mitch mcconnell

Republican senators are pushing controversial immigration and banking amendments to the unemployment insurance measure.

The stalling of legislation to expand unemployment insurance (UI) has little to do with the benefit itself. First, there’s a push to attach an extended homebuyer tax credit to the bill — something the Obama administration is wary of.
But also there’s this: Republicans are hoping to attach a number of amendments related [...]

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wants a “further review” in the wake of new White House guidelines reversing an earlier policy that prohibited health insurers from urging Medicare beneficiaries to oppose the Democrats’ health reforms, which include clipping more than $100 billion from Medicare Advantage plans.
The prohibition sparked an outcry last month, after the [...]

Last week, former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kans.) urged GOP leaders — namely Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — not to resist health reform simply for the sake of resisting health reform.
“I don’t want the Republicans putting up a ‘no’ sign and saying, ‘We’re not open for business,’” Dole said, according to the [...]

Much is being made this week of the Obama administration’s efforts to showcase those Republicans who’ve come out in vocal support of health care reform this year, including former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Add to that list former Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole (R-Kans.). The one-time presidential candidate blasted [...]

Even as Senate Finance Committee Democrats are patting themselves on the back over a damn fine cost estimate for their enormous health reform proposal, Republican leaders are quick to remind us that it’s a far different bill than the rest of the chamber will be voting on. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) just issued [...]

An amendment to the defense appropriations bill sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to compel Gen. Stanley McChrystal to testify before Congress by mid-November has failed on a party-line vote of 59 to 40. It was an escalation of a gambit most recently backed by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to cleave McChrystal from President Obama. [...]

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) used the Senate debate over the defense appropriations bill to urge President Obama to “soon explain to the American people his reasons either for accepting The McChrystal Plan” — a McConnell release capitalized the term — or for choosing a different course in Afghanistan. It’s hardly an unreasonable suggestion, [...]

It’s no news that Republicans are up in arms over the recent White House decision to bar insurance companies from encouraging their customers to oppose the Democrats’ health reform plans. But today they upped the ante.
In a letter to the White House, Republican leaders have threatened to block confirmation of 10 White House nominees to [...]

As I observed yesterday, one of the ways that the Republicans are going to try to box President Obama in on escalating in Afghanistan is to call for Gen. Stanley McChrystal to testify before Congress in the hopes of getting him on record contradicting Obama. (The Washington Times has a longer piece today on that [...]