Senate

McConnell claims victory as Senate heads toward exits

by Jordain Carney - 12/18/15 10:22 AM ET

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is taking a victory lap as his first year in the chamber’s top spot comes to a close.

“We’re proving that you can still get a lot done with a president from a different party,” McConnell said from the Senate floor Friday. “We’re proving that you can actually enact significant long-term reforms. Achieve significant policy goals and get them signed into law.”

{mosads}His remarks come as the Senate is expected to take its final votes of the year later Friday before lawmakers leave Washington until mid-January.

The Republican leader added that he was “humbled” that American voters handed the Senate majority back to his party, which he said had been able to return the upper chamber to a “higher purpose.”

McConnell’s remarks are the latest from Republican leadership this week touting their accomplishments both on and off the floor, pointing to the passage of cybersecurity legislation, an overhaul of the No Child Left Behind law and, most recently, the two-year budget deal.

The Republican leader will likely double down on his remarks during a press conference schedule for Friday afternoon, as he seeks to underscore that his party can govern heading into the 2016 election when he’ll have to defend 24 Senate seats.

Senators from both sides of the aisle have repeatedly battled since January over who deserves credit for legislation passed this year. Democrats argue that, unlike Republicans, they rarely blocked legislation from being taken up.

“This session of the Senate has been a demonstration of what can happen when a minority is not trying to block everything,” Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Friday. “There’s been no need this last year for scores and scores of cloture petitions being filed because we didn’t block things. We rarely did that.”

He added that next year senators “need to do more for the middle class,” including legislation on the minimum wage or student loan debt.

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