Month: November 2022

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell defeated challenger Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and was re-elected as Senate minority leader Wednesday with a vote of 37-10.

McConnell said at a news conference Wednesday that the Republican Party’s failure to pick up seats and win the majority in the Senate can be blamed on too much chaos and too much negativity by Republican candidates.  Said McConnell:  “Here’s the problem .. We underperformed among voters who did not like President Biden’s performance, among independents and among moderate Republicans who looked at us and concluded too much chaos, too much negativity, and we turned off a lot of these centrist voters, which is why I never predicted a red wave to begin with.”

McConnell’s secret ballot win over Scott happened after a motion by 16 GOP senators to delay the leadership election was defeated. GOP senators called for auditing the National Republican Senatorial Committee, after Sen. Scott accused former committee chair Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., of paying unauthorized and improper bonuses to committee staff in 2020. Citing a letter Scott sent to GOP senator’s seeking their votes, Scott reportedly said “it’s time for Senate Republican conference to be far more bold and resolute that we have been in the past.”

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Former President Donald Trump announced his third presidential run on Tuesday night from his Mar-a-Lago residence. Trump officially launched his campaign for president in 2024, filing papers with the Federal Election Commission Tuesday night in which he declared himself a candidate for the presidency, and established a new campaign committee.

Trump announced to a crowded ballroom: “In order to make America great again, I am announcing my candidacy for president of the United States. This will not be my campaign. This will be our campaign. This is a task for a great movement. This is not for any one individual. This is a job for tens of thousands of people working together.” Trump added: “We are a nation in decline. We are a failing nation for millions of Americans,” speaking about President Joe Biden’s first two years running the nation. “I will ensure Joe Biden does not receive four more years … This campaign will be about issues, vision and success, and we will not stop, we will not quit, until we’ve achieved the highest goals and made our country greater than it has ever been before.”

Trump’s presidential announcement comes after many in the Republican Party urged the former president to postpone his campaign until after next month’s Georgia Senate runoff. Trump also may have to contend with the possibility of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis challenging him for the nomination. The 44-year-old DeSantis easily won re-election last week, and has already begun to gain support among some Republican politicians, who were disappointed with the poor showing of many Trump-endorsed candidates in the midterm elections. The Florida governor has reportedly met with donors and started assembling his own presidential campaign to challenge Trump for the GOP nomination.

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The White House has asked Congress to approve $37.7 billion in additional aid for Ukraine. The request for Ukraine assistance includes $21.7 billion for military, intelligence and other defense support, $14.5 billion in humanitarian aid and to help keep the Ukrainian government functioning, $900 million for health care and support services for Ukrainians living in the U.S. and $626 million for nuclear security support to Ukraine and for modernizing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. U.S. aid to Ukraine has already included tens of thousands of missiles and rockets for air defense and anti-armor systems, and more than 84 million rounds of ammunition, as well as drones, tanks, trucks, radars, body armor and other gear.

The White House has also requested a further $9.25 billion for COVID-19 response efforts. The coronavirus funding ask is considerably lower than the previous request of $22 billion, which reflects in part the changing nature of the virus and the continued effort to combat it. The request includes $2.5 billion for vaccines and therapeutics, $5 billion to support development of new vaccines, $750 million to support research into long COVID and $1 billion to combat the virus internationally.

Shalanda Young, the head of the White House budget office, wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday: “Staying ahead of COVID-19. Supporting Ukraine’s fight to defend its sovereignty. Helping Americans who have borne the brunt of natural disasters. … I urge the Congress to address them as part of a comprehensive, bipartisan agreement in the weeks ahead.”

Congress has until Dec. 16 to agree on a budget or pass an interim measure to avoid a government shutdown.

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