McConnell Backs Away from Talk of a Thaw
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
NYT
WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, said Thursday that “the only way” his party would succeed in advancing its agenda was to ensure that President Obama was defeated in two years, seemingly bringing a quick end to post-election professions from both sides about working together.
Even as President Obama announced that he had invited Congressional leaders of both parties to meet him this month to discuss the legislative agenda for the rest of the year, Senate Republicans were flexing their muscles in the new playground of divided government, scrambling to fill leadership posts, announcing a legislative agenda and warning their Democratic counterparts to change their ways or else.
Mr. McConnell’s comments about Mr. Obama — echoing a line he used before the election — suggested that he had heard the no-compromise message coming from the most conservative members of his party and that he intended to wage an aggressive battle in the Senate even though Republicans failed on Tuesday to gain a majority there.
Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, who survived a tight race in Nevada on Tuesday, said, “It looks like Senate Republicans have already set the terms of this new legislative session: it’s our way or the highway.”
(More here.)
NYT
WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, said Thursday that “the only way” his party would succeed in advancing its agenda was to ensure that President Obama was defeated in two years, seemingly bringing a quick end to post-election professions from both sides about working together.
Even as President Obama announced that he had invited Congressional leaders of both parties to meet him this month to discuss the legislative agenda for the rest of the year, Senate Republicans were flexing their muscles in the new playground of divided government, scrambling to fill leadership posts, announcing a legislative agenda and warning their Democratic counterparts to change their ways or else.
Mr. McConnell’s comments about Mr. Obama — echoing a line he used before the election — suggested that he had heard the no-compromise message coming from the most conservative members of his party and that he intended to wage an aggressive battle in the Senate even though Republicans failed on Tuesday to gain a majority there.
Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, who survived a tight race in Nevada on Tuesday, said, “It looks like Senate Republicans have already set the terms of this new legislative session: it’s our way or the highway.”
(More here.)
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