In a rare move, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took to the Senate floor on Monday to respond directly to those who have criticized him for blocking Democratic election law proposals this past week. Attacks on the Majority Leader masquerading as constructive criticisms have become increasingly ugly in recent days. A Washington Post opinion piece called him a “Russian asset,” and MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has repeatedly referred to him as “Moscow Mitch.”

While the House Democrats were dealing with their own members' anti-Semitism and trying to pass legislation to allow 16-year-olds to vote,  Senator Mitch McConnell is getting the work of the American people done in the U.S. Senate.  Last week he laid the groundwork to confirm 19 district court judges this week. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor this morning to complain once again about Democrats not getting their way on their proposals for election security measures.

While Democrats are likely all talk and no action, in the scenario that they actually follow through on impeachment threats – Republicans in the Senate are ready to “quickly quash” those efforts.

The Mueller Report tells the country in granular detail the ground covered by Special Counsel Robert Mueller while investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election. 

After a two-year investigation and $25 million later, the long-anticipated report by special counsel Robert Mueller has finally been released.

As Attorney General Bill Barr previously announced, the report found no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 election.

Thanks to the leadership of Senator James Lankford and Leader Mitch McConnell, efficiency and order have been restored to the U.S. Senate. Their resolve to move past the Democrats’ partisan obstruction is now allowing the Senate to fill judicial vacancies in a timely manner and equip federal courts to be fully operational and serve the American people.

Under the leadership of Senators Chuck Grassley, Lindsey Graham, James Lankford, and Mitch McConnell, Senate Republicans have been confirming judges at record pace.  Democrats have not tried to substantively oppose most nominees (maybe because they are so well qualified) but have attempted to use obscure Senate procedures to do so.  An example was the “cloture rule:”

This involves Rule 22, which provides a time consuming process to end debate, a necessary step before the Senate can vote on confirmation. Under Rule 22, even when the Senate votes to end debate, there can be up to 30 more hours of consideration. In the past, the minority party cooperated to informally schedule a final confirmation vote. Today, Democrats will not cooperate on anything, forcing the Senate to use this drawn out process for nearly every nomination, including those with no actual opposition.

The Senate has taken six times as many of these unnecessary cloture votes as during the same period under the previous nine presidents combined. You read that right. Even though the Senate votes to end debate every time, Democrats insist that the clock keep running for those 30 hours of debate after cloture. Even worse, they almost never spend time on the Senate floor actually debating these nominations.

Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republican Senators have had enough of the obstruction by Senate Democrats led by Chuck Schumer.  Here are a few of the numbers:

• Until 1968, cloture had never been required for any nomination. By 1978, it had been required for two (2).
• During the first two years of the last six (6) presidential administrations before President Trump (dating to 1977), 24 total cloture votes had to be held on nominations.  The first two years of President Trump’s administration: 128 cloture votes had to be held on nominations.
• These cloture votes are not for “controversial nominees.” The list includes 42 different executive branch positions that were forced to endure cloture votes for the first time ever, including:  Assistant Secretaries and Agency General Counsels.

Today, Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s replacement on the D.C. Circuit, Neomi Rao, was confirmed.  This was yet another “victory” in the effort to confirm great judges and justices.  The results are starting to show.