Mitch McConnell Stands Firm on Plan to Kill China Competition Bill as Democrats Push Climate, Obamacare Package

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks to reporters after a Republican poli
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Sean Moran

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stood firm Thursday on his promise to kill a China competition bill should Democrats advance efforts to pass a $500 billion climate, Obamacare bill.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) continues to negotiate with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on a revived, yet scaled-down, Build Back Better bill. The effort would spend $500 billion on climate change and Obamacare subsidies, while offsetting the bill by reportedly nixing many of the tax cuts contained in the Trump Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Although Schumer has made progress, McConnell promised on Friday to kill the bill should the Senate Democrat majority try to pass it in the waning months of this congressional term.

“Let me be perfectly clear: there will be no bipartisan USICA as long as Democrats are pursuing a partisan reconciliation bill,” McConnell said.

Asked by Punchbowl News if McConnell remains committed to killing the bill, David Popp, McConnell’s communications director, said, “The tweet stands.”

The Senate Republican leader faces a difficult task in stopping the bill, especially as he has relented after making tough stands.

McConnell had opposed raising the debt ceiling as a failed strategy to try to force Democrats to raise the debt ceiling through reconciliation or through the $1.7 Build Back Better Act.

After losing to Schumer on his debt limit stand, McConnell struck a deal with Schumer to provide a one-time filibuster carveout to fast-track the debt ceiling.

A former senior GOP aide told Breitbart News this filibuster carveout was created to protect his own “ego.”

One senior administration official told Punchbowl News they would not let McConnell block the China competition bill:

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.

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