McConnell: 'Republicans Have Many Serious Questions About This Plan'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that “Republicans have many serious questions” about the administration’s proposed bailout plan, though McConnell stopped short of directly criticizing the proposal.

Several of McConnell’s more conservative Senate colleagues, including Republican Sens. Jim Bunning and Jim DeMint have already blasted the bill, which could cost upwards of $700 billion.

McConnell acknowledged those grumblings in a speech on the Senate floor Monday.

“There will be more questions about this plan. I have many myself,” he said. “But we owe it to the American people to do our due diligence quickly and to act swiftly, Democrats and Republicans alike, to contain this crisis before it’s too late.”

However, he seemed to give the administration the benefit of the doubt on their narrowly-focused plan.

“This is the only concrete plan we have seen so far that aims to protect Americans on Main Street — to protect their homes, their savings, their retirement plans, to protect endangered jobs and small businesses,” McConnell said.

“And we shouldn’t jeopardize that effort by delaying urgent action or playing partisan politics.”

However, McConnell couldn’t refuse a bit of partisan politics of his own, praising his fellow Republicans for Republicans for “resist[ing] the impulse to add permanent tax relief” to the bill and asking his Democratic colleagues “to show similar restraint” in order to pass a bill quickly.