Mitch McConnell angrily defends his decision to block election security bills

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

published 29 July 2019

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was fired up on Monday.

McConnell, on the Senate floor, tore into Democrats and media — specifically MSNBC and Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank — for criticizing his decision to block election security bills last week. McConnell likened the pushback, which in some cases included critics labeling him a Russian asset, to McCarthyism. McConnell said it was a "shameful smear based on lies."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

McConnell argued that he was merely objecting to passing a clearly non-unanimous bill by unanimous consent, which he said even the Democrats would have expected. He said the objection was a routine occurrence. "It doesn't make Republicans traitors or un-American," he said. "It makes us policy makers with a different opinion. But the outrage industrial complex doesn't let a little thing like reality get in their way."

Explore More

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox