In the GOP's closing pitch ahead of Tuesday's midterm election, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) argued that historic levels of gridlock in Congress would be brought to a "merciful end" with him at the helm of the U.S. Senate.
"A new Republican majority wouldn't mean we'd be able to get everything you want from Washington. But it would mean we'd be able to bring the current legislative gridlock to a merciful end. It means we'd be able to start sending bills to the president's desk again, just as the American people expect," McConnell, who is running for re-election, said Saturday in the Republican weekly address.
The 113th Congress is on track to be the least productive Congress in modern history, and McConnell's relentless efforts to stymie Democratic initiatives, from immigration reform to the minimum wage, have greatly contributed to that dubious distinction. But Republicans also note that hundreds of bills passed by the GOP-controlled House stand ready should Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) decide to act on them.
In his address, McConnell said that a new GOP majority in the Senate would focus on legislation dedicated to improving the economy and the struggles of middle-class Americans.
"We want to ease the squeeze on working families. We want to improve economic opportunity. We want to make it easier for families to join the middle class. We want to increase career prospects for college graduates," he said.
But if McConnell does get his way on Tuesday, don't expect the era of partisan gridlock to end. The minority leader outlined the game plan earlier this summer, when he said that he would use must-pass funding bills to force confrontations with President Barack Obama on key issues. One such confrontation was last year's quixotic effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which led to the first government shutdown in 17 years.
"We're going to pass spending bills, and they're going to have a lot of restrictions on the activities of the bureaucracy," McConnell told Politico in August. "That's something he won't like, but that will be done. I guarantee it."
Watch McConnell's address above.
Before You Go
