OPINION: Democrats Discuss — Mitch McConnell does not get redemption by agreeing with impeachment

Megan Gale is a sophomore studying special education. She is a member of the Ohio University College Democrats. The following article reflects the opinions and views of the author and does not represent the thoughts of the Ohio University College Democrats.

This is a submitted column. Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell from Kentucky is an embarrassment to this country. 

While he has reportedly supported a movement to impeach and convict former U.S. President Donald Trump, it does not make up for the number of times he has failed the American people. 

McConnell has stood in the way of COVID relief bills, showing that he clearly has no regard for the people he is supposed to serve. Kentucky had a 16.3% poverty rate in 2020. How can a senator, whose job is to better the lives of the people who voted for him, allow his state to rank 48th in poverty? How can a person who claims to be pro-life allow citizens to live below the poverty line? 

McConnell showed the 21.3% of children in his state who live at or below the federal poverty line he does not care about their well being by not voting for the relief bill. He inferred that they deserve to suffer because their parents are not wealthy enough to stay afloat during a pandemic.

McConnell may now be anti-Trump, but that does not make him a champion of the American people.

McConnell has a base salary of $193,400 a year. The average household income in Kentucky as of 2019 was $50,589 a year. He did not suffer financially because of this pandemic — between 2015 and 2020, his campaign committee raised over $67 million, while between 2009 and 2014 it only raised almost $31 million. 

Political action committees (PACs), looking for rich elitist politicians, donated millions to keep McConnell in office so he can resume standing in the way of upward mobility for citizens and lining the pockets of rich businesses and corporations. 

The overall rate of unemployment in Kentucky is 6.8%. In December of 2020, McConnell proposed a stimulus bill that included no aid to unemployment benefits. He was quoted saying, “There are Americans who’ve been thrown out of work through no fault of their own who are watching federal aid programs tick toward expiration in a few weeks — even though neither side in Congress opposes extending them!” 

If he truly believes that the jobless in America have no fault, why is he so opposed to helping them? How can he possibly represent a people he has no connection to? Just because he is from Kentucky does not mean he is well suited to serve the citizens of his state. 

The senator left his constituents in the dust by refusing to help them during a devastating pandemic. McConnell did not lose his job — in fact, he spent eight months fighting to deny the citizens of Kentucky and the entire nation a relief bill that would put food on the table. These actions showed that he has never — and will never — care about the people that elected him to this position.

McConnell is not supporting Trump in his attempts to overturn the election, but he is also not supporting the American people. One good action does not erase the hundreds of injustices McConnell has done to his constituents. We can’t forget all the terrible things he has done because he did his job by upholding the Constitution.