McConnell doesn’t answer directly when asked if Manchin and Schumer ‘played’ him

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to say on Fox News whether Democratic senators outsmarted him in their plan to pass their proposed climate, healthcare and tax legislation.

Mr McConnell went on Special Report on Wednesday, where Bret Baier asked a question from a viewer on whether he got “played” when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced their deal on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 last week. News of the deal came after the Senate passed a bill to bolster the semiconductor industry.

The Senate minority leader had previously said he would kill the computer chips bill if Democrats continued discussions of the major legislation they hope to pass using a process known as budget reconciliation, which allows for bills to pass with only 51 votes and avoid a filibuster as long as it’s related to the budget.

“Reconciliation is something done by one party only, there's nothing we could have done to prevent the Democrats are doing a bill that only they will vote for,” Mr McConnell said. “So it's not a question to be played here.”

Rather, Mr McConnell said that Mr Manchin agreed to policies he had previously said he wouldn’t support.

“We're not involved in reconciliation bill. I won't be a single Republican vote for it,” Mr McConnell said. “There's nothing we can do to deter it, other than to criticise it publicly. And that's what we're doing right here.”

Both Democrats and Republicans only have 50 Seats in the Senate and Democrats are attempting to pass the Inflation Reduction Act with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie. Mr McConnell said Senator Kyrsten Sinema, the conservative Democrat from Arizona, controls the fate of the legislation now.

“It'll be up to Senator senator from Arizona who's quite independent and determine what the final contours of the bill are,” he said.

Mr Baier also noted how many Republican candidates in Senate races are behind in the polls, including JD Vance in Ohio, Herschel Walker in Georgia and Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania.

“We have a 50-50 Senate now,” Mr McConnell said. “We have a 50-50 nation. And I think when the Senate race smoke clears, we’re likely to have a very, very close Senate still, with either us up slightly or the Democrats up slightly.”