Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell railed at his Democratic counterpart, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a letter to President Biden after the New York Democrat chided Republicans in a floor speech on Thursday after the Kentucky Republican agreed to help pass a temporary debt ceiling increase.
The speech went viral on social media Friday showing, at one point, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia burying his face in his hands in apparent frustration.
“Last night, Republicans filled the leadership vacuum that has troubled the Senate since January. I write to inform you that I will not provide such assistance again if your all-Democrat government drifts into another avoidable crisis,” McConnell began.
“The Senate Democratic Leader had three months’ notice to handle one of his most basic governing duties. Amazingly, even this proved to be asking too much,” McConnell continued.
“Senator Schumer spent 11 weeks claiming he lacked the time and the leadership skills to manage a straightforward process that would take less than two weeks. Whether through weakness or an intentional effort to bully his own members, Senator Schumer marched the nation to the doorstep of disaster,” he added.
“Embarrassingly, it got to the point where Senators on both sides were pleading for leadership to fill the void and protect our citizens. I stepped up.”
In his speech, Schumer claimed that the crisis would have been the “first-ever Republican manufactured default on the national debt,” though McConnell warned months ago the GOP was not going to help pass a debt ceiling increase.
“Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans insisted they wanted a solution to the debt ceiling, but said Democrats must raise it alone by going through a drawn-out convoluted and risky reconciliation process,” Schumer said, adding: “That was simply unacceptable to my caucus.”
McConnell went on to note that the GOP “saved” the country from a potential government default.
“Remarkably, even as Republicans saved Americans from his crisis, Senator Schumer kept compounding his failures,” the Kentucky GOP leader wrote.
“Last night, in a bizarre spectacle, Senator Schumer exploded in a rant that was so partisan, angry, and corrosive that even Democratic Senators were visibly embarrassed by him and for him,” he said. “This tantrum encapsulated and escalated a pattern of angry incompetence from Senator Schumer. It was reminiscent of last year when he joined a protest on the steps of the Supreme Court and shouted threats at individual Justices by name.
“This childish behavior only further alienated the Republican members who helped facilitate this short-term patch. It has poisoned the well even further,” McConnell continued before dropping a warning.
“I am writing to make it clear that in light of Senator Schumer’s hysterics and my grave concerns about the ways that another vast, reckless, partisan spending bill would hurt Americans and help China, I will not be a party to any further effort to mitigate the consequences of Democratic mismanagement,” he said.
“Your lieutenants on Capitol Hill now have the time they claimed they lacked to address the debt ceiling through standalone reconciliation, and all the tools to do it. They cannot invent another crisis and ask for my help,” he concluded.
Jon has over 30 years' worth of reporting experience, as well as an author and U.S. Army veteran. He has a BA in political science from Ashford University and an MA in national security studies/intelligence analysis from American Military University.
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