Having retired as leader of the Republican Conference in 2024 after 18 years in the role, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has emerged as Trump’s biggest Republican detractor in the Senate.
On key votes to grant advice and consent to Trump’s cabinet nominees, as the Constitution requires of the Senate, McConnell has been a consistent Republican vote against several of them. Most recently, he voted against the nominations of Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth. In the latter case, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joined in opposition, prompting Vice President JD Vance to cast a tie-breaking vote in favor.
“I’m a survivor of childhood polio,” McConnell wrote in a statement on Feb. 13 after he voted against Kennedy’s nomination, citing Kennedy’s previous advocacy on vaccines. “In my lifetime, I’ve watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world. I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles.
“Mr. Kennedy failed to prove he is the best possible person to lead America’s largest health agency.”
Though McConnell has supported other cabinet nominees this term, Trump criticized his recent votes against Kennedy, Gabbard, and Hegseth. […]
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