'If the he starts acting like a moderate, we can do business': Mitch McConnell slams president for saying Senate minority leader would do 'anything to prevent Biden from being a success'
Mitch McConnell has slammed Joe Biden for 'adopting the Bernie Sanders prescription for America' after the president accused him of trying to stop the administration from being a success.
The war of words between the veteran Republican and Democrat showed no sign of slowing down, as the Senate Minority Leader said Biden had 'got it wrong again'.
In his Wednesday press conference, Biden repeatedly asked: 'The fundamental question is, what's Mitch for?'
He then accused McConnell of doing 'anything to prevent Biden from being a success', and saying the Republicans do not know 'what they are for'.
McConnell hit back on Thursday, telling Fox News: 'My good friend the president got it wrong again.
Mitch McConnell has slammed Joe Biden for 'adopting the Bernie Sanders prescription for America'
In his Wednesday press conference, Biden repeatedly asked: 'The fundamental question is, what's Mitch for?'
'I helped him pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill, I supported in the Senate a bill to deal with China and the computer chip shortage.
'If the president starts acting like a moderate like he campaigned, we can do business.
'The reason we've not been speaking recently this year is because he adopted the Bernie Sanders prescription for America.
'He did that even though he got no mandate for it, a 50-50 Senate and a couple of seats' majority in the House, and they couldn't get it through.'
Biden's voting rights bill was defeated in the Senate this week, as the administration suffered another blow amid dwindling approval ratings caused by Covid and inflation.
McConnell added: 'If the president wants to reinvent himself and come back to the middle, we have things to talk about that we can work on together.'
During his press conference on Wednesday, Biden accused McConnell of trying to get in the way of his administration's agenda.
'I get on with Mitch, I actually like Mitch McConnell, but he has one straightforward objective - make sure that there's nothing that I do that makes me look good in the mind, his mind, with the public at large,' Biden said. 'And that's OK, I'm a big boy.'
'I think the fundamental question is what is Mitch for?' Biden asked.
When a reporter pointed out that McConnell also tried to tank President Barack Obama's agenda, asking Biden why he was so surprised, the president answered, 'They weren't nearly as obstructionist as they are now.'
Biden said during the Obama years, the Democratic administration would work with the late GOP Sen. John McCain and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, now a top Trump ally.
Biden also claimed five Republican senators had told him they would vote alongside Democrats on various bills, but expressed fear former President Donald Trump would unleash a primary challenger if they stepped out of line.
'I've had five Republican senators talk to me, bump in to me ... or sit with me. Who have told me that they agree with whatever I'm talking about for them to do. "But Joe, if I do it I'm getting defeated in a primary,"' Biden said Wednesday at a press conference marking the end of his first year in office. 'We've gotta break that, it's gotta change.'
Biden marveled at the grip Trump still had on the party.
'Did you ever think that one men out of office could intimidate an entire party where they're unwilling to take any vote contrary to what he thinks should be taken for fear of being defeated in a primary?' the president asked the reporters in the room rhetorically.
President Joe Biden claimed five Republican senators have told him they'd vote alongside Democrats on various bills, but expressed fear former President Donald Trump would unleash a primary challenger if they stepped out of line
At the top of the presser, Biden said one thing he didn't expect in his first year was for Republicans to be so unsupportive.
'I did not anticipate that there would be such a stalwart effort to make sure that the most imporant thing was that President Biden didn't get anything done,' the president said.
'Think about this. What are Republicans for? What are they for? Name me one thing they're for,' the president continued.
When asked to ID the Republicans who flirted with bucking the party the president demurred.
'Sure, no, are you kidding me?' he said laughing. 'I maintain confidentiality.'
Biden said going into the 2022 midterm races he needed to 'make clear to the American people what we are for,' characterizing the Democrats' troubles as a messaging problem.
Biden marveled at the control ex-President Donald Trump holds over the GOP. 'Did you ever think that one men out of office could intimidate an entire party, where they're unwilling to take any vote contrary to what he thinks should be taken for fear of being defeated in a primary?' he asked
'We passed a lot. We passed a lot of things,' he added.
ABC's Mary Bruce pointed out that two moderate Democrats - Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema - were the ones who derailed Build Back Better and voting rights-related filibuster reform.
She also noted that Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, who bucked his party by voting twice to convict former President Donald Trump of impeachment, never received a phone call from the White House on the voting bills.
'Look, Mitt Romney's a straight guy. And one of the things we were doing - I was trying to make sure we got everybody on the same page in my party on this score,' Biden said. 'I didn't call many Republicans at all.'
All 50 Republicans are expected to vote down a voting rights bill later Wednesday night.
'I predict to you we'll get something done on the reform side,' Biden also said.
Biden was then asked if he would view the election as 'fairly conducted' and the results 'legitimate' if a federalized voting bill didn't get through by the time voters head to the polls in November.
'Well, it all depends on whether or not we're able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try an alter the outcome of the election,' the president answered.
Biden said that he may be 'too much of an optimist' but he believed that restrictive voting laws could motivate people to come out and vote.
'Remember how we thought not that many people are going to show up to vote in the middle of a pandemic? We had the hightest voter turnout in the history of the United States of America,' he remarked.
'Well, I think if in fact, no matter how hard they make it for minorities to vote, I think you're going to see them willing to stand in line and defy the attempt to keep them from being able to vote,' the president continued.
'But we're not there, we've not run out of options yet, we'll see how this moves,' he added.
No comments