Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in the Capitol on August 3, 2022.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Senate Democrats passed the party’s big climate, tax and healthcare package on Sunday.
Donald Trump attacked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell afterwards.
He said McConnell “got played like a fiddle with the vote today by the Senate Democrats.”
Former President Donald Trump attacked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell after the Senate on Sunday passed Democrats’ multi-billion climate, tax, and healthcare package.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that “Mitch McConnell got played like a fiddle with the vote today by the Senate Democrats.”
“First he gave them the fake Infrastructure Bill, then Guns, never used the Debt Ceiling for negotiating purposes (gave it away for NOTHING!), and now this. Mitch doesn’t have a clue — he is sooo bad for the Republican Party!”
Trump has repeatedly attacked McConnell for times he allowed Democrats to pass bills, including in situations like Sunday’s where Republicans had too few votes to stop it passing.
His reference to the debt ceiling was to events in late 2021 where McConnell reached with Democrats to avoid an unprecedented debt default by the federal government. Trump has repeatedly termed that call a strategic error, saying that McConnell should have exacted concessions from Democrats before agreeing.
On Sunday, every Senate Republican voted against the package, which Democrats said would combat the climate emergency and address the cost of prescription drugs.
The measure represents a breakthrough success for the party and for President Joe Biden, after a painful process of negotiation to bring reluctant senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema on board.
The vote was split 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris’ vote breaking the tie.
Democrats were able to avoid the usual 60-vote threshold for passing legislation by running it through a process known as budget reconciliation, which allows financial measures to pass with only 50 votes.
McConnell said in a statement that the package included “giant job-killing tax hikes” that it was “a war on American fossil fuel,” CNN reported.
He said Democrats “do not care about middle-class families’ priorities.”