Recent Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell introduced legislation today to help Kentucky’s mothers and fathers who work at home while taking care of their children. The Working Parents Home Office Act allows working parents to deduct incidental use for child care provided while the taxpayer is using the space for their business. 

“Working from home and being able to care for young children saves on child care costs, and having the option to deduct business expenses under these circumstances will help young families trying to run their own business in this struggling economy,” Senator McConnell said. “My bill would fix a flaw in the tax code so that men or women who work from home aren’t prevented from claiming a deduction for a home office if that office includes a baby crib so they can care for their child while working. The Working Parents Home Office Act would not only help parents save on child care costs, it would help increase their earning potential by incentivizing them to create new income streams from home.”

Earlier this year, Senator McConnell and Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) also introduced the Family Friendly and Workplace Flexibility Act, which would enable working mothers to enter into a voluntary agreement with their employers whereby they could bank overtime compensation in the form of time-off with their families. It would give families the choice, not just the employer.

Today on the Senate floor, Senator McConnell called on Senate Democrats to consider these bills aimed at helping middle class Americans deal with the stresses of a modern economy.

WASHINGTON, D.C.U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate Floor regarding Republican ideas for help working men and women who are suffering under the Obama economy:

“For five and a half years, the Obama Administration and its allies in Congress have sought cover for their disastrous economic agenda with routine broadsides against an endless procession of straw men.

“It’s hard to recall a single speech from a Democrat leader in Washington that didn’t involve some spirited defense of a principle nobody ever challenged, or some attack on a villain that doesn’t exist.

“Instead of working with us on ideas that would actually do something to alleviate the concerns and anxieties of the middle class, these Democrat leaders have been blissfully content to play politics, years after year after year.

“Instead of delivering relief, they’ve delivered a steady diet of bad political theater day in and day out — with the same ridiculous and predictable moral every single time: ‘Democrats care,’ they claim, ‘so vote for them, and all will be well.’

“Well, if you haven’t noticed, all is not well for working families in this country.

“Four years after administration officials trumpeted ‘Recovery Summer’ in June 2010, working men and women in this country are more anxious about work, and family, and the high cost of living. And that’s to say nothing of the millions who can’t find work at all.

“The White House knows all this. That’s why they’re planning to hold a summit on the topic next week. They want everyone to think they’re on the case — that they’ve got a plan. But what they don’t seem to realize is that nobody really believes them anymore. That folks have moved on.

“The sad truth is, most of the folks I talk to are convinced government is working against them, not for them.  And I don’t blame them. Because whether it’s frustration over an absurdly complicated tax code that drains people of their time and their energy, or just a general sense that government programs are rigged to help the well-off and well-connected, an increasing number of our constituents don’t even think government is capable — let alone interested — in making their lives any easier these days.

“And that’s a shame. Because while the Obama Administration’s been playing politics, Republicans have been quietly assembling a lot of really good ideas aimed at helping middle class Americans deal with the stresses of a modern economy. All of these ideas are consistent with our party’s longstanding commitment to the principles of upward mobility, shared responsibility for the weak, and a strong but limited central government. And every single one of them deserves a vote.

“For my part, I’ve pressed for legislation that addresses a variety of concerns of the people in my state.

“The Family Friendly and Workplace Flexibility Act, which I introduced along with Senator Ayotte, would enable working mothers to enter into a voluntary agreement with their employers whereby they could bank overtime compensation in the form of time-off with their families. It would give families the choice, not just the employer.

“Another bill I will introduce today would fix a flaw in the tax code so that men or women who work from home aren’t prevented from claiming a deduction for a home office if that office includes a baby crib so they can care for their child while working. The Working Parents Home Office Act would not only help parents save on child care costs, it would help increase their earning potential by incentivizing them to create new income streams from home.

“For parents worried about failing schools that are underserving their children, Senator Kirk introduced the Expanding Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools Act – a bill that would provide more and better educational choices and some much needed competition for teachers’ unions that too often put their own interests over those of our children.

“Then there’s the National Right to Work Act, a bill I’ve co-sponsored with Senator Paul, which would eliminate a federal rule that requires the employees of certain companies to join a union or to pay union dues whether they want to or not. Lifting this rule would vastly increase job opportunities in my state for women and men who want work but can’t find it, especially in the area of manufacturing.

“The Senior Senator from Maine has a proposal that would repeal a senseless provision in Obamacare that’s incentivizing employers all across the country to limit their employees to 30-hours a week.

“The Junior Senator from Nebraska has a bill, the Workplace Advancement Act, that would further equip women in the workplace with the knowledge and tools they need to fight employer discrimination.

“The Junior Senator from Florida has a bill, the RAISE Act, that would amend the National Labor Relations Act to allow employers to give merit-based pay increases to employees who are currently prohibited from receiving them because of outdated labor rules.

“And the Junior Senator from Utah has a number of good proposals in a variety of areas.

“These are just a few of the really good ideas that members of my conference have put together to address the concerns and anxieties of working men and women whose wages have remained stubbornly flat in the Obama years – even as the cost of everything from college tuition to health care continues to soar. There are many others, including bills passed by the House that the Democrat Majority in the Senate continues to block.

“But I’m really proud of the work so many of my colleagues have done in putting all this legislation together.

“This morning, some of us will present a number of these ideas at a press conference, to draw attention to urgent needs of our constituents — and the short-sightedness of the Majority Leader in blocking our ideas to address them.

