Despite Ongoing Election Lawsuits, McConnell Congratulates Joe Biden On Electoral College Victory
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell extended his congratulations to Democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris following the release of the Electoral College votes.
The Republican Senator made the remarks on Tuesday as he spoke on the Senate floor where he also lauded the many achievements done by the administration of President Donald Trump over the past four years.
Mitch McConnell acknowledges and congratulates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for their election win.
"Our country has officially a President-elect and a Vice President-elect … the Electoral College has spoken." pic.twitter.com/5XTL2c9uLi
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) December 15, 2020
Sen. McConnell spoke of how the Trump administration achieved the “best job market in living memory” before the coronavirus pandemic — including unemployment rate hitting a 50-year low, capital markets at record highs.
“This Administration pursued bold regulatory changes. Once-in-a-generation tax reform had eluded prior leaders. This President signed it into law in his first year. And together we repealed the worst part of Obamacare,” he said.
Accomplishments of the Trump admin
The top Republican senator also said President Trump secured the historic United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and bilateral tax treaties with partners in Europe and Asia and assured American energy dominance. He also cited how the current administration pulled out of the disastrous ‘Iran deal.’
“His team eliminated daylight between us and Israel and repaired our relationships with Arab partners — countering threats like radical Islamic terrorists and Iranian aggression. Under President Trump’s command, our forces took terrorist leaders like Al-Baghdadi and Soleimani off the battlefield,” he added, noting that the physical caliphate that ISIS established on the previous president’s watch was also destroyed.
“All this paved the way for the Abraham Accords — the historic normalization of relationships between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and most recently Morocco.”
Sen. McConnell added: “Clearly, the list of American accomplishments since 2016 is nearly endless.”
“The outsider who swore he would shake up Washington and lead our country to new accomplishments both at home and abroad proceeded to do exactly that,” he said, adding that “President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence deserve our thanks and our gratitude for their tireless work and their essential roles in all these victories and in many more,” the top Republican senator from Kentucky said.
“Six weeks ago, Americans voted in this year’s general election. The legal and constitutional processes have continued to play out since then. Yesterday, electors met in all 50 states. So, as of this morning, our country has officially a president-elect and a vice president-elect,” Sen. McConnell added, marking the first time that he has acknowledged Biden as president-elect.
He went on to say in his speech how “many millions of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result” but he noted that there’s a system “to determine who will be sworn in on January the 20th.”
“The Electoral College has spoken”
“The Electoral College has spoken. So, today I want to congratulate President-Elect Joe Biden. The president-elect is no stranger to the Senate, he’s devoted himself to public service for many years. I also want to congratulate the vice president-elect, our colleague from California, Senator Harris,” Sen. McConnell added.
He noted that “beyond differences” Americans “could take pride” knowing that the US has a female vice president-elect for the very first time.
“I look forward to finishing out the next 36 days strong with President Trump. Our nation needs us to add another bipartisan chapter to this record of achievement.
