The Misadventures of Moscow Mitch: KDP: ICYMI: Workers, Businesses Furious with McConnell

By KENY COLSTON

Kentucky Democratic Party

Frankfort, KY — A new story from the Washington Post shows just how much Kentuckians are blaming Mitch McConnell for economic problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The latest report comes as McConnell has been on the sidelines for months when it comes to federal assistance. In March, McConnell said he thought states should go bankrupt. In May, when the U.S. House passed another round of relief, McConnell said he’d rather “pause.”

When McConnell returned to Congress, he released a bill so bad that one of his top allies, Lindsey Graham, said the bill wouldn’t even get majority support in the Senate GOP caucus. 

The Post finds that workers and business owners from all over the political spectrum are mad at McConnell for his failures:

• “The Kentucky representatives from the AFL-CIO, Teamsters and other labor groups had grown incensed with Mitch McConnell, their home state senator and the chamber’s most powerful lawmaker. For months, they said, he had been blocking much-needed congressional coronavirus aid, the kind of dollars that might help workers and businesses in the Bluegrass State struggling to survive financially.”



• “A self-described ‘die-hard Republican’ his entire life, Saylor said he has now found himself angry with some of the GOP leaders who had long represented him, including McConnell. ‘I’m scared to death of losing everything,’ he said.”

• “For residents such as Michael Holland, the additional federal aid offered a critical cushion. A contract industrial engineer by trade, the 59-year-old resident of Lexington had been wiring Amazon facilities and Toyota factories for years until the coronavirus crisis forced him off the job in February and into the ranks of the unemployed…. Holland, an independent voter, said McConnell in particular had only left him ‘madder.’ ”

• “Approximately 200,000 households in Kentucky are at risk of losing their homes in the next four months, said Adrienne Bush, the executive director of the Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky, but she fretted that her group’s entreaties failed to result in much support from the GOP leader. ‘I’m not sure why he didn’t listen to his constituents when we organized sign-on letters, we organized calls with his staff … we had another virtual lobby day on July 21,’ Bush said. ‘The response was, ‘We’ll take your concerns to the leader.’ ” 

• “Ouita Michel, 56, owns a selection of restaurants across central Kentucky….Michel described the situation as a ‘tipping point’ for McConnell among business owners and others throughout Kentucky. ‘He’s in a position right now where he does need to listen very carefully to what constituents tell him,’ she said.”

Marisa McNee, spokesperson for the Kentucky Democratic Party, said: “Our state is hurting and Mitch is sitting on the sidelines, taking long weekends and blowing a lot of hot air when the cameras are on. Kentuckians don’t need Mitch’s false leadership, they need someone who will fight for them everyday and that person is Amy McGrath.”