Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding the need for President Obama to put the Middle Class above liberal ideology:

“Earlier this year, I came to the floor to pose a simple question about President Obama’s final years in office.

“Did he want to be remembered as a Hero to the Left, or as a Champion for the Middle Class?

“I asked the question this way because, for the past several years, the Left has basically had its run of the White House. And during that period, the politically-connected and the already-powerful have clearly prospered. 

“But the Middle Class? They feel like they’ve been shut out altogether, as household income has plummeted and families that were just struggling to pay the bills have gotten left behind by a President and a party that claimed to act in their name. 

“So I wanted to know: did the President plan to continue down the same ideological road he’d taken us on, or would he change course and embrace effective proposals that would make a real difference in the lives of Middle Class Americans? Would he reach across the aisle to jump-start job creation and make the economy work for the Middle Class again?

“Well, over the last few months, we appear to have gotten our answer.

“Once more, the real concerns of ordinary Americans have been pushed aside in favor of the preoccupations of the Left. Yet again, we’ve seen the truth of the old saying that a liberal never lets the facts get in the way of a good theory. Once again, we’ve seen how liberal policies end up hurting the very people they claim to help.

“Nowhere is this more apparent than in the debate over the minimum wage.

“As a recent CBO report makes clear, the President’s bill basically amounts to a terrible real-world tradeoff: helping one group of low-wage Americans by undercutting another group of low-wage Americans.

“How is that fair?

“Americans are crying out for jobs. Job creation is the top issue in this country. Our unemployment and underemployment rates have remained abysmally high more than half a decade after this president took office.

“And what’s the White House’s solution? A bill that might sound good in theory, but could cost as many as a million jobs.

“The CBO recently released another report — this one on Obamacare. And it’s a similar story.

“2.5 million fewer Americans in jobs, thanks to Obamacare. Huge disincentives to work, thanks to Obamacare.

“That’s what the CBO said.

“Of course, Washington Democrats – the same folks who promised you could keep your health plan if you liked it – they told Americans not to believe their own eyes, that Obamacare would simply ‘liberate’ them from jobs.

“It’s just unbelievable.

“Especially when you consider that the law’s medical device tax alone is projected to kill as many as 33,000 jobs.

“And that 60 percent of business owners and HR professionals recently surveyed said that Obamacare will negatively impact jobs. As a member of that group recently put it, ‘small businesses have an incentive to stay small’ under Obamacare.

“That’s because Obamacare can punish businesses that choose to hire more workers.

“In my home state of Kentucky, the tension between the priorities of the Left and the needs of real people is on full display.

“That’s because the Obama Administration has trained its sights on some of our most vulnerable citizens.

“One Administration advisor actually used the words ‘War on Coal’ to essentially describe what the Administration is doing – or in his view, probably should be doing – to hard-working miners who just want to put food on the table.

“His words, not mine.

“And here’s why: because according to the liberal elites in Washington, these folks are standing in the way of their theories.

“A practical approach that actually takes the concerns and anxieties of these people into account would promote clean energy even as it acknowledges the real-world benefits of traditional sources of energy.

“The point is this: the Administration has broken faith with the Middle Class and it’s stirred up strong emotions, especially among those of us who actually want to see a better life for those struggling to make it in our states.

“Almost everyone feels let down. A lot of folks are really angry.

“And it’s a real tragedy — not only because of the missed opportunities and the human cost of these policies. 

“But also because, when the President ran for office, he promised a different approach…

“It’s tragic because the very folks he talks about helping are the ones who seem to suffer most under his presidency.

“And it’s tragic because it appears as if he’s answered the question I posed in January: that he’s prepared to double down on the Left and throw in the towel on the Middle Class.

“How else can you explain the obsession with all these peripheral ideological issues, at a time when Americans are demanding good, stable, high-paying jobs and a new direction? At a time when folks’ wages are stagnant, but their costs always seem to be rising? At a time when younger Americans seem resigned to a harder life than their parents had?

“How else do you explain why the President has refused to sign off on projects like the Keystone Pipeline that would create thousands of jobs? Or why he refuses to push his own party to join Republicans and support trade legislation that could create even more?

“This can’t be the legacy the President really wants to leave. But it’s the legacy he’ll be ensuring for himself if he doesn’t change.

“There’s still time to alter course. There’s still time for the President to acknowledge that there’s just no reconciling the demands of his base and the concerns of the middle class. That it’s one or the other.

“Because the real solution here is liberating the private sector, the real solution is to implement policies that will increase wages for all, instead of pursuing policies that essentially seek to distribute slices of a smaller pie to some.

“Of course, making a turn toward authentic job creation might make the Left mad, but it’s the only way to get the gears of our economy working again, and college graduates off their parents’ couches and onto a path of earned success.

Maybe the President will show some change of heart up in Minnesota today. Maybe he’ll recognize, for instance, that killing thousands of high-tech jobs in the medical device industry isn’t worth the pain it is causing. 

“Who knows. I sure hope so.

“Because if you’ve entered the sixth year of trying to fix an economy and you’re still talking about emergency unemployment benefits then it’s time to recognize that your policies just haven’t worked for the Middle Class.

“That it’s time for a fresh start.

“I’d also like to highlight one more dividing line between the dreams of the Left and the well-being of our constituents. It’s a topic I spoke about yesterday – Medicare Advantage.

“As I asked then, why would the Administration want to raid a program that’s working, like Medicare Advantage, to fund a program that doesn’t, like Obamacare? Why would Senate Democrats vote time and time again to do that? They must have known that taking $300 billion from Medicare Advantage to fund Obamacare would have real world impacts on seniors – like losing the choices, coverage, and doctors they now enjoy.

“It’s not fair. It’s not right. And several of my colleagues will be coming to the floor to speak more about this issue today.”