Several prominent Republican senators expressed that the border bill debacle could push the GOP conference over the edge to remove McConnell from leadership, they told the Daily Caller in exclusive conversations Wednesday.
McConnell has continued to keep a stranglehold on power in the Republican conference for nearly two decades, but momentum to remove him has reached a fevered pitch after a tidal wave of backlash to the border policy proposal unveiled this week.
Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at a news conference on the Supreme Court at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. McConnell put Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford in charge of border deal negotiations with Democrats and the Biden administration.
"A lot of us said we can't support Ukraine if we don't secure our border. And then a lot of us said, well, we have a lawless administration, so we have to have something to tie, the Biden administration, that they want, to lower numbers around the border. And McConnell said that's not to be part of this deal and didn't tell us that was never part of the deal," Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott said.
"The entire reason in my opinion on why we were doing this was we actually wanted to get real border security, not an immigration bill. So what we ended up with was an immigration bill with no border security. And now what they want to do is say, 'well, we tried.' No you didn't."
Sen. Rick Scott speaks to reporters on his way to a classified all-Senate briefing on Artificial Intelligence at the U.S. Capitol on July 11, 2023 in Washington, DC. Before the text was released, several Senate Republicans told the Caller they were extremely concerned with the border deal negotiations between the White House and GOP leadership.
Scott, the most recent Republican to challenge McConnell for the top leadership spot, said he still believes change is needed: "Well, you know, I ran against McConnell for this reason. The conference is basically being run by one person making the decision. And then working with Schumer and giving us a bunch of bad bills it takes it takes 25 people to do it. I ran a little over a year ago. So I believe there ought to be a change in how we're operated and I've believed that for quite a while."
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