House

Pelosi blasts McConnell for not taking up House bills

by Juliegrace Brufke - 04/26/19 1:15 PM ET

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) criticized Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Friday for ignoring a series of bills passed by the Democratic House.

“The Republican Senate needs to wake up, and vote on these urgently needed bills immediately,” Pelosi said in a statement. “If they don’t like our bipartisan bills, then they can pass their own version and we can go to conference.”

The remarks from Pelosi come days after McConnell described himself as the “Grim Reaper” for progressive policies.

“Leader McConnell has declared himself the ‘grim reaper’ of these House bills to make progress for working families. We will show him that these bills are alive and well with the American people. The middle class and America don’t want the Senate to be a legislative graveyard for so many of these important issues – they want action,” Pelosi said.

{mosads}The remarks were also a turnaround from the last several years, when GOP House leaders complained that a Democratic Senate, and then a tightly divided Senate under McConnell’s leadership, failed to move forward on bills they had approved.

Pelosi called on McConnell to either vote on or hold conferences on a sweeping elections reform bill, bills aimed at tightening background checks on firearm purchases, a net neutrality measure, the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act.

The Speaker argued the bills have “strong bipartisan support across the country.”

The Speaker went on to note her scheduled meeting with President Trump to discuss a path forward on infrastructure — a top priority for both Republicans and Democrats.

“As a key part of our For The People agenda, on Tuesday, Senator Schumer, other leaders and I will meet with President Trump to advance bipartisan action on a bold infrastructure bill to create jobs and grow our economy in a green and modern way,” she continued.

“On the Constitutional front, in the course of the past two weeks, we have seen President Trump and the Trump Administration continue to dishonor the office that he holds. Leader McConnell shamefully will not criticize President Trump’s disgraceful conduct, and he cannot use it as an excuse not to act for the American people.”

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) echoed Pelosi’s sentiments, arguing, “McConnell has turned the Senate into a legislative graveyard that hurts the Senate, hurts the middle class, and hurts the country.”

“Leader McConnell ought to allow debate and amendments immediately – which Democrats would welcome – on commonsense, House-passed bills on democracy reform, combatting the gun violence epidemic, health care, and so much more,” he said in a statement Friday. “The Senate must once again become a legislative body that helps the American people, not a graveyard.”

Schumer and Pelosi’s call to bring up the Democratic-led bills is unlikely to be answered in the upper chamber, as the majority of the legislation saw little bipartisan support in the House.

Tags Donald Trump House-passed bills Mitch McConnell Nancy Pelosi Senate