What is the difference between a Senate run by Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and one led by Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid? Not much, says Jonathan Allen, chief political correspondent for Vox.com.
"Search me. They're operating the Senate in very similar ways," Allen said Monday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
"Mitch McConnell doesn't want to cut off his nose to spite his face. He's not going to send stuff to the president that doesn't do Republicans well with the general electorate if it's going to get jammed back at him through a veto anyway."
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Allen — author of
"HRC: State Secrets & the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton," written with Amie Parnes and published by Broadway Books — made the remarks during an appearance on the "Malzberg panel" with Susan Ferrechio, chief congressional correspondent at The Washington Examiner.
Ferrechio said she believes the relative peace and quiet is a plan crafted by McConnell to help the GOP recapture the White House.
"You're seeing … the old guard of the Senate, people who have been there more than just through two election cycles, who feel the Senate should be run in a certain way and Mitch McConnell in particular is key here," Ferrechio said.
"When he won the majority in January, he did say that his job was going to be to show America that Republicans can be good stewards of the Senate, good stewards of Congress to show they can keep the government running, the government open, bills passing.
"So his goal has been to get things across the finish line rather than become what a lot of people in the right want, which is just to be the adversary to the Obama administration and to Democrats in general."
While conservatives want a fight, she said, "McConnell wants to show the public, the voting public, that Republicans are A-OK to run the government so they have a chance at winning the White House. It's an overall strategy that the GOP leadership is employing."
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