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Recent Press Releases

Putting the Nation at Risk by Failing to Act

February 14, 2008



‘We must not leave our nation at greater risk, but if the House leaves town without providing the tools we need to keep our country safe, that’s exactly what they will have done’



Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement Thursday regarding the apparent decision by the House Democratic leadership to allow the Protect America Act to expire, putting the nation at great risk:



“This critical national security legislation has wide bipartisan support in the Senate, bipartisan majority support in the House, and will ensure that surveillance of terrorists can continue. The Senate passed it by a 68-29 margin, but the House Democratic leadership refuses to even bring it to a vote—preferring to let it expire instead.



“We must not leave our nation at greater risk, but if the House leaves town without providing the tools we need to keep our country safe, that’s exactly what they will have done.”



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Senators McConnell and Feinstein Introduce Legislation to Award Congressional Gold Medal to Aung San Suu Kyi

February 13, 2008



Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on Wednesday introduced a bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Aung San Suu Kyi – the leader of Burma’s democratic movement and Nobel Peace Laureate.

The Aung Sung Suu Kyi Congressional Gold Medal Act would recognize that Suu Kyi embodies the qualities represented by the medal, the highest honor bestowed by Congress.

The Gold Medal would be awarded in recognition of her courageous and unwavering commitment to peace, non-violence, human rights, and democracy in Burma. The legislation would also express solidarity with Suu Kyi and the people of Burma in their continuing struggle for a free and democratic Burma.

“While the Burmese government continues its campaign of oppression and abuse against its own people, Suu Kyi symbolizes the peaceful struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma,” Senator McConnell said. “By awarding her the Congressional Gold Medal, we are letting the Burmese military junta and the world know that the people of America will continue to stand beside Suu Kyi to defend the cause of liberty. And we honor her lifelong devotion to the freedom of her people.”

The legislation, which has broad, bipartisan support from 73 additional senators, must now be considered by the Senate Banking Committee before it can be brought to the Senate floor for final passage.

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We’ve Had Ample Time’ to Pass this Bipartisan Compromise, McConnell Says

February 13, 2008



‘There is a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives to take up and pass the Senate-passed bill now. That's what we know. That's what I hope will be done’



Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday regarding the need to finish the FISA legislation before it expires at the end of the week:



“With regard to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, it passed here in the Senate yesterday 68-29—an overwhelming bipartisan ratification of the Rockefeller-Bond bipartisan compromise to get us a permanent Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in place. There were a number of efforts to weaken the bill here on the floor of the Senate. They were all defeated on a bipartisan basis—most of them were defeated by a margin of 2-1.



“Over in the House, we have heard from 21 Democratic members, the Blue Dogs, who say the House ought to take up this overwhelmingly bipartisan Senate bill and pass it and send it to the President for signature.



“We had an important bipartisan victory last just week on the stimulus package. We have an opportunity to do it again this week on this extraordinarily important piece of legislation. In thinking about how long we have been dealing with this, we passed a short-term extension back in August. We’ve had six months to figure out what we wanted to do.



“We passed an extremely important, probably the most important piece of legislation we will pass this Congress yesterday, on an overwhelming bipartisan vote. The House of Representatives surely has been following what we have done.



“There's a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives for what we did yesterday in the Senate. We know that.



“There is a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives to take up and pass the Senate-passed bill in the House of Representatives now. That's what we know. That's what I hope will be done.



“The House will have an opportunity here over the next couple of days to make its decision, but the President, I think, correctly has assessed the situation and decided we have had ample time to deal with this legislation to find out how we felt about it, to vote on it and make whatever changes people thought were appropriate and we know there is a bipartisan majority in the House waiting to pass it, and I hope they are given that opportunity later this week.”



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