Mitch McConnell ripped by Club for Growth, while Scott gains endorsement
Ryan King
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The conservative group Club for Growth waded into the simmering feud between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL).
The group issued an ardent endorsement of Scott, who is up for reelection in 2024, while delivering a swipe at McConnell, alluding to their rift over how to approach Medicare and Social Security.
SEN. RICK SCOTT SLAMS MCCONNELL IN FIGHT OVER MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY
“Rick Scott is a proven conservative who has promoted economic growth and fought reckless spending in the U.S. Senate,” a spokesperson for the Club for Growth said in a statement obtained by the Washington Examiner. “While other Republicans have caved to massive tax-and-spend packages that have strained our economy, Rick Scott has consistently championed small government solutions centered around fiscal responsibility, and because of that, he’s faced the unfounded and false attacks of liberal Democrats like President Biden and even establishment Republicans like Leader McConnell.”
In addition to endorsing Scott, the Club for Growth reportedly plans to unleash its financial firepower on Scott’s behalf. The group doled out $60 million during the 2022 midterm elections.
Scott and McConnell have long been at odds over how Republicans should approach entitlement reform. Against the backdrop of criticisms that the GOP lacked a robust policy agenda, Scott released his 12-Point Plan, which outlined a litany of deep-rooted fiscal reforms.
Buried in the plan was a provision that called for a review of all government programs every five years to determine whether they should keep their funding. Democrats seized on that and suggested the move would put Social Security and Medicare in peril, though Scott denied that.
McConnell recently decried the plan as a “bad idea,” seeking to distance Republicans from a proposal that has fed fodder for President Joe Biden and the Democrats. Scott rebuffed that attack by not-so-subtly dubbing McConnell part of the “Washington establishment.”
Biden accused Republicans of clamoring to slash funding for Social Security during his State of the Union address, and his allies alluded to Scott’s proposal when defending the line of attack.
During the midterm elections, tensions seemingly emerged between McConnell and Scott over strategy. At the time, Scott chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee. A McConnell-aligned political action committee stepped up to fund candidates when NRSC funds ran a bit dry, and their allies have been blame-gaming who bore responsibility for the GOP’s loss of ground in the Senate.
The feud between the two reached a high point last year when Scott ran against McConnell to be the top Senate Republican but was defeated handily. Later, McConnell pulled Scott from the Senate Commerce Committee and has denied claims that the move was done in retribution.
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Scott lauded the endorsement from the Club for Growth. Currently, he has no major declared primary opponents in 2024.
“The establishment in Washington has failed and they’re the only ones who don’t realize it,” Scott said in a statement to Politico. “We need more champions in Washington who are willing to fight the status quo and work to rescue America from the failures of Joe Biden, Democrats, and the Washington establishment.”