Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving party leader in the history of the U.S. Senate, is facing increased rebellion from the far-right faction of his conference, with calls for his ouster including from one longtime GOP Senator who declared, “WE NEED NEW LEADERSHIP — NOW,” and a reporter calling it a hint “at mutiny.”
At issue is the bipartisan U.S. Senate border deal, months in the making, which includes funding for the southern border, a major rewrite of immigration laws, and funding for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. Axios calls it “one of the harshest immigration bills of the century,” and even the traditionally right-wing U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports it. The bill was crafted by hardcore conservative U.S. Sen. Jim Lankford (R-OK), hardcore liberal U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), and libertarian-leaning progressive Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ). It is strongly supported by President Joe Biden, and both Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“Brawl erupts in Senate GOP over border security supplemental,” is the AM headline at Punchbowl News, with the news outlet reporting: “the bill’s release Sunday night was like pouring gasoline on the fire that is the Senate GOP internal war. Senators and aides publicly and privately questioned whether a majority of the Republican Conference would back it, a key metric. There were even calls for an immediate leadership change from some GOP senators and conservative outside groups.”
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The text of the legislation, unveiled Sunday evening, has drawn harsh criticism from Republicans of all stripes in the House of Representatives, with Speaker Mike Johnson calling it “dead on arrival,” and from far right Republicans in the Senate. Mike Lee of Utah appears to be the loudest of the three ringleaders charging against the bill – and against McConnell.
“This bill unites Senate Democrats and sharply divides Senate Republicans,” Lee wrote on X Monday morning, the latest in a screed of dozens of posts that began Sunday evening.
Behind all of this is Donald Trump, who has very publicly opposed the legislation long before the text of the bill was released. Those opposed to the border bill, strong promoted by Senator Lankford, are largely Trump acolytes. In addition to the large number of House Republicans, on the Senate side they include Steve Daines of Montana, who also serves Senate leadership as the Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Newsweek puts the count of GOP Senators opposed to the just-unveiled border bill at eleven. In addition to Daines, they include: Marsha Blackburn, Ron Johnson, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Rick Scott, Eric Schmitt, Tommy Tuberville, JD Vance, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Mike Lee.
Senators Lee, Hawley, and Cruz appear to be the ringleaders opposing the bill.
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Late Sunday night Senator Cruz (R-TX) wrote, “Two weeks ago, at a Senate press conference, I said this deal was a ‘stinking pile of crap.’ It turns out my assessment was too generous.” He also wrote, “This…is…INSANE. On Schumer’s Open-Borders Legislation, Republicans shouldn’t just vote no… …but HELL NO.”
Overnight and into Monday, Senator Lee went on a social media extravaganza, blasting the bill, and the Senate GOP Minority Leader.
“If you had a lawyer, agent, or employee who (while negotiating on your behalf) botched a deal as badly as Senate GOP leadership botched this border / supplemental aid package, would you immediately fire that person?” Lee asked on X, suggesting he wants McConnell gone.
“This is worse than bad negotiation. It’s betrayal. The Senate GOP can still stop it if 41 [Senators] will stand together,” Lee wrote on X, calling it a “crap-sandwich” and the “Border Capitulation Bill.”
Making even more clear his desire to see McConnell replaced, Lee added: “Senate GOP leadership screwed this up—and screwed us. Even while refusing to let us see the bill they claimed to be negotiating on our behalf—for MONTHS—they were never in doubt, insisting we’d be dumb and even unpatriotic NOT to support it. This is a disqualifying betrayal.
Unsurprisingly, Sen. Lee was the one to announce, “WE NEED NEW LEADERSHIP — NOW.”
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