Senate Minority Leader McConnell, GOP Leaders hold their post-lunch press conference 5/03/22 Transcript

Speaker 1: (00:01)
…Per indicating the court is going to investigate. I want to underscore the separation of powers. This is the Supreme court’s job to investigate the league. The chief justice had indicated that’s exactly what he’s going to do. And I hope that the leaker who is extremely likely to be found, given a limited number of people who have the ability to access early drafts of opinions, will be dealt with as severely as the law may allow.

Speaker 1: (00:39)
And certainly the Supreme court is the most prominent law body in the country, would know what is the appropriate penalty on Ukraine. I want to reiterate to the administration, the way to get relieved to Ukraine quickly, is for the Ukraine package to move by itself. There is overwhelming bipartisan support for getting the Ukrainians as much help as they need, as quickly as possible. For that to happen here in the Congress, that package needs to be moved all by itself without the other extraneous issues that we’ve been debating related to title 42 in additional help for therapeutics. That’s the way to make progress on Ukraine quickly. With regard to the revelation of today, I’m competent the chief justice and the Supreme court will find the leaker and move forward to apply appropriate punishment.

Speaker 2: (01:57)
Well, I’d like to associate myself with the remarks of the leader with respect to the leak at the Supreme court. Court is an independent branch of our government and they need to conduct their own independent investigation, get to the bottom of this and hold those responsible accountable. Last week, the president of the United States made a fairly revealing comment when he said that, “Children are not their parents’ children, when they’re in the classroom.” And it’s revealing in a lot of ways because I think it emphasizes the Democrats view when it comes to kids and the teachers union’s view when it comes to our kids. And I think that was probably put on full display when the administration adopted a rule that requires toddlers to wear mask if they are in a head start facility, even if they are outside on the playground. It was a very sweeping rule and it’s one that I think is completely inconsistent with what we understand to be the role of parents when it comes to making the decisions that are the best interests of their kids.

Speaker 2: (03:11)
So we’re going to vote today on a congressional review act resolution of disapproval. We disapprove of this rule. Everybody’s going to have an opportunity to go on the record on whether or not toddlers under the age of five, even when they’re outside on the playground, ought to be required to wear mask. And I would point out that even the world health organization has concluded that toddlers shouldn’t have to wear mask. That’s not necessary and that there isn’t a public health or safety benefit associated with that. We think this is a great example of government overreach, of government putting themselves in the role that should be reserved for parents, making decisions that are in the best interest of their children. A vote is going to happen later today and I certainly hope that we not only have every Republican, which I believe we will, but that we’ll have some wise Democrats who want to make sure that our parents are in charge of their children and not the government.

Speaker 3: (04:19)
Well, there is more bad news that came out last Friday for families who are struggling in the Biden economy. The economic headlines point out that people are falling further behind. Prices keep going up and wages can’t keep up. So people are feeling stuck, stressed, and squeezed. So it’s no surprise then to see the Washington post ABC poll number, showing that more than nine in 10 Americans reported concerns about rising prices, nine in 10 Americans. And for people that have savings, what they’re seeing are their savings melting away.

Speaker 3: (05:03)
So you have this combination of soaring inflation and a stagnant economy. We haven’t had that since the 1970s, they call it Stagflation. So people are actually feeling poor. And the reason they’re feeling poor is their dollars don’t go as far as it was before to buy things so they are actually poor. And Joe Biden and this administration don’t seem to get it. Otherwise, why would he laugh at inflation over the weekend at the white house correspondence dinner. They don’t get it when Chuck Schumer talks about the only solution to inflation he said is to actually increase taxes, raise the rates. People have to empty their wallets to fill their gas tanks. This isn’t the time to raise taxes. It’s never the time to raise taxes. So you have Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer… There is Thelma and Louise heading straight over the cliff. The American people deserve much better from what this administration is providing for them.

Speaker 4: (06:09)
Well, on the inflation front, the American families clearly concerned about food prices going up as energy prices go up, as fertilizer prices go up, all the input costs go up. What we’re really seeing happen though in the world stage right now is a true food disaster in the making. I’ve talked to former governor David Beasley, who runs the World Food Program. Ambassador McCain, who’s our representative to that program because of what’s happening in Ukraine. You can find different numbers on this, but roughly 25% of all the wheat exports in the world come from Ukraine and Russia. About 20% of all the corn exports in the world. 90% of the sunflower cooking oil comes from there. And a lot of fertilized comes from there. Right now from Ukraine, which is the bigger partner in that food distribution of the two countries.

