Leader McConnell on Hugh Hewitt
‘I think the best evidence is that there was not a single vote against it [the CARES Act]. It was a genuine emergency, and we rose to the occasion. I was really proud of my colleagues.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) joined Hugh Hewitt today to discuss the Senate’s 96-0 vote to pass the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. See below for highlights or click here to listen to the full interview.
On Bipartisanship in the Senate:
“This was a genuine national emergency. And trying to put together a $2 trillion dollar bill in a week was really a herculean task, as you can imagine. The way I thought it would work best would be for those of us in the Senate to try to get started on a bipartisan basis, and we were doing really quite well, as you may recall, until the Speaker of the House decided to insert herself into the process, which created a couple of days of unnecessary partisan sniping. But we got past that.”
“And in the end, I think the best evidence is that there was not a single vote against it. It was a genuine emergency, and we rose to the occasion. I was really proud of my colleagues.”
On additional COVID-19 relief legislation:
“Well, I think first, we need to see what the effect of the current bill is. The Treasury, of course, is wrestling with all this complicated effort to speed checks to individuals and small businesses to get us through this period until the health care pandemic begins to subside. So I think we need to wait a few days here, a few weeks, and see how things are working out. She [Speaker Pelosi] hasn’t suggested the House would even come back into session until the 20th of April, and I’ve said the same thing. So let’s see how things are going, and respond accordingly.”
“I’m not going to allow this to be an opportunity for the Democrats to achieve unrelated policy items that they would not otherwise be able to pass.”
On the private sector’s help to combat COVID-19:
“You know, there are heroes in the private sector who are wonderful people who are stepping up at every one of these companies that’s stepping up. I bet many of them are not going to make any money off of what they’re doing. A great company in my hometown, Humana Health Insurance company, just decided to waive co-payments. That’s going to cost them a significant amount of money. That should be applauded, and I think putting the private sector that’s stepping up on full display is the right thing to do. I applaud the President for doing it. I think we should all applaud these private sector companies who are stepping up to help us deal with this crisis.”
On confirming more of the president’s well-qualified judicial nominees:
“Of course, we will go back to judges. You know, Hugh, you and I have talked about this before. My motto for the rest of the year is leave no vacancy behind.”
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