Mitch McConnell

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell is today going to introduce "a clean, one-page continuing resolution that keeps government funded through February 18^th at current spending levels." This, however, is not a capitulation to the Democratic-led Senate -- it's a temporary hold, giving Congress more time to figure out how it should fund the government.

Via Politico, President Obama accidentally called the Senate Minority Leader "Mike" McConnell today:

Conservative foreign policy wonks are worried that the Democratic majority in the Senate might try to squeeze through the new START agreement before the influx of new Republican senators come to work in January. But Don Stewart, spokesman for Republican leader Senator Mitch McConnell, thinks that the Democrats probably will not be able to get new START through during the lame duck session, and almost certainly not before Senator-elect Mark Kirk is sworn, which will happen probably around Thanksgiving.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to comment on the controversy surrounding the Ground Zero Mosque this morning. "I don't have any thoughts about that. I assume it will be worked out in New York," the Kentucky Republican told reporters at a breakfast meeting sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. The other day, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the president has no position on the Ground Zero Mosque, saying it's a local matter.

One week from today, Kentucky Republicans will choose their nominee to replace retiring GOP senator Jim Bunning. The results will tell us a lot about the electorate's dyspeptic mood.

The campaign pits secretary of state Trey Grayson against Rand Paul, an eye doctor and son of Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. Grayson has the blessing of the GOP establishment: Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, Rep. Harold Rogers, Mitt Romney, and Rudy Giuliani. Paul has the support of passionate outsiders: his father, Sarah Palin, Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina.

The White House and Congress are moving ahead with their plans to reform the financial system. At issue is the Dodd bill's resolution authority to break down large and complex financial institutions on the verge of insolvency. Mitch McConnell says the authority, which would include a $50 billion fund to pay for the resolution process, would incentivize Too Big to Fail and lead to more bailouts. President Obama says that's baloney.

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell isn't a fan of Chris Dodd's financial reform bill:

From the office of Senator Mitch McConnell: 

Administration Actuary Can’t Analyze Health Bill Before Final Vote

Even the Administration’s Chief Actuary at HHS cannot provide cost analysis of latest Democrat health spending bill before the vote

Chief Actuary: ‘I regret that my staff and I will not be able to prepare our analysis within this very tight time frame, due to the complexity of the legislation.’

Today President Obama traveled to George Mason University in northern Virginia for a pre-vote health care reform rally. You can read his remarks here. If you're too busy to click on the link, don't worry. You've heard them before.

Obama to the Governors Ball: “One of the things I’ve always said about governors that Washington could learn from," Obama said, “is that it’s hard to be overly ideological as governor because the fact of the matter is, the rubber hits the road with you.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell doesn’t claim to have developed an economic stimulus plan of his own. But he does favor a cluster of proposals that, when packaged together, are a simple, sensible program for rejuvenating the economy.

I take the liberty of dubbing it the McConnell Plan (without asking the Republican leader’s approval). If enacted, the plan would do a great deal more to boost the economy and increase employment than the “jobs bill” that President Obama and congressional Democrats are cooking up.

Earlier today at the Heritage Foundation, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell delivered a speech on the many flawed policies of the Obama administration’s approach to terrorism, paramount among them, “that terrorism should be treated as a law-enforcement matter.”

McConnell then pointed out that the administration’s failure with respect to the Christmas Day bomber—from not acting on intelligence it received from the boy’s father to mirandizing him immediately after he attempted to blow up an airliner over U.S. soil—should not have shocked anyone. This is, McConnell concluded, merely the logical conclusion, the “practical consequences,” of a pre-9/11 mentality that considers terrorism a crime, not an act of war.