McConnell Meets With Incoming GOP Senators, Sounds Discouraged Note on Obama Moderation

McConnell Meets With Incoming GOP Senators, Sounds Discouraged Note on Obama Moderation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Presumptive Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell welcomed new Senators-elect to his office Wednesday morning 

“We’re here to make the place function again and begin to make progress for the American people,” McConnell told reporters while flanked by the incoming lawmakers. 

When asked if he expects to move to the middle as a means of working with Obama, McConnell explained that it is the president who appears to remain stuck on the opposite pole.

“The problem is the president continues to send signals that he has no intention of moving toward the middle,” he said.

McConnell referenced the White House’s new agreement with the Chinese to reduce emissions as a source of distress.

He said, as he sees it, the agreement requires “the Chinese to do nothing at all for 16 years while these carbon emission regulations are creating havoc in my state and other states around the country.”

Overall, he continued, he would like to see Obama moderate.

“I would welcome the president moving to the middle. I’ve said before I hope we can do some business on trade and maybe tax reform. First indications have not been very hopeful,” he said. 

McConnell did offer some humor early in his remarks when he noted that the 2014 scene represented a “happier occasion” than 2006, when the class was “the president, secretary and treasurer” Sen. Bob Corker (TN-R).

He added that he hopes the newcomers will soon be joined by Alaska and Louisiana Republicans Dan Sullivan and Bill Cassidy. 

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