Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is facing harsh criticism from Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador, who says the Kentucky Republican needs to prove he's a leader by standing up to President Barack Obama.
"It’s uncanny to me that our leadership … is already sending the message that we’ve already lost this battle," Labrador said at the Conservations with Conservatives event hosted by The Heritage Foundation Wednesday,
The Hill is reporting.
"Last year the message was, ‘We cannot get our way because we don’t have a Senate [majority].’ Now this year’s message is, ‘We cannot get our way, because we only have 54 votes,' the Idaho Republican and Tea Party conservative explained.
"That’s not leadership. That’s not why the American people voted for us," he said.
"It’s high time that Mitch McConnell stand up and say, 'This is what we are fighting for in the Senate.' That’s definitely what he said during his campaign, so let’s make sure he does it now as the majority leader," he added.
The comments come after reports that the newly Republican-led Senate won't have the needed 60 votes to pass a bill to put a stop to
Obama's executive actions on immigration, which already made it through the House.
The measure blocks funding for the executive actions through amendments added to the Department of Homeland Security funding bill.
Labrador also charged fellow Tea Party members Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Utah Sen. Mike Lee with doing more to fight Obama's policies.
"It’s also high time that Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and others decide that they are going to start fighting in the Senate, using the Senate procedural rules and not just looking at the House as the place where the fights are going to happen," Labrador continued.
"They also have a responsibility in the Senate to make sure that those bills pass," he said.
If Senate Republicans aren't going to fight, they should just turn the Senate back over to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, he added.
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