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Mitch McConnell

McConnell blames Democrats for bumps in Trump transition

Mary Troyan
USA Today
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walks to his office from the Senate floor on Jan. 11, 2017.

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told USA TODAY Wednesday that the presidential transition this year has been rockier than usual, but he blamed Democrats for the discord and hoped President-elect Donald Trump will use Friday’s inaugural speech to defuse it.

The passionate debate over health care, the inauguration boycott by many Democratic House members and several heated Cabinet confirmation hearings have rattled the normally festive feeling on Capitol Hill in the hours before a presidential inauguration.

“It’s safe to say the Democrats are in a bad mood. You can see that in the way the confirmations process is going on in the Senate. We are getting off to kind of a rough start,” said McConnell, who has represented Kentucky in the Senate for 32 years.

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While last-minute preparations to the inaugural platform continued outside his office window, McConnell said the Senate is on track to confirm only three of Trump’s Cabinet officials immediately after he takes the oath of office, compared to seven for President Obama in 2009.

“I remember, frankly, being appalled at some of Barack Obama’s appointments but my attitude was he won the election and that is what comes with winning the election,” McConnell said.

Democrats, of course, dispute being tagged the obstructionists, especially after McConnell refused to consider Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court for almost a year.

McConnell said the 2001 inauguration of President George W. Bush best symbolized the orderly transition of American government because it was a close election that was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court. Even the defeated Democratic nominee, Al Gore, attended.

“That was another situation where the loser got more popular votes and there were plenty of reasons for people to be irritated, and there were some people who didn’t come in 2001,” McConnell said.

This year, more than 50 House Democrats have said they are boycotting the inauguration to protest Trump's public feud with Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, a civil rights icon who challenged the legitimacy of Trump's presidency because of Russian interference in the election.

“It seems like this time (the boycotts) are making more news, so I can understand why the president-elect feels like he is being treated somehow differently than others," McConnell said.

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As for the Republican agenda in the Senate, McConnell remains full speed ahead on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. But he declined to specifically address Trump’s recent comment that the replacement should provide health coverage to all Americans.

“I’m not going to give you my opinion of his opinion. First of all, Obamacare leaves 25 million uninsured, so if that was their principal goal, it hasn’t gotten there,” McConnell said. “It has completely fouled up the private health insurance market.”

Asked about his expectations for Trump’s inaugural speech, McConnell cited President Ronald Reagan’s arrival in 1981.

“(Reagan) certainly pointed out what he thought were the deficiencies in the country and my recollection was that he did it in a way that was not too demeaning to the people he was replacing,” McConnell said. “He painted a kind of optimistic picture about what America could be in the future. It’s OK to state the complaints, but I’d like to see an uplifting and optimistic portrayal about what America could be.”

Stay with USA TODAY for full coverage of the 2017 inauguration.

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