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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told Senate Republicans to be ready to work through the Thanksgiving break, which serves as a recognition that McConnell needs to pass the president’s agenda or he may soon lose his job as Majority Leader.
Mitch McConnell finally cracked under pressure last week from conservatives and populists and decided to extend the Senate’s workweek into Fridays and even possibly the weekend to pass the president’s agenda. Senate Republicans then wrote to McConnell that having the Senate stay open on Fridays and possibly the weekends is not good enough; Republicans urged the Senate Majority Leader to “turn the Senate on full time, 24/7 to advance the president’s agenda.”
Breitbart News reported that under Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Senate remains in session roughly 2.5 days per week.
The Senate will soon move into its 11th month into its congressional term and has yet to pass an Obamacare repeal and replace package, pass tax reform, confirm judicial nominees, and fund a southern border wall.
To pass the president’s agenda, McConnell told Senate Republicans this week that the chamber could stay in session the weekend before the week of Thanksgiving and the week of Thanksgiving, according to two senior GOP sources.
Republicans face a difficult legislative calendar; Republicans need to pass a tax reform package, fund the government, and confirm over 200 Trump executive and judicial nominees before the 2018 midterm elections.
McConnell said, “President Trump should be commended for his strong judicial picks. The Senate is going to keep working hard to confirm them. And we’re going to succeed.”
McConnell’s extension of the Senate workweek and work into Thanksgiving serves as a recognition that he needs to perform or else McConnell may lose his job. Many conservatives and populists argue that McConnell has failed to carry out the president’s agenda and subsequently called on him to resign.
McConnell’s leadership continues to flounder; a recent poll revealed that 56 percent of Republicans want Mitch McConnell to resign. Many Senate Republican candidates revealed that they are reluctant to back McConnell for Majority Leader. Even Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, whom McConnell’s team labeled as their “number one recruit,” refused to say whether he will endorse McConnell.
Former Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) told Fox News recently that he does not “know what the case is to keep” Mitch McConnell as Senate majority leader.
Establishment Republicans, including McConnell, continue to fret over Breitbart News Executive Chairman and former White House Chief Strategist Steve — who is lining up a series of primary challenges in 2018 to lawmakers he sees as hurting President Trump’s agenda. According to Axios, Bannon is planning to back primary challengers against every incumbent Republican senator running for re-election in 2018, except Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Bannon recently told Fox News’ Sean Hannity, “Nobody’s safe, we’re coming after all of them.”
Conservative leaders included the Tea Party Patriots, FreedomWorks, and the Senate Conservative Fund called on McConnell to resign, citing McConnell’s failure to repeal and replace Obamacare, confirm federal judges, and fund a southern border wall. The conservatives wrote in a letter to the Senate Republican leadership, “It is time for you and your leadership team to step aside for new leadership that is committed to the promises made to the American people. America is too good for you to lead it.”
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