I like him personally, I mean, we’ve been friends for a long time,” McConnell said. “He’s a first-rate person. Nevertheless, this is a bold, left-wing administration. I don’t think they have a mandate to do what they’re doing.”
McConnell, comparing his job as minority leader to being a “defensive coordinator,” described Republicans as in “a reactive mode.”
“I would love to find some things that we can agree on,” he told reporters, The Hill reported, but noted there’s “big philosophical differences and that’s going to make it more and more difficult for us to reach bipartisan agreements.”
The Hill noted the Kentucky Republican and Democrat Senator from Delaware served together in the Senate — and that they cut deals during the Obama administration, when Biden was vice president.
When Biden completed his final term as vice president in January 2017 — ending his term as president of the Senate as well — senators including McConnell praised him on the Senate floor.
But according to The Hill, McConnell disclosed recently the two have barely spoken since Biden was sworn in Jan. 20. Biden did, however, call McConnell to talk about his infrastructure package this week, The Hill reported.
Democrats have control of the White House and both chambers of Congress for the first time in about a decade, The Hill noted — but McConnell insisted voters didn’t give Democrats an overwhelming mandate.
“I don’t think the American people gave them a mandate to drive our country all the way to the political left … I’m going to fight them every step of the way,” McConnell said.
The White House and congressional leadership have shown little interest so far in narrowing big-ticket plans to win GOP support, The Hill reported.
Democrats passed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill by reconciliation, which allows them to bypass the Senate filibuster, and appear poised to do the same for a roughly $2 trillion infrastructure package.
McConnell suggested the new effort is no more popular with the GOP.
“I think that package that they’re putting together now as much as we would like to address infrastructure is not going to get support from our side because I think … the last thing the economy needs right now is a big whooping tax increase on all the productive sections of our economy,” McConnell told reporters, The Hill reported.
On Wednesday, Biden laid out his “Build Back Better” program of extensive investment spread over eight years.
Putting infrastructure at the centerpiece of the president’s economic agenda, it calls for the injection of $620 billion into transport, including upgrading 20,000 miles of roads, repairing thousands of bridges and doubling funding for public transport.
The cost would be partly covered by raising corporate tax from 21% to 28%.
The new spending offensive comes soon after the United States passed a nearly $2 trillion COVID-19 economic stimulus plan.
Source: Newmax
