Why McConnell Voted For Democrats' Military Sexual Assault Bill
SAHIL KAPUR – MARCH 6, 2014, 3:55 PM EST
It's not often that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell supports a progressive Democrat's deeply consequential bill -- especially one that's despised by the military.
And yet, the Kentucky Republican voted with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and his arch nemesis, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), in favor of a bill Thursday to remove the prosecution of rape from the military chain of command. The bill was blocked anyway: it received 55 votes, short of the 60 needed to break a filibuster.
McConnell didn't explain his vote, and his office didn't respond to TPM's requests for comment. But the context of his move sheds light on the unusual decision.
The GOP leader is running for re-election against Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes, who has made it her campaign mission to paint McConnell's agenda as thoroughly anti-woman. The attacks have so stung McConnell that his campaign once resorted to taking credit for pro-women measures he has opposed. McConnell is trailing badly with women voters, and polls by the conservative-leaning Rasmussen and the Democratic-affiliated Public Policy Polling have found the two neck-and-neck in a hypothetical match-up.
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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/mitch-mcconnell-gillibrand-sexual-assault-bill
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