Mitch McConnell is horrible. His replacement will be worse
President Joe Biden loves bipartisanship. He loves it in ways that have long frustrated his progressive supporters. His 35 years in the Senate gave him an enormous fondness for the cut and thrust of beating out a compromise and a lasting image of the chamber as the final stronghold of maintaining political comity in the face of disagreement. The Senate as Biden likes to envision it doesn’t exist. It likely never did. However, even when only a handful of Republicans have signed on, Biden has still insisted on calling his infrastructure and CHIPS bills “bipartisan legislation.” And when it came to providing the funding that kept supplies flowing to Ukraine in the face of an illegal Russian invasion, Biden got a genuine bipartisan majority in the Senate. Americans in and out of government say they want more bipartisanship. Biden wants to give it to them, even now. But as Republicans scramble to pick a replacement for outgoing Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, there are three big demands on the table: get rid of the seniority system for committee assignments, impose a term limit on leadership positions, and never, ever compromise. The death of bipartisanship is a base requirement. When future histories are written, assuming that they are, it’s safe to say that McConnell will not be remembered fondly. Whether it’s his cowardice in failing to hold Donald Trump to account, or his work in destroying democracy in general and the judiciary in particular, with his spectacular double betrayal of tradition that gave Trump two undeserved additional seats on the Supreme Court. Just like Trump, McConnell’s political history has largely involved showing that even when he seems to have found the bottom, there is always something lower. But even McConnell could occasionally be found on the right side of history—like on that Ukraine bill. The guy who has proudly called himself the “grim reaper” of bills, the one most responsible for converting the Senate into the palace of eternal filibuster, where nothing moves without 60 votes, is now seen as too accommodating. If the growing MAGA faction gets its way, any McConnell replacement will be 0% compromise 100% of the time. As Politico reports, three candidates are vying for McConnell’s job: John Cornyn, Rick Scott, and John Thune. Cornyn is the oldest, at 72, and has been in the Senate the longest. As a former Texas attorney general, Cornyn’s name was once on the shortlist for a George W. Bush Supreme Court nomination, but those thoughts seem to have gone away after Cornyn settled into the Senate in 2002. Thune has been in the Senate for 18 years, having taken his seat from former Democratic powerbroker Tom Daschle. At 63, he’s the baby of the group, and probably the one most irritated by demands that any new majority leader put a cap on his own tenure. Scott is only a year younger than Thune, but he didn’t arrive in the Senate until 2019. His taking on the leadership position after a single term would be an extraordinarily quick climb, but he’s seen as the favorite of the MAGA faction. Two of the demands at the core of the current fight involve breaking the hold that long-serving senators have on choice committee assignments and would force them to surrender committee leadership positions. For the latest influx of MAGA senators, this means getting more powerful assignments on big-name committees and more opportunities to lead on the legislative front. But it’s not exactly clear what difference it makes. If the price for taking McConnell’s office is giving up McConnell’s ability to strike deals on spending and infrastructure projects, everything else just seems … ornamental. “No compromise with Democrats” is just another way of saying “shut it all down.” Of course, if Republicans gain the majority in the Senate, expect that to change. While it's unlikely that either party would clear the 60-vote hurdle necessary to move legislation past a filibuster, an edge of even one vote would likely find that pesky filibuster going to the same place where McConnell put all the rules about Supreme Court Compromise makes government possible. A refusal to compromise makes it impossible. But the choice is only obvious for those who want government to work. Campaign Action
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President Joe Biden loves bipartisanship. He loves it in ways that have long frustrated his progressive supporters. His 35 years in the Senate gave him an enormous fondness for the cut and thrust of beating out a compromise and a lasting image of the chamber as the final stronghold of maintaining political comity in the face of disagreement.
The Senate as Biden likes to envision it doesn’t exist. It likely never did. However, even when only a handful of Republicans have signed on, Biden has still insisted on calling his infrastructure and CHIPS bills “bipartisan legislation.” And when it came to providing the funding that kept supplies flowing to Ukraine in the face of an illegal Russian invasion, Biden got a genuine bipartisan majority in the Senate. Americans in and out of government say they want more bipartisanship. Biden wants to give it to them, even now.
But as Republicans scramble to pick a replacement for outgoing Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, there are three big demands on the table: get rid of the seniority system for committee assignments, impose a term limit on leadership positions, and never, ever compromise. The death of bipartisanship is a base requirement.
When future histories are written, assuming that they are, it’s safe to say that McConnell will not be remembered fondly. Whether it’s his cowardice in failing to hold Donald Trump to account, or his work in destroying democracy in general and the judiciary in particular, with his spectacular double betrayal of tradition that gave Trump two undeserved additional seats on the Supreme Court.
Just like Trump, McConnell’s political history has largely involved showing that even when he seems to have found the bottom, there is always something lower.
But even McConnell could occasionally be found on the right side of history—like on that Ukraine bill. The guy who has proudly called himself the “grim reaper” of bills, the one most responsible for converting the Senate into the palace of eternal filibuster, where nothing moves without 60 votes, is now seen as too accommodating.
If the growing MAGA faction gets its way, any McConnell replacement will be 0% compromise 100% of the time.
As Politico reports, three candidates are vying for McConnell’s job: John Cornyn, Rick Scott, and John Thune.
Cornyn is the oldest, at 72, and has been in the Senate the longest. As a former Texas attorney general, Cornyn’s name was once on the shortlist for a George W. Bush Supreme Court nomination, but those thoughts seem to have gone away after Cornyn settled into the Senate in 2002.
Thune has been in the Senate for 18 years, having taken his seat from former Democratic powerbroker Tom Daschle. At 63, he’s the baby of the group, and probably the one most irritated by demands that any new majority leader put a cap on his own tenure.
Scott is only a year younger than Thune, but he didn’t arrive in the Senate until 2019. His taking on the leadership position after a single term would be an extraordinarily quick climb, but he’s seen as the favorite of the MAGA faction.
Two of the demands at the core of the current fight involve breaking the hold that long-serving senators have on choice committee assignments and would force them to surrender committee leadership positions. For the latest influx of MAGA senators, this means getting more powerful assignments on big-name committees and more opportunities to lead on the legislative front.
But it’s not exactly clear what difference it makes. If the price for taking McConnell’s office is giving up McConnell’s ability to strike deals on spending and infrastructure projects, everything else just seems … ornamental. “No compromise with Democrats” is just another way of saying “shut it all down.”
Of course, if Republicans gain the majority in the Senate, expect that to change. While it's unlikely that either party would clear the 60-vote hurdle necessary to move legislation past a filibuster, an edge of even one vote would likely find that pesky filibuster going to the same place where McConnell put all the rules about Supreme Court
Compromise makes government possible. A refusal to compromise makes it impossible. But the choice is only obvious for those who want government to work.
