Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had something to say about President Obama’s State of the Union address.
Following the address last Tuesday, in which Obama joked about having no more campaigns to run, the Kentucky Republican revealed his “first thought was it sounded like he was running for a third term.”
“He seemed to have completely forgotten or chose to ignore the election last November. He was looking out at an audience that had 80 more Republicans in it than his first State of the Union,” McConnell said Sunday night on CBS’ 60 Minutes.
House Speaker John Boehner agreed with McConnell in the joint interview.
“You know, the president could have, with the State of the Union, just put out an olive branch, could’ve taken just a little bit different tone that would’ve indicated to us that there’s some interest in working with us,” the Ohio Republican said. “I can tell you, we’re interested in working with him.”
However, McConnell and Boehner both made it clear there are still points of disagreement between a Republican-controlled Congress and Democratically-controlled White House.
For McConnell, it was Obama’s idea of a taxpayer-funded community college: “We added more debt during the Obama years than all the presidents from George Washington down to George Bush. And giving away free tuition strikes me as something we can’t afford.”
McConnell also said the Republicans would be rallying to challenge Obama on immigration.
Boehner did however say that the Republicans were up to working with Obama and the White House on some issues, such as child care tax credits middle class families need to afford to pay for child care.
“We’re all for helping working-class families around America,” Boehner said. “I think we’ll take a look at this when he sends his budget up, something that could be looked at in the overall context of simplifying our tax code and bringing rates down for everyone.”
