Tag: Republican Study Committee

The chairman of the Republican Study Committee says Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) should step down as majority leader. “I think he’s a huge part of the problem,” Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) told NBC News, comparing McConnell to the manager of a losing baseball team. Walker leads a group of 150 conservative House GOP lawmakers. A spokesman for McConnell declined to respond publicly to the criticism, but allies of the senator waived it off, noting that House members don’t vote in Senate leadership races. McConnell’s longtime conservative critics are seizing on the health-care setback to put political pressure on the GOP leader, whom they have long viewed as a member of the Washington establishment. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who works closely with McConnell, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday that frustration with the Senate is boiling over among House Republicans. “We’re really frustrated. Look, we passed 373 bills here in the House — 270-some are still in the Senate,” Ryan told host Joe Kernen. “We’re all frustrated in the House. Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (Texas), the second-ranking member of the GOP leadership and one of the most qualified candidates to serve as the next Senate Republican leader, on Wednesday said McConnell’s job is safe.