McConnell: Biden ‘took several big steps in the wrong direction’ on day one



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Just a day after President Biden spoke of unity in his inaugural address to the nation, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Democratic President had headed in “the wrong direction.”

Speaking from the Senate floor on Thursday, the Kentucky Republican condemned several executive actions Biden took on his first day in office, including revoking a key permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, returning the Paris climate agreement and the impeachment of an attorney general appointed by Trump to the National Labor Relations Commission.

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“On the very first day of the Biden administration, he took several big steps in the wrong direction,” McConnell said, adding that it was time for Biden to “remember that he didn’t owe his election to the leftmost”.

Republicans challenged the Paris climate agreement, an international agreement joined by nearly 200 countries with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reversing the human impact on climate change.

But GOP officials say the deal – which President Trump almost immediately withdrew from the United States after taking office in 2017 – will impact manufacturing jobs and unfairly keep the United States at a low level. environmental standard not met by China or India.

McConnell, along with other GOP congressmen, also challenged Biden’s decision to kill the Keystone XL pipeline.

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Environmental and Native American tribes have challenged the 1,200-mile pipeline since 2004 because it pulls oil from the tar sands and passes through tribal territory.

Conservatives believe this move will have a negative impact on the oil and gas industry, as well as jobs in the sector.

Biden’s climate initiatives indicate the strong stance his administration will take to tackle climate change in the United States and make policy changes that will target environmentally conscious strategies.

But McConnell also reminded Biden and the slim Democratic Senate majority that Americans voted to maintain a divided Senate, with 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats, meaning Republicans intend to challenge policies that they claim them, will have negative effects on their voters.

“If and when our Democratic friends stray from common sense, when they pull out of common ground, when their proposals would harm the common good – then we will use the power that the American people have given us to lobby for what is fair, ”the minority leader said from the room.

Some Congressional Democrats have discussed removing filibuster, a move McConnell urged senators to rethink. Keeping filibustering as a political tool means Democrats would need to garner at least 10 Republican votes for most laws to pass the Upper House – a challenge that could prove difficult with Liberal agendas.

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“The president can and must refocus his administration on creating well-paying American jobs, without sacrificing the livelihoods of our people for liberal symbolism,” McConnell said.

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