McConnell admits he wastes time on 'show votes' just to hurt Democrats
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is using his perch to waste time playing political games.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell admitted that he is wasting the Senate’s time engaging in “show votes” meant to hurt Democrats.
The revelation came during a Wednesday interview on Fox News. When Fox host Bret Bair asked McConnell if the Senate vote on the Green New Deal was merely a “show vote,” McConnell answered, “It was.”
The Green New Deal is an ambitious plan put forth by some Democrats to curb the impact of climate change, create jobs, and build a cleaner, healthier future. But rather than take the issue of climate change seriously, McConnell held a vote in February on the legislation without any hearings and with no intention that the bill would pass.
On Wednesday, McConnell went on to tell the Fox News audience that “once in a while people oughta go on record and decide whether they are willing to vote for what they say they’re for.”
That’s an odd statement from McConnell, considering months earlier he took the exact opposite stance.
During the 35-day Trump shutdown, McConnell called Senate votes to reopen the government and provide paychecks to 800,000 federal workers “absolutely pointless.”
“The last thing we need to do right now is trade pointless, absolutely pointless, show votes back and forth across the aisle,” McConnell said in January.
Just to be clear, votes to provide paychecks to hundreds of thousands of federal workers and end an economically disastrous government shutdown are pointless show votes, but votes mocking efforts to address climate change are acceptable show votes in McConnell’s world.
McConnell’s hypocrisy goes even further. While he gladly held a show vote on the Green New Deal, he has declared he will block all efforts to bring up the House-passed bill to enhance voting rights and protect democracy, known as H.R. 1, or the For the People Act.
He also refuses to bring up House-passed bills on gun safety, paycheck equality, and the Violence Against Women Act.
It appears there are two categories of show votes for McConnell.
He is more than willing to hold show votes that may hurt his political opponents. However, votes that help working families, protect schools from the next mass murderer, or safeguard the foundational rights in a democracy fall into McConnell’s “absolutely pointless” show vote category.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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