美国国家公共电台 NPR McConnell Warns Of 'Scary Prospect' If GOP Loses Senate Control In Midterms

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Back here in Washington, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is sending a warning to voters. With midterm elections now just 26 days away, he wants Republicans to know control of Congress is not the only thing at stake.

MITCH MCCONNELL: Lose the Senate, and the project of confirming judges is over for the last two years of president Trump 1. That I think is a scary prospect 2 to the people who like what we've been doing on the judge project and I hope will help us hold onto our majority.

KELLY: Well, NPR congressional reporter Kelsey Snell sat down with Senator McConnell in his office in the Capitol today for a wide-ranging discussion, and she is with me now for a wide-ranging discussion on everything that they discussed. Hey there, Kelsey.

KELSEY SNELL, BYLINE 3: Hi there.

KELLY: So Senator McConnell really sounding the alarm there for Republicans - how confident did he tell you he is that they will keep their Senate majority come November?

SNELL: Well, I have to say he sounded much more upbeat than he did even just a month ago. People may remember that earlier this year, he said the Senate was absolutely in play. Now, the conversation we had didn't really sound like that. He told me that the fight over Kavanaugh - Justice Kavanaugh came just at the right time even when he was downplaying the general failure of the tax reform message for Republicans.

MCCONNELL: As of the last week or so, the hottest issue in our races has become the Kavanaugh nomination 4. And we've seen a surge in interest among Republican voters. We knew the Democrats 5 were fired up. They have been all year - no question about that. But what we're now seeing is that the enthusiasm and energy on the Republican side comes close to matching the Democratic side. And given the states that we're competing in, that's really good news for us.

SNELL: You've said many times that it - to energize 6 your base. Do you worry that that has come too quickly? Is that something sustainable? Will Republicans - now that they have Kavanaugh in this seat, will they stay energized 7 and show up to vote?

MCCONNELL: Actually it comes right on the eve of the election. I mean, we're only three weeks out. The timing 8 for a surge really couldn't have been better - not that this was all planned, you understand. But, I mean, it was a great break for us in terms of energizing 9 our own people.

SNELL: Another part of it that you've talked about is you've called Democrats an angry mob essentially 10. You've used the term mob.

MCCONNELL: I declared the mob an angry mob. That was not what I said about our Democratic colleagues. I do think that they encouraged what went on and that Congress - well, you were here in the halls. We were literally 11 under assault ourselves - trailing members to their homes, getting in their faces here in the Capitol, effort to clearly try to intimidate 12 us. And one of the reasons I was so proud of the result last Saturday on Judge Kavanaugh is that we stood up for two things. We stood up to the mob, and we also stood up for the presumption 13 of innocence 14.

SNELL: One major campaign promise that you guys were not able to fulfill 15 was on health care. And I'd like to know. Would you schedule a vote to repeal 16 the Affordable 17 Care Act if you do keep the majority next year?

MCCONNELL: I usually don't announce what I'm going to do this far in advance. That was a disappointment. That was the single biggest disappointment of this Congress and really the only major disappointment. We were able to move on so many different fronts. In fact, if you're an American who prefers the country right of center, I've said before, and I would say again today this has been the best Congress in the time I've been in the Senate.

SNELL: You've acknowledged that your party has a significant gender 18 gap. It's something you've talked about quite a bit in the past couple of days. Republicans are also behind with minorities and some other groups. What does it mean for the long-term viability 19 of the GOP if the party increasingly appeals mostly to white men?

MCCONNELL: Well, you know, we've done pretty well with Hispanics in the past. And even the current president did better than a lot of people thought he would. I think it's also important to remember that President Trump got 9 out of 10 Republican votes in 2016, not that every one of those 9 out of 10 who voted for him was thrilled with every aspect of what he was saying. I think we're in a pretty good position going into these midterm elections. I'm pretty optimistic we'll be able to hold our majority.

SNELL: There was a talk at one point in time about, you know, dissecting 20 where these losses were happening for Republicans, particularly in the Hispanic community. Is it time for that to happen again?

MCCONNELL: Well, I don't think there's any question that we would like to be doing better than we are with Hispanic Americans, although some of the most prominent Hispanic politicians in America happen to be Republicans. With regard to women voters, we've always had something of a gender gap. It's never been as wide as it is now. We have two great women running for the Senate this year, Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee and Martha McSally in Arizona.

I think we can improve our position with women voters and with Hispanic voters for sure. With African-Americans, we haven't been able to make much headway, although I think it is noteworthy that Tim Scott is a member of our conference. And he's the - arguably the most popular politician in South Carolina. So there is hope with African-American voters as well. But I'm more optimistic about closing the gender gap and by improving our position with Hispanics.

SNELL: You're looking ahead. We talked just, like, 3 1/2 weeks away from this election. How many Republicans will be in the Senate next year?

MCCONNELL: Now, you know I'm not going to answer that.

(LAUGHTER)

MCCONNELL: I stay out of the prediction business.

KELLY: Sometimes the non-answers are telling. That was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaking with our Kelsey Snell on Capitol Hill today. And, Kelsey, was there anything else he just wouldn't answer?

SNELL: Well, yeah, I think it's important to note that this is a longer interview that we kind of had to edit down for time. And he and I talked about a lot. And one of the things he - that really struck me is that he avoided criticizing President Trump on most issues, particularly on the economy and on President Trump's comments from last night that the Fed is crazy for raising interest rates.

KELLY: Right.

SNELL: McConnell just wouldn't go there. And in that section about health care, when we heard him say it was a major failure, he didn't say it's a fight he wants to repeat. And that's not what a lot of conservatives want to hear. They wanted to hear that Republicans are going to go back if they still have control and try again to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

And on that same issue, we got into an extended conversation about Republicans and protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Two Senate candidates are involved in lawsuits 21 to weaken those protections, and he told me that Republicans are campaigning on keeping those protections and gave a contradictory 22 response about how they can support those lawsuits but still want the protections in place.

KELLY: One thing that leapt out at me listening there - back to your health care point, he described a failure to pass health care overhaul 23 is the only major disappointment. And I was thinking, I can think of others. I mean, what about comprehensive immigration reform? They wanted to get that done. It's not done.

SNELL: That really wasn't on his list. And, you know, I - it has been on the list for a lot of Republicans that I've talked to who had worked on immigration. Many of them said that they still hold out hope that immigration could be part of a broader conversation later in the year, potentially around spending.

KELLY: Speaking of spending and speaking of immigration, did you ask about the border wall, which people are talking about again - funding for Trump's border wall with Mexico?

SNELL: Yeah, I asked him if he thought there was going to be a shutdown fight in December over the border wall with Mexico. He says he wants to try to get funding for the wall, but he's talking about a lot less money than House Republicans. He said about - you know, money for about one year, roughly the amount that they've been spending on border security altogether. And now, that's not a big down payment or major investment that some in the House are talking about, and that sets up the possibility of an immigration conversation, of a big spending fight.

KELLY: One other thing that you raised with him was women and where women are left post-Kavanaugh confirmation 24 battle. He acknowledged that there's always been something of a gender gap in terms of voters for Republicans and acknowledge that's going to be a challenge.

SNELL: Yeah, absolutely. And he said that he is going to make an effort to get more women on the Senate Judiciary Committee next year. He says he's asked in the past, and he's going to ask again.

KELLY: All right, NPR congressional reporter Kelsey Snell talking about her interview today with Mitch McConnell there on Capitol Hill - Kelsey, thanks so much.

SNELL: Thank you.