Press Releases | Sep 20 2012

McConnell: Challenges Are Great But the President, Senate Democrats Fail to Lead

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor today regarding the Democrats’ failure to lead:

“I understand there’s an election going on in a few months. But I’d like to remind my colleagues on the other side that we’ve also got a job to do around here.

“I mean, we’ve got multiple crisis-level issues to deal with. And yet Democrats don’t want to do a thing.

“Never before has a President and a Senate done so little to confront challenges so great.

“We’ve got a $16 trillion debt. Democrats haven’t bothered to pass a budget in three years. Every single American will get hit with a massive tax hike in three months if we don’t act to prevent it. Democrats are saying we shouldn’t do anything about it — just go off the cliff. Just see what happens.

“The Defense budget is about to suffer automatic cuts that the President’s own Defense Secretary has described as ‘devastating’. Democrats can’t be bothered to figure out a way to avoid them.

“The Middle East is in turmoil, we remain at war in Afghanistan and with Al Qaeda and Senate Democrats haven’t even bothered to pass a Defense Authorization bill.

“Gas prices have more than doubled over the past four years. Democrats have responded by conspiring with the President to make sure a domestic pipeline didn’t get built.

“Just let the debt grow. Let taxes go up. Let the defense cuts stand. Let gas prices get higher and higher. Don’t pass a budget. Don’t pass any spending bills.  Don’t do anything that involves making tough choices. Just sit around and kill time in the hopes that the voters will focus on the other guys instead.

“Look: Our constituents didn’t send us here to watch the clock or to offer running commentary on the floor.

“They sent us here to make a difference.

“We’ve got jobs to do. It’s about time we did them.

“In these very challenging times, Americans deserve leadership.

“Never before have a President and a Senate Majority Party done so little when our challenges have been so great. There’s no excuse for it.”