Senate Democrats have handed Mitch McConnell another
defeat, as they refused to yield to his threats by blocking a human
trafficking bill that contains poison bill abortion language.
Republicans came up five votes short of the number needed to advance the bill. The final vote was 55-43.
Before the vote Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said,
“In an hour or so, the Senate will vote to end debate on the human
trafficking and child pornography legislation. That vote is going to
fail. I know that. The Majority Leader knows that. And it is going to
fail because Republicans have chosen to manufacture a political fight
that has nothing to do with human trafficking. Abortion legislation has
no place in a human trafficking bill.”
Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY) complained that
President Obama needs to make Senate Democrats support the bill, ” The
White House needs to get involved here too. So far, the White House has
barely lifted a finger to help us pass this legislation. That needs to
change. I think the White House should do this because it’s the right
thing to do. But if that’s not enough, they should also consider the
consequences of Democrats making a historic mistake.”
The mistake was made by McConnell and his
Republicans who thought that they could slide unrelated anti-abortion
language into a human trafficking bill. Senate Republicans are getting
desperate for a win. They can’t pass their own legislation. They refuse
to cooperate with Democrats to pick up the six votes that they need on a
variety of bills. McConnell has resorted to trying sneak pieces of
their agenda into unrelated legislation.
The reality of the Senate is that Democrats are
firmly in control. Nothing is moving forward without their support. If
Mitch McConnell has any interest in passing legislation, he needs to
change his approach to start meeting Democrats in the middle.
Sen. McConnell’s (R-KY) time has Majority Leader has
been a lesson in incompetence. The nomination of Loretta Lynch will
eventually come up for a vote. The Majority Leader thought that he could
break Senate Democrats by holding the Lynch nomination hostage, but
Democrats have remained solidly unified.
With 2016 right around the corner, the clock is ticking on Mitch McConnell’s failed Senate leadership.
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