Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced his support Tuesday for his chamber's emerging bipartisan gun agreement, boosting momentum for modest but notable election-year action by Congress on an issue that's deadlocked lawmakers for three decades.

The Kentucky Republican said he hoped an outline of the accord, released Sunday by 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans, would be translated into legislation and enacted. McConnell's backing was the latest indication that last month's gun massacres in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, had reconfigured the political calculations for some in the GOP after years of steadfastly opposing even incremental tightening of firearms curbs.

Video above: Senate gun deal has surprises, and loose ends

"If this framework becomes the actual piece of legislation, it's a step forward, a step forward on a bipartisan basis," McConnell told reporters. He said the proposal "further demonstrates to the American people" that lawmakers can work together on significant issues "to make progress for the country."

McConnell's comments were striking, coming five months before midterm elections in which Republicans hope to win control of the Senate and seem likely to win a majority in the House. For years, GOP candidates could risk their careers by defying the views of the party's loyal gun-owning and rural voters, who oppose moves seen as threatening their ownership and use of firearms.

McConnell seemed to suggest that backing this gun measure wouldn't doom some Republicans' prospects in November. While he said senators should take a position "based upon the views of their states," he said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a chief architect of the deal, presented GOP polling data at a closed-door senators' lunch saying support among gun-owners for the agreement's provisions is "off the charts, overwhelming."

The plan would for the first time make the juvenile records of gun buyers under age 21 part of required background checks. Money would be sent to states for mental health and school security programs and for incentives to enforce local "red flag" laws that let authorities win court approval to temporarily removes guns from people considered dangerous.

Senators and aides hope to translate their broad agreement into legislation in days, in hopes that Congress could approve it before leaving for its July 4 recess. Both sides acknowledge that is a difficult process that could encounter disputes and delays.

Some Republicans expressed unhappiness with the plan Tuesday, with much of the criticism aimed at its encouragement of "red flag" laws. Nineteen states mostly dominated by Democrats and the District of Columbia have them, but Republicans have blocked efforts in Congress to pass federal legislation on the subject.

"If we're not going to pass a federal red flag law, and we shouldn't, why would we incentivize states to do something that we think is a bad idea?" said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.

“I don't know what we can do in view of the Constitution," Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said of the overall agreement, citing the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Cornyn defended the plan's “red flag” proposal, saying it would create no national requirements for such laws. He said it gives “every state regardless of whether it has a ‘red flag’ law or not” money for programs aimed at improving public safety and helping troubled people get assistance. Texas does not have a “red flag” law.

McConnell made clear he would only go so far in restricting firearms.

Asked by a reporter why the federal minimum age is 21 for tobacco sales but 18 to buy rifles, he answered, “Good try.” He added that including state and local juvenile records in background checks for the youngest guy buyers was “a step in the right direction.”

The alleged shooters in Buffalo, where 10 people were killed, and Uvalde, where 19 school children and two teachers were slain, were both 18 years old, a common profile for many mass shooters.

A final agreement on overall legislation would be expected to receive solid support from Democrats. But it would need at least 10 GOP votes to reach the Senate’s usual 60 vote threshold, and McConnell’s plaudits raised hopes that Republican backing would grow beyond that.

The framework also broadens the type of domestic abusers who'd be prohibited from buying guns, require more firearms sellers to conduct background checks and impose tougher penalties on gun traffickers.

The National Rifle Association said Sunday it wouldn’t take a position on the proposal until full legislation is produced. It warned it would oppose “gun control policies” or infringements on people’s “fundamental right to protect themselves.”

The pro-gun lobby still has political muscle from its millions of dedicated members, who vote heavily on firearms issues. But GOP support for the new package is the latest threat to its power following recent financial scandals and lawsuits.

Approval seems likely by the Democratic-run House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has praised the measure as a first step toward strong restrictions in the future.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would schedule votes on the legislation as soon as it is ready. He contrasted recent days' progress with Congress' failure to act after a parade of mass shootings in recent decades.

“After Uvalde and Buffalo, perhaps this time could be different. To many senators on both sides, this debate certainly feels different," Schumer said.

Congress' last major gun measure was an assault weapons ban that took effect in 1994 but expired 10 years later.

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday as she takes her first steps toward confirmation.

Democrats and the White House are pushing for a swift timeline, hoping they can vote on her confirmation to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer by mid-April.

Jackson first met with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York.

"I've read and studied the judge's career. I've heard so many good things from so many people, and now I look forward to meeting her in person and sort of fleshing out all the great things that we've read about," Schumer said Wednesday prior to his meeting with Jackson. "Seeing her in person is a great thing. I am just so pleased the president has nominated someone with such amazing qualification and breadth of experience."

She also met with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, who posed for photographs with the judge.

Jackson will continue to make the customary rounds of Senate visits Wednesday as the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares for hearings. She'll also meet with the committee's chairman, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, its ranking member, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.

If confirmed, Jackson would be the court's first Black female justice. Confirmation hearings are expected to start in mid-March

President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night that Jackson was "one of our nation's top legal minds."

WASHINGTON —

Congressional leaders reached an elaborate deal Tuesday that will allow Democrats to lift the nation's debt limit without any votes from Republicans, likely averting another last-minute rush to