The relationship between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has hit a new low after the bitter fight over newly sworn in Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
The rancorous nature of their relationship was on full display Monday evening, moments before the Senate voted to confirm Barrett along party lines, when Schumer declared it would “go down as one of the darkest days in the 231-year history of the Senate.”
The deterioration of their relationship in recent months, a tense election year when control of the Senate in 2021 is at stake, raises questions about their ability to work together in the future and whether Democrats will change the chamber’s rules once in power to circumvent McConnell entirely.
A growing number of Democrats are pushing for Schumer to eliminate the legislative filibuster if they win the Senate majority.
Schumer on Monday slammed McConnell personally, accusing him of hypocrisy and lying. He also offered a chilling warning of what Republicans might expect if Democrats win back control of the Senate on Nov. 3.
“The next time the American people give Democrats a majority in this chamber, you will have forfeited the right to tell us how to run that majority,” he said. “I know you think that this will eventually blow over. But you are wrong.”
“My colleagues may regret this for a lot longer than they think,” he later added.
When it was McConnell’s turn to speak, instead of basking in the glow of a major Republican victory, he spent much of his speech laying into Schumer.
The GOP leader dismissed Schumer’s allegations of impropriety as “outlandish” and “utterly absurd.”