Mitch McConnell on Democratic Obstruction: ‘I Will Not Let Them Succeed’

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) explained at the Road to Majority conference on Friday that he will cancel the August recess because he will not let the Democrats succeed in obstructing President Donald Trump’s agenda.

McConnell announced on Tuesday that he will cancel the August recess to continue confirming Trump’s executive and judicial nominees as well to pass a budget before the end of September.

On Friday, McConnell explained many of the ways that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) obstructed the Senate from confirming nominees. McConnell said:

Look the Democrats are not making this easy. They decided that it would be more fun to be the resistance than to do their job and help us govern the country. They’re pulling out every trick in the book to obstruct, delay, and deny our president the team that he deserves. They’ve soaked up literally hours, days, of Senate floor time for nominees that literally no one opposes.

“I’m not going to let them succeed,” McConnell added.

The Majority Leader continued:

I announced because of their obstruction I’m canceling the August recess and keeping the Senate right here on the job where we belong.We’ll confirm more nominees, we’ll continue an agenda that’s already done so much to make America stronger, safer, and more prosperous.

During his speech, McConnell touted many Republican successes, including confirming a record number of circuit judges, passing tax reform, repealing parts of the Obama-era Dodd-Frank banking law, and repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate.

McConnell said, “In my view, the last sixteen months have been the single greatest, best period for conservative since I’ve come to Washington, which Ralph indicated in 1985. And this is not hyperbole.”

Sens. Perdue (R-GA), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Mike Lee (R-UT) led a movement to have McConnell cancel the August recess and spend more time confirming the president’s nominees and working on the budget so that Congress can avoid another $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill.

Perdue told Breitbart News this week, “President Trump said he would never sign another massive omnibus bill again. Congress only has 66 days to get next year’s funding bill to President Trump’s desk.”

The Georgia senator continued:

We need to take action now so President Trump is not jammed with another bad funding deal. We ought to work as long as it takes – including nights, weekends, and through the August recess if necessary – to get funding done and make progress on the backlog of nominees.

McConnell suggested in his speech on Friday, “Now I’ve outlined what I’ve done in 16 months, imagine what more we can do if we put one foot in front of the other and keep our eye on the long game.”