ICYMI: McConnell on ‘Face the Nation’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) joined Margaret Brennan this morning on CBS’ Face The Nation. Click here to watch the full interview or see below for the highlights:
On Support for Ukraine:
“We've given [The Biden Administration] plenty of money. I think [President Biden] needs to step up his game. He has generally done the right thing but never soon enough.
“Let’s take a look at what has happened here. The Ukrainians have killed more Russians in three weeks than we lost in Afghanistan and Iraq in 20 years. I think we ought to go into this believing the Ukrainians can actually win. And the way they win is for us to get these defensive weapon systems to them as rapidly as possible. For example, I am perplexed as to why we couldn't get the Polish Russian MiGs into the country. The Ukrainians have plenty of pilots and know how to fly them. In those eastern bloc countries, they have Soviet ground-to-air systems that the Ukrainians know how to work. We have the resources that we've given to the president to get those weapons in there as rapidly as possible. And then we provided loan guarantees to the countries that ship the weapons into Ukraine to purchase new weapons, and probably better weapons, from us.
“So what I would like to see the president do is to reassure our eastern bloc allies that it's fine to go to Brussels, it is fine to go to Berlin. I would like to see them go to Romania or Poland or the Baltics, they’re right on the front lines and they need to know we're in this fight with them to win.”
On Judge Jackson’s Nomination to the Supreme Court and Court-Packing:
“We had a very good conversation in my office. And I asked her, you know, typically the Supreme Court nominees of both parties have never answered any of the questions. What they typically say is that something that might come before me and I don't want to pre-judge how I might actually vote. But I asked her to defend the Court. Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Breyer both publicly opposed court-packing, that is trying to increase the number of Court members in order to get an outcome you like. That would have been an easy thing for her to do, to defend the integrity of the Court. She won't do that. So in the meantime, the committee will ask her all of the tough questions. I haven't made a final decision as to how I’m going to vote.”
On COVID-19 Funding:
“Last year congress passed a $2 trillion package allegedly for COVID, and it passed on an entirely partisan basis. Much of that money is yet to be spent. We’re willing to listen to the case that we need to spend more money on COVID, but they ought to reprogram some of this massive amount that was spent last year that is not out the door yet. So let's take a look at how to pay for it and then we'll be happy to decide whether or not to support it.”
Related Issues: Judicial Nominations, Appropriations, Russia, Supreme Court, COVID-19
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