Senator John S. McCain III, R-Ariz., always one who has believed in rightfully speaking his mind, did so again on the Senate floor Thursday. The moderate Republican Senator and former presidential candidate waded into intra-partisan debate for the second notable time this year.
Earlier this year, McCain referred to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas as "wacko birds" for going against the party's moderate wing in filibustering then-nominee John O. Brennan. Paul commenced the day-long filibuster of Brennan at the time in order to coerce the Obama administration to clarify their statements regarding unmanned drone attacks on American citizens domestically, in places like "cafes" as Paul described. McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., were not pleased at the display.
The senior Senator from Arizona took to the microphone Thursday after Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, also an observed member of the Tea Party coalition of Congressional leaders, objected to the "backroom" dealings that precede votes on the annual budget and debt limit legistlation.
Lee said that he disagreed with the common practice of adding riders to budget bills that adjust the debt limit: often increasing it. The riders are reportedly added during closed-door sessions between ranking members of the appropriate House and Senate committees. Lee objected, asking for a more transparent way of negotiating budget dealings.
McCain was none too pleased at the junior senator's remarks: "The Senator from Utah keeps talking about 'backroom closed-door deals'. It's the process of the Senate [and House] to appoint conferees...and those conferees come to agreement and then subject their agreement to an overall vote of both bodies." McCain said, "If [Lee] wants to get rid of the quote 'backroom'-all of the other adjectives and adverbs that he used, then what is the process [the Congress is to use]?...that's what we've been doing for a couple hundred years!" McCain laughed as he turned to his colleagues in the chamber.
"Again, maybe the Senator from Utah ought to learn a little bit more about how business has been done in the Congress of the United States," McCain said.
Lee refused to back down from the criticism of his remarks: "I have objected for the majority's request for unanimous consent to circumvent regular order... They want permission to skip a few steps in the process, and jump straight to the closed door, backroom meetings. Senior negotiators will be free to...ram through their compromise: unamended, undebated, and mostly unread," Lee responded, "...in case no one noticed, the way Washington works stinks!" Lee concluded.
See McCain's impassioned rebuttal of Lee's statements below:
Lee later responded to McCain's criticisms:
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