“The classic example I've used - I'm sure you've heard me say it before - was Mark Begich in Alaska who was here for a full six years and never had a roll call vote on an amendment on the floor of the Senate, which Dan Sullivan tells me he used on virtually a daily basis. So the notion that protecting all of your members from votes is a good idea politically, I think, has been pretty much disproved by the recent [Barack Obama] election.” ThinkingYearsHas BeensIdeasUsedHeardExampleMembersSixVoteBasesMarkElectionNotionBarackClassicGood IdeasSenateAmendmentsAlaska Author:Mitch McConnell
“I think there were two messages in last year's election. One is pretty obvious. People were mad as hell at the president [Barack Obama] - and wanted to send a message. We all got that. Our new members were also hearing, and I was hearing as well, that people didn't like the fact that the Congress was dysfunctional. Now they may have been confused about where the dysfunctionality was cause the president kept pointing to the House. Factually, that's not accurate. The dysfunction was in the Senate.” PeopleThinkingYearsWellsMayHas BeensTwoFactsWantedLastsHouseCausesPresidentHellMembersMessagesElectionMadCongressObviousHearingBarackConfusedSenateAccurateLast YearPointingPresident Barack ObamaDysfunction Author:Mitch McConnell
“We didn't make much progress on the country's agenda. And in my view it's because the Senate basically hadn't done much of anything, with a couple of exceptions, for the last four years [of Barack Obama's presidency]. And that's going to change.” YearsCountryDoneLastsViewsFourProgressCoupleBarackExceptionAgendasFour YearsSenatePresidency Author:Mitch McConnell
“It is a statement to the obvious, however, that [Barack] Obama - of Obamacare - is the President of the United States, so I don't want people to have [unrealistic] expectations about what may actually become law with Obama - of Obamacare - in the White House. But we intend to keep our commitment to the American people.” PeopleWantMayStatesLawHousePresidentWhiteUnitedUnited StatesExpectationsCommitmentObviousStatementsBarackWhite HouseObamacareUnrealistic Expectations Author:Mitch McConnell
“America is about to turn the page on Barack Obama's four-year experiment in big government.” YearsBigsGovernmentAmericaTurnsFourPagesExperimentsBarackFour YearsBig Government Author:Mitch McConnell
