Scott reiterates his plan could change after McConnell rebuke

The chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) said Wednesday that he would continue to work on the policy agenda he released last week, emphasizing that it was his own slate of proposals rather than the party’s, after it received pushback from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

In an interview with The Hill on Wednesday, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said Republican candidates across the country would run their own races independent of his plans, even as national Democrats signaled they would use the proposal to cast Republicans as tax raisers who would also end programs like Social Security and Medicaid.

“I put out some policy ideas. I’m going to keep working on this. There’s going to be things people agree with and don’t agree with. There’s going to be, you know, changes we’ll make as people give us their thoughts, but I want to have a conversation about what we do,” Scott said. “This is what Rick Scott believes in, it’s not the Republican plan. I was very clear that it’s Rick Scott’s policy ideas. It’s nobody else’s policy ideas.”

McConnell and senior Senate Republican leaders had distanced their party from Scott’s proposals. In a rare public airing of division, McConnell told reporters Tuesday that Scott’s plan “will not be part of the Republican Senate majority agenda.”

“We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years,” McConnell said, moments after Scott left the same press conference to return to the Senate floor.

Scott declined to say whether McConnell had given him a warning about his remarks beforehand. But he said it’s important that voters know what a Republican majority would do if elected.

“I talk to voters, and what they, what they’re interested in is, so when you win, and people think we have a really good shot at winning, what are you going to do?” he said. “This is the stuff I think we ought to be talking about to make sure when we win, that we get something done.”

Democrats have already foreshadowed coming efforts to tie Scott’s plan — which calls for every American to pay at least some federal taxes and for sunsetting all federal legislation after five years — to Republican candidates running across the country.

“Senate Democrats are grateful for Rick Scott’s leadership at the NRSC. He’s exposed Republicans’ plans to raise taxes on seniors and working families along with ending Medicare and Social Security, he’s led Senate Republicans to a series of devastating recruitment failures, and now their flawed candidates remain stuck in vicious, expensive primaries,” said David Bergstein, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “In race after race, Rick Scott’s strategies have damaged Senate Republicans’ campaigns, and we’re thrilled with his work.”

A day after the State of the Union address, Scott said his party remains poised to retake control of the evenly divided Senate.

“This should be a very good year for us. The Biden agenda is very unpopular. That puts us in a position to win. Now, you have to have good candidates; we do. You have to raise good money; we have,” Scott said.

Republicans are defending 21 seats in the Senate, including two in Oklahoma after Sen. James Inhofe said last week he would resign at the end of the year. Among the GOP seats up for election are competitive contests in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and Missouri, where Republican incumbents are retiring, and potentially tough races where Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) are seeking reelection.

Scott said Johnson “probably has the hardest state.”

“But Ron is actually a good friend and he’s running a good race. What Ron has going for him is he’s very well-known and you know what he stands for,” Scott said. “The Democrats have a heated primary, I think an August primary, and whoever gets out of that I think is going to be pretty far to the left, which is helpful to Ron.”

He pointed to a handful of states where Democratic incumbents face promising Republican challengers, like Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and New Hampshire, along with potentially late-developing races in Colorado and Washington State.

“We’re winning in Georgia, we’re winning in Nevada, we have an opportunity in Arizona, we have an opportunity in New Hampshire. I think we can defend all 20 of our Republican seats, and I think we’re going to have some sleepers,” Scott said.

In many of the most competitive races this year, huge fields of Republican candidates are vying in competitive primary elections. Five prominent candidates are running for Sen. Rob Portman’s (R) seat in Ohio; five are running to replace Sen. Pat Toomey (R) in Pennsylvania; and three are running for Sen. Richard Burr’s (R) seat in North Carolina. Another four candidates have raised significant sums in the race to challenge Sen. Mark Kelly (D) in Arizona.

“Primaries are hard. But if you look at our candidates, we have good candidates around the country. I think people are smart and they’re going to make good decisions and they’re going to give us candidates who can win,” Scott said. “I’m a guy that believes that  if you work your tail off and you talk about the issues people care about you have a shot. And this should be a Republican year, so this should put us in a better position, but you still have to work your butt off to win.”

Some Republicans have expressed concern about at least one of those primaries, in Missouri, where Sen. Roy Blunt (R) is retiring. Former Gov. Eric Greitens (R), who resigned in the face of serious scandal, appears to lead the field of five prominent Republicans who are running, leading Republicans to worry that a Democrat might be able to steal the seat in the face of a fatally damaged nominee.

Scott said he had no plans to pick a candidate there. He said he had asked Blunt whether he planned to weigh in; Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) have each endorsed different candidates in the race.

“I’m not going to weigh into the race. I know people have expressed concerns. I think Missouri will pick somebody that, you know, it’s a Republican state,” he said. “We’ll get a good candidate out.”