The Tea Party Patriots, FreedomWorks, and the Senate Conservatives Fund called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and the rest of Senate leadership to resign over their inability to pass President Donald Trump’s agenda, which includes repealing and replacing Obamacare, confirming federal judges, and funding a southern border wall.
The grassroots conservative leaders chastised the members of Senate leadership, which includes Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Sen. John Thune (R-SD), and Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY). The conservatives argued that the Senate leadership should resign to make way for more effective lawmakers who will enact the president’s populist agenda.
Jenny Beth Martin, the co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, explained that Republicans gained a majority in Congress thanks to grassroots conservatives’ activism. In exchange for their support, Republicans promised to fulfill conservatives’ agenda. Martin said:
Those grassroots volunteers – millions of whom I represent, as Co-Founder and CEO of Tea Party Patriots – were motivated to work by the campaign promises made by Republican candidates.
They promised to end the Obama era practice of spending more than the government takes in, so we can balance the budget and pay down our $20 trillion national debt.
They promised to end the Obama era overreach of the federal government.
They promised to hold accountable the Internal Revenue Service officials responsible for illegally targeting us for our political beliefs.
They promised to nominate and confirm Constitutionalists to the federal bench.
They promised to secure our borders, protect American jobs, and end the scourge of illegal immigration.
And in their most famous campaign promise of all, they promised to repeal ObamaCare, and I quote, “root and branch.”
For nine months, our supporters have been urging Republicans in Congress to do one simple thing: Keep your promises.
Those pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
Martin stated, “But as long as Mitch McConnell is Majority Leader of the United States Senate, that illegal special exemption for Congress is going to stay in place. All these failures have one thing in common – they represent a FAILURE of LEADERSHIP,” adding that “Mitch McConnell has had his chance. He has failed to deliver. It is TIME FOR HIM TO GO.”
Adam Brandon, the president of FreedomWorks, argued that Republicans need new leadership if they ever want to pass their legislative agenda to cut taxes, repeal Obamacare, and rein in government regulations. He charged:
It’s time for new leadership. Mitch McConnell has been a failure in the Senate and has cost Republicans almost a year of victories. He has demonstrated that he either does not understand the frustration coming from conservatives and the urgency of passing key legislation – or he does not care.
He failed to repeal Obamacare with his majority in the Senate. The House has passed the REINS Act and the Financial CHOICE Act, but McConnell is exerting no energy to get those to the floor for a vote.
Now we are focused on tax reform. The House has passed its budget, and Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady is ready to work. Yet again, the Senate is not moving. They even left for a week during crunch time.
Brandon said during the press conference, “In a few months, we’re going to hear about Democratic obstruction. We can’t blame the Democrats on this.”
David Bozell of For America explained that McConnell remains incredibly unpopular, elaborating to say that McConnell has a 9 percent popularity in his home state of Kentucky, 18 percent popularity nationwide, and 40 percent net negative unpopularity among Trump supporters. He added, “The time is now for a leadership change.”
A few reporters asked the panel of conservatives whom they would support to replace McConnell as majority leader of the Senate. Martin of Tea Party Patriots and Ken Cuccinelli of the Senate Conservatives Fund suggested that Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) could serve as a great replacement. Martin said that Perdue was “CEO of a Fortune 500 company; he knows how to lead.”
Cuccinelli explained that his Senate Conservatives Fund plans to target seven out of the eight Republicans who will run for re-election in 2018, which includes Sens. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Dean Heller (R-NV), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and John Barrasso (R-WY), a member of Senate leadership. Cuccinelli revealed, “We’re targeting everyone except for Ted Cruz.”
Brandon told Breitbart News that “Nancy Pelosi made her caucus do things that they did not want to do.” He said, “They passed a major new entitlement, so I have to give her credit for being big and bold. We don’t have that type of leadership.”
The conservative coalition wrote in a letter to the Senate leadership:
2017 has been a disappointing year for the millions of Americans who fully expected, and had every right to expect real change in Washington. Republicans were given full control of the federal government. They – you – have done nothing. Worse, it is painfully clear that you intend to do nothing because, as is most apparent, you had no intention of honoring your solemn commitments to the American people. You were not going to “drain the swamp.” You are the swamp.
You and the rest of your leadership team were given the majority because you pledged to stop the steady flow of illegal immigration. You’ve done nothing. You pledged to reduce the size of this oppressive federal government. You have done nothing. You pledged to reduce, and ultimately eliminate the out-of-control deficit spending that is bankrupting America. You have done nothing. You promised to repeal Obamacare, “root and branch.” You’ve done nothing. You promised tax reform. You’ve done nothing.
The conservatives wrote that the Senate leadership consistently chose to support Republicans that they could control rather than support strong conservative voices that could lead in the Senate. The conservative coalition said:
There sat another vote for Obamacare repeal, but you were willing to sacrifice a Republican Senate seat rather than have a conservative whom you would not control join the Senate.
Don’t blame others for falling one vote short – the fault is yours and the rest of your Gang of 5 leadership team.
And it’s not just Darryl Glenn. We remember your support for Arlen Specter, for Charlie Christ over Marco Rubio, and for Planned Parenthood’s favorite Independent candidate, (chairman) Lisa Murkowski over GOP nominee Joe Miller in Alaska in 2010.
You and your leadership team – Senators John Cornyn, Roy Blunt, John Thune and John Barrasso – have made war with your own grassroots while cynically refusing to honor one solemn pledge after another to the American people.
The conservatives concluded, “It is time for you and your leadership team to step aside for new leadership that is committed to the promises made to the American people. America is too good for you to lead it.”
Read the rest of the conservatives’ letter to the Senate leadership here.
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