Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) asserted Sunday that the Senate is not “broken” in the wake of a historically close vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh that capped a bitter months-long fight over the nomination.
McConnell defended the state of the Senate on a pair of Sunday talk shows, arguing that, while the Kavanaugh confirmation process represented a “low point,” the institution is still working properly.
“Despite our big fight over this nomination there’s been an awful lot of bipartisan cooperation,” McConnell said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
{mosads}The majority leader highlighted an opioids bill and the Federal Aviation Administration authorization package passed in recent weeks, as well as a series of appropriation bills that have passed with bipartisan support.
“So the notion that the Senate is somehow broken over this is simply inaccurate,” McConnell said.
McConnell made similar remarks on “Fox News Sunday,” where he disputed any suggestion that he and his fellow Republicans set the Senate on its current path by blocking former President Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland in 2016.
“The Senate’s not broken, and we didn’t attack Merrick Garland’s background and go on a search and destroy mission,” he said.
“I agree with Chuck Schumer that this has been a low point in the Senate,” McConnell added. “I disagree with who caused the low point.”
The Senate confirmed Kavanaugh on Saturday afternoon in a 50-48 vote, with one GOP senator absent and another voting “present.” Every Democrat opposed Kavanaugh’s nomination except for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
The bitter fight over Kavanaugh’s confirmation came after multiple women accused the judge of sexual misconduct. Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford testified late last month over Ford’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her during a party in the 1980s. Kavanaugh has denied any misconduct.
A supplemental FBI background investigation found no corroboration of the claims, Republicans said, while Democrats argued that the review of the allegations was too brief and failed to interview key witnesses.
President Trump, the majority leader and other GOP lawmakers argued that Kavanaugh was a victim of a “smear campaign by Democrats,” and decried that the judge had been treated unfairly.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats accused McConnell of a double standard for his willingness to quickly advance the Kavanaugh nomination despite the allegations, despite his unwillingness to give Garland a hearing.