'We Got Thumped in the Election': McCormick Says Republicans Have to Seek Accountability for Midterm Losses

Wednesday on FNC’s “The Ingraham Angle,” Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) reacted to last week’s election losses and offered his thoughts on what Capitol Hill Republicans needed to do before Democrats took the majority.

“Senator, it’s great to see you tonight,” host Laura Ingraham said. “Are you on board with those priorities as laid out by the House? It seems like a lot of wishful thinking to me. Couldn’t get it done over the last couple of years, but we’re going to get it done in five weeks.”

McCormick replied, “Good evening, Laura. You know, listen, we got thumped in the election. And when you get thumped, I think you’ve got to do two things. You’ve got to make sure there’s accountability, and you’ve got to reflect on what the lessons learned were from that thumping. We had a great session earlier this week. I think seven or eight hours we were together. And I think our conference came out aligned on a couple key priorities. Number one, those judicial appointments. We can make a lot of progress. And I think there was a consensus. Everybody’s willing to expand the calendar as much as possible, as you said, to make the most of every single day.”

“I think the second thing, which would be an absolute legacy issue for the president, is permanent reform,” he continued. “I mean, this is something we have to have to remain the energy leader in the world. It’s critical to national security. It’s critical to our innovation agenda. And then the third thing, as you mentioned, is a reconciliation 3.0. This is something I’m glad the House is talking about it. I think there’s a real shot we could get something done in the Senate. And the question is whether we can also get that done in the House. And that allows us to do a number of key things in terms of funding defense and potential agriculture — supplements for agriculture and potentially save America. So, the reconciliation 3.0 allows us to do other of those key priorities. I think those are the three things we came out with a lot of alignment around. And you’re right, using every available minute to get it done.”

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