Conservatives quietly outsmarted weakened McConnell on Ukraine.
Senate Republicans Defy McConnell, Pass Short-Term Spending Bill
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suffered a stunning blow this weekend when Republicans in the upper chamber disregarded his repeated calls for prioritizing Ukraine funding by passing the House GOP’s short-term spending bill, which included no provisions for the Volodymyr Zelensky regime.
Publicly, McConnell pretended his move to finance the proxy war in Ukraine was temporarily tabled for the convenience of avoiding an imminent government shutdown. Behind closed doors, the Senate minority leader’s plan to indefinitely send U.S. tax dollars to Eastern Europe was shunned by nearly every member of his party who expressed discomfort with hinging the fate of the government shutdown on Ukraine.
- One source familiar with the situation told The Federalist that even McConnell quietly acknowledged to his colleagues that any spending bill, including the Ukraine funding, was not a winning issue for the party. Yet, he was so committed to putting another country’s financial well-being ahead of his own that he fought his own conference on it.
- The Senate GOP’s defiance of McConnell was confirmed when they, at the urging of Senate GOP steering committee members like Sens. Mike Lee and Rick Scott, passed House Republicans’ continuing resolution (CR) instead of the Senate bill.
“When I came in on Saturday morning, I was convinced we were not going to win. The headwinds were totally opposed to us. And then by 1 o’clock, we had decisively defeated McConnell,” a Senate staffer told The Federalist.
Corporate media and Beltway insiders paint the titanic twist as a sign that the longest-serving Senate party leader in US history is losing control of his conference. The Senate Republicans who defied McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s expensive spending package, however, are simply finally harnessing the collective decision-making power they’ve always had to better reflect the party and constituents.
The Mechanics That Made It Happen
Spending negotiations did not start looking grim for McConnell until just one day before FY 2023 spending was set to expire. Up until that point, McConnell was armed with his deal, the support of the Pentagon, and prepared to send billions more U.S. tax dollars to Ukraine.
“It’s rumored that Pentagon officials are on their way over to the Capitol to lobby for Schumer-McConnell. The Military Industrial Complex doesn’t like to lose,” Lee wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The package was standard for the Republican leader who has spent the last two and a half years pressuring his colleagues to join Democrats in subsidizing the war in Eastern Europe.
McConnell previously argued that sending Ukraine money without oversight is “obviously in America’s self-interest” because it benefits the vast U.S. military-industrial complex.
Reclaiming Possession Of The Party
Senators Lee and Scott specifically proposed during a Saturday conference lunch that Republicans in the upper chamber wait for their House GOP colleagues to send over the stopgap. Waiting for the House bill, they argued, would rid them of the burden of passing legislation that goes against Americans’ wishes on Ukraine, keep Republicans from becoming shutdown scapegoats, and harbor McCarthy from the threat of removal for a little longer.
Even shadow leadership race candidates Sens. Cornyn and Thune, who started September by eviscerating House Republicans for opposing the Senate uniparty’s spending plan, expressed support for the plan so they would be seen as sympathetic to the conference that might one day choose them to lead the party.
By the end of the lunch, McConnell and Sen. Susan Collins were the only GOP senators who vocalized disdain for passing the House’s CR. McConnell was eventually forced to publicly declare Republican’s intent to pass the stopgap in an attempt to maintain his appearance of control.
Schumer tried to stifle the vote by starting a live quorum, which requires all senators to convene in the Senate chambers to fulfill their duties to vote. Republicans were prepared to either take down cloture or abstain from voting altogether, but Schumer eventually relented and left his bill off the table.
The Republicans had successfully defied McConnell and delayed Democrats’ spending wishlist until mid-November.
Despite suffering defeat on the short-term funding bill, McConnell is not giving up on his dream to keep Ukraine in the running for future appropriations negotiations. He opened his floor speech on the passage of the CR by pledging to send the Zelensky regime more money before the end of the year.
“I’m confident the Senate will pass further urgent assistance to Ukraine later this year,” McConnell said.
It’s difficult to predict where negotiations will go in the next month. The momentum for the Senate GOP to collectively make its own decisions without McConnell, however, is there and waiting for them to grasp it.
What concerns did many Senate Republicans express about including Ukraine funding in the spending bill?
Which did not include Ukraine funding, would give Senate Republicans the opportunity to pass a spending bill that reflected their priorities and values.
In a surprising turn of events, Senate Republicans unanimously voted in favor of the House GOP’s short-term spending bill, completely disregarding McConnell’s repeated calls for Ukraine funding. This move comes as a major blow to McConnell, who had been pushing for the inclusion of provisions supporting the Volodymyr Zelensky regime.
Publicly, McConnell claimed that the decision to table the financing of the proxy war in Ukraine was an effort to avoid a government shutdown. However, behind closed doors, it was evident that his plan to indefinitely allocate US tax dollars to Eastern Europe was met with discomfort by the majority of his party. Many Republicans expressed concerns about tying the fate of the government shutdown to Ukraine.
According to sources familiar with the situation, McConnell even privately acknowledged that including Ukraine funding in the spending bill was not a winning issue for the party. Despite this, he remained committed to prioritizing another country’s financial well-being over his own party’s interests, leading to a clash within the GOP.
The defiance of McConnell by Senate Republicans was further confirmed when they, at the urging of Senators Mike Lee and Rick Scott, passed the House Republicans’ continuing resolution instead of the Senate bill. This unexpected turn of events left McConnell defeated and exposed the growing divide within his own conference.
Those who defied McConnell’s stance argue that they are simply exercising their collective decision-making power to better reflect the interests of the party and its constituents. They believe that McConnell’s continued insistence on allocating taxpayer money to Ukraine without proper oversight does not align with their values or the priorities of the American people.
The mechanics behind this unexpected outcome began to unfold just one day before the FY 2023 spending was set to expire. Up until that point, McConnell had enjoyed the support of the Pentagon and was prepared to send billions more US tax dollars to Ukraine. However, as the deadline approached, the Senate Republicans realized the opportunity to reclaim possession of their party and shape the spending bill according to their own priorities.
Senator Lee hinted at the influence of the Military Industrial Complex on McConnell’s previous support for Ukraine funding. It is rumored that Pentagon officials were intending to lobby for Schumer-McConnell, further highlighting the influence of defense interests in these negotiations.
In the end, the Senate Republicans’ decision to pass the House GOP’s short-term spending bill without Ukraine funding serves as a pivotal moment in the ongoing power struggle within the party. This move represents a departure from McConnell’s leadership and signals a desire among Senate Republicans to take control of their own agenda.
As the party continues to face internal divisions, it remains to be seen how this defiance will impact the leadership dynamics within the Senate GOP. However, one thing is clear – the Senate Republicans who defied McConnell and Schumer’s expensive spending package are determined to prioritize the interests of their party and constituents, even if it means going against their long-serving party leader.
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