Latest Mitch McConnell News

Senate passes defense bill that will raise troop pay and aims to counter China's power

Dec. 19, 2024 00:54 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed a defense bill Wednesday that authorizes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members, aims to counter China's growing power and boosts overall military spending to $895 billion while also stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for...

Gov. Andy Beshear says Democrats should set partisanship aside, work to meet people's needs

Dec. 18, 2024 14:38 PM EST

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday that Democrats should be thinking less about partisan politics and more about meeting people's everyday needs as they chart a comeback strategy after last month's crushing election losses. Beshear, who has won three...

RFK Jr. meets with senators as questions swirl about Trump's pick to lead health agency

Dec. 16, 2024 19:11 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. swept onto Capitol Hill late Monday as the anti-vaccine health guru from the famous political family reintroduced himself to senators, this time as President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the nation's Health and Human Services Department. ...

Trump weighs in on NY mayor, vaccines and drones in freewheeling press conference at Mar-a-Lago

Dec. 16, 2024 17:51 PM EST

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — In a freewheeling press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club, President-elect Donald Trump said Monday he would consider pardoning embattled New York Mayor Eric Adams, declared the country was “not going to lose" the polio vaccine and weighed in on the flurry of drone...

Trump says he's a 'believer' in polio vaccine, and other news conference takeaways

Dec. 16, 2024 17:18 PM EST

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday held a wide-ranging news conference in which he said he would preserve access to the polio vaccine but equivocated on other vaccines, pledged to look at bringing down the costs of pharmaceuticals and expressed doubts that his daughter-in-law might be Florida's...

What's behind rising autism rates: A broader definition of autism and better screening

Dec. 16, 2024 15:56 PM EST

President-elect Donald Trump seemed to entertain the discredited theory that vaccines cause autism as he answered questions from journalists at a press conference Monday at his Mar-a-Lago club. Trump said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his choice to lead the Department of Health and Human...

As he prepares to leave leadership, McConnell challenges Trump on foreign policy

Dec. 16, 2024 13:16 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is challenging President-elect Donald Trump to reject the isolationist voices within their party and build his foreign policy around military strength, arguing that if the U.S. retreats from global engagement, “its enemies will be only...

Trump nominees should ‘steer clear’ of undermining polio vaccine, McConnell says

Dec. 15, 2024 12:44 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who had polio as a child, says any of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees seeking Senate confirmation should “steer clear” of efforts to discredit the polio vaccine. “Efforts to undermine public confidence in...

Nancy Pelosi hospitalized after she 'sustained an injury' from fall on official trip to Luxembourg

Dec. 13, 2024 19:30 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been hospitalized after she “sustained an injury” during an official engagement in Luxembourg, according to a spokesman. Pelosi, 84, was in Europe with a bipartisan congressional delegation to mark the 80th anniversary of...

McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol

Dec. 12, 2024 13:06 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is still suffering from the effects of a fall in the Senate earlier this week and is missing votes on Thursday due to leg stiffness, according to his office. McConnell fell outside a Senate party luncheon on Tuesday and...