Speaker 4: (07:07)
And nothing’s coming out of Ukraine. Nothing’s coming out of the port at Odessa. Nothing’s coming out of the port at Mariupol and hasn’t, since the Russian invasion began. This has huge impact on the whole world, but particularly on Africa. Food in Ukraine, food in Africa, what’s in the silos in Ukraine right now is not getting out. And Ukrainian farmers aren’t getting crops planted for this year. This has to be something we’re really watching carefully. There are a lot of hungry people all over the world already, but if you reduce this great source of food… The bread basket of the world. We’re a great exporter of food, but this area is going to be dramatically impacted. And that impacts our prices as well. But the real issue here at this moment may not be nearly as much price as is real hunger. Some occurring today, a lot more could occur just a few months from today, if we don’t start thinking about how we deal with this part of that crisis.

Speaker 5: (08:20)
Its Small Business Week and 99% of Iowa is small business. And so as a senior Republican on the small business committee, I am working very hard to find ways to help our small businesses and really get big government off of their backs. What I would like to see, of course, is unleashing more American energy and increasing innovation. And so much of that innovation does come from our small businesses. So now the Democrats of course had a bit of bad news again this last week where the GDP this last quarter slipping another 1.4%. That is bad news across the board. And what we need to see again is really focusing on ways that we can build up small businesses, unleash the economy.

Speaker 5: (09:21)
But what their answer is as Democrats with leader Schumer, is to say, “We need to raise your taxes and spend more money as a federal government.” And folks, I’m here to tell you, it hasn’t worked in the past year plus of the Biden administration. It’s not going to work when Americans and small businesses are hurting with so many inflationary issues and supply chain challenges. So again, let’s find ways to ease the burden off of our small businesses. Let’s get big government off of their backs and let’s get this economy roaring the way it should. Let’s see some shifts in leadership and make sure we’re supporting our small businesses

Speaker 6: (10:11)
In the last few days the Biden administration announced that the department of Homeland security now has a disinformation board. This isn’t about the truth, this is about protecting families. This is about your federal government deciding what truth is and what speech is acceptable. Anybody that read George Orwell’s 1984, remembers the Thought Police. And the Thought Police would tell everybody exactly how they could think and what they could say. If you remember this… We’ve been dealing with this with social media. Where they decided that, taking example with Hunter Biden’s laptop, what was true and what was not true.

Speaker 6: (10:53)
And Republican senators, were conspiracy theorists because that’s what they decided. Now we know that all the stories about Biden’s laptop, it was the truth. It was just Hunter Biden’s laptop. So every American should be concerned about the Biden administration now creating a disinformation board, that’s going to be able to tell Americans what the truth is. Just like put a fact, they’ll go off to the left. They’ll tell Americans exactly what the truth is and what you can talk about.

Speaker 7: (11:19)
You have been adamant in the past about protecting the Filibusters. I just wonder if the Supreme Court doesn’t take strike down Roe, and you are a majority leader. Do you commit to keeping the Filibuster in place at all costs?

Speaker 1: (11:39)
Absolutely. We don’t want to break the Senate, and that’s breaking the Senate. And we went through that exercise a couple of months ago. I said it was the most important day in the history of the Senate as an institution. That remains the case and as far as I’m concerned, if we’re in the majority remain the case in perpetuity.

Speaker 8: (11:59)
You spent decades trying to remake the court overturn Roe, you’re possibly single handedly responsible for the 6-3 majority. So do you take personal credit for abortion rights likely to go away for millions of people in this country?

Speaker 1: (12:13)
Yeah. I think the story today is effort by someone on the inside to discredit the institution of the Senate which continues a pattern that we’ve observed over the last couple of years. Leader Schumer over on the steps of the Supreme court, calling out justices by name. Sheldon Whitehouse and others filing AMICUS briefs, threatening the court. Efforts to pack the court. Efforts to have term limits for court justices. What’s unique about today is, this is the first time we’ve had somebody on the inside try to attack the institution. Fortunately, I think the chief justice has taken that seriously and will find the leaker.

Speaker 8: (13:05)
What about [inaudible 00:12:04].

Speaker 7: (13:06)
Democrats say that the prospect of Roe being overturned and some of the more restrictive trigger laws coming into effect without exemptions for rape and incest will shock the public and motivate voters in November. What is your response to that? How does this change the midterms?

Speaker 1: (13:22)
Well, that’s not the story for today. The story for the day is what I just said.

Speaker 9: (13:27)
If Roe is struck down, do you see a need for federal abortion restriction legislation in Congress?

Speaker 1: (13:35)
Look, all of this puts the cart before the horse. We have three Supreme court clerks in my conference. They all explain the procedure and our entire conversation today was about what I’ve just been talking to you about. And you need… It seems to me, excuse the lecture, to concentrate on what the news is today. Not a leaked draft, but the fact that the draft was leaked.

Speaker 7: (14:03)
On that-