McConnell Ignores Threat, Breaks With McCarthy By Praising Spending Bill: Senate Republicans Achieved ‘Essentially All Our Priorities’

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) praised the omnibus spending bill to fund the government through September of 2023 during a press conference Tuesday, despite House Republicans crying foul.

“Well, we’re moving toward completing the business for the year and I think in a highly productive way from the point of view of the vast majority of Senate Republicans, this omnibus bill, it will be on the floor, provides a real dollar increase for the defense baseline and a real dollar cut,” McConnell told reporters.

“For the non-defense baseline if you exclude veterans. That is absolutely critical in breaking the pattern we’ve had in the past where we’ve ended up in one of these situations where every time Republicans tried to get an increase in defense, we would, in effect, had to pay a ransom to the Democrats on the domestic side, wholly aside from the needs of the country,” he continued, adding:

So let’s step back and say what are the real needs of the country right now? During the defense, part of our expenditure is making sure the Defense Department can deal with the major threats coming from Russia and China, providing assistance for the Ukrainians to defeat the Russians. That’s the number one priority for the United States right now, according to most Republicans. That’s sort of how we see the challenges confronting the country at the moment.

So admittedly, I’m pretty proud of the fact that with a Democratic president, a Democratic House and Democratic Senate, we were able to achieve through this omnibus spending bill essentially all of our priorities.

McConnell’s comments directly contradicted several House Republicans who penned a letter urging GOP Senators not to vote for the $1.7 trillion bill and threatening retaliation for those who do.

“We are obliged to inform you that if any omnibus passes in the remaining days of this Congress, we will oppose and whip opposition to any legislative priority of those senators who vote for this bill — including the Republican leader,” the letter from Monday night reads — making a clear threat of retribution.

House GOP leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) shared the letter on Twitter and wrote, “Agreed. Except no need to whip—when I’m Speaker, their bills will be dead on arrival in the House if this nearly $2T monstrosity is allowed to move forward over our objections and the will of the American people.”

Watch the full clip above via C-SPAN

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