“Every one of these Republican ideas is meant to address some common concern of working families in this country. But none of them ever get a vote because it wouldn’t fit the storyline Washington Democrats are peddling.

“Apparently, Senate Democrats would rather people didn’t know that Republicans have been working overtime behind the scenes to help make life easier or paychecks bigger for working moms and recent college graduates.

“They’d rather people didn’t even know about these, or dozens of other ideas we have that are aimed at making life a little easier for middle class Americans — because if they did, they might realize there’s an entirely different approach to the problems that have been plaguing this economy for years now, and choose it over theirs.

“Well, what Republicans have been saying is that there are a number of things we can do, right now, to help folks deal with the pressures they face every day in this economy.  We’ve been talking about these ideas for years, and we’ll be talking about them later today — because five and a half years into the Obama economy, Americans are eager to for some fresh thinking. They’re tired of the same old big-government solutions that only make life harder and more complicated.

“And they’re tired of a Democrat-controlled Senate that won’t allow a debate, or a vote, on any of our better alternatives.

“Most of our constituents are thinking about long commutes, shrinking budgets, and obscenely high tuition and health care bills. They think about how nice it would be to have some more flexibility at work. They’re frustrated with a tax code that seems to punish their efforts to make a little bit more money for the family. And they’re not getting anything from the White House but empty rhetoric and more of the same. Today, Republicans are reminding people there’s another way. While Democrats have been plotting on ways to hold onto their majority, we’ve been listening to the concerns and anxieties of our constituents, and figuring out new, creative ways to address them.

“It’s long past time we had a real debate in this country — instead of the false choice Democrats constantly present to the public between their own failed ideas and some political villain that doesn’t exist. It’s time Americans saw the real choice before them. And once they do, I think that choice will be an easy one.”

WASHINGTON, D.C.U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate Floor regarding EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy’s recent confirmation that the Administration is waging a War on Coal:

“In the Obama Administration’s latest offensive in its War on Coal, it has proposed new regulations that threaten Kentucky’s 20 existing coal-fired power plants while potentially putting thousands out of work.
 
“If enacted, the massive new regulations would prove the single worst blow to Kentucky’s economy in modern times—and a dagger to the heart of the Commonwealth’s Middle Class.
 
“Despite what they are called, the proposed restrictions on Kentucky’s coal-fired power plants amount to little more than a massive energy tax. And they will have a devastating effect on Kentucky.
 
“The Administration announced it would hold four public hearings on the new proposed regulations. And, given the dramatic effects they’re sure to have on my home state, you’d think they’d hold at least one of those hearings in Eastern Kentucky, or somewhere in Kentucky at the very least.

“But then, you’d be mistaken.
 
“Once again, just like last year when the Obama Administration held public hearings before proposing this national energy tax, not one of the sessions is slated for a non-metropolitan area dependent on coal. The nearest location to Eastern Kentucky is a 10-hour round trip away.
 
“Since coal employs over 11,000 Kentuckians and accounts for over 90 percent of Kentucky’s electricity, I wrote a letter to Gina McCarthy, the EPA administrator, formally requesting that she convene a hearing in coal country. I have yet to get a response.
 
“It doesn’t appear that Administrator McCarthy is too busy to talk to some people, however. Imagine my surprise this weekend when I learned that she found the time Friday night to appear on an HBO late-night comedy show, where she admitted that the Obama Administration is in fact waging a War on Coal.
 
“The host asked her this question, quote: ‘Some people called it a War on Coal. I hope it is a War on Coal. Is it?’
 
“After a moment of indirection, Administrator McCarthy conceded that a War on Coal is, quote, ‘exactly what this is.’
 
“Of course, this talk show was recorded in front of a friendly anti-coal host and audience, in a television studio in Los Angeles. It almost sounds like the site of one of her EPA’s anti-coal hearings.
 
“Why does Administrator McCarthy have the time to appear on HBO, but not to appear on WYMT-TV in Hazard, so she can explain her War on Coal to the people it is most directly affecting?
 
“Why does she have time to sit down with a TV comedian, but not with the editors of the Appalachian News Express in Pikeville, so she can look my constituents in the eye and explain how these rules will impact them?
 
“Of course, for those of us who watch this Administration closely, this kind of admission is nothing new. A year ago, an adviser to the White House acknowledged that, quote, ‘a War on Coal is exactly what’s needed.’
 
“Last year, because the Obama Administration refused to hold any of its listening sessions in Coal Country, I held one of my own. We heard a lot of riveting testimony from coal miners, those in the coal industry, and their families, and I brought their stories back to the Administration where I testified on their behalf since the administrator wouldn’t hear from them directly.
 
“I’m committed to making sure Kentucky’s voice is heard on this issue, even if the Obama Administration doesn’t want to listen. That’s why I immediately responded to the Administration’s new regulations with my own legislation, the Coal Country Protection Act, to push back against the president’s extreme anti-coal scheme.
 
“Supported by the Kentucky Coal Association, my legislation would require that the following simple but important benchmarks be met before his rules take effect:

  • One, the Secretary of Labor would have to certify that the new rules would not generate loss of employment.
  • Two, the Director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office would have to certify the rules would not result in any loss in American gross domestic product.
  • Three, the Administrator of the Energy Information Administration would have to certify the rules would not increase electricity rates.
  • And four, the Chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the President of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation would have to certify that electricity delivery would remain reliable.

“That’s it. My legislation is just plain common sense. And I urge the Majority Leader to allow a vote on my legislation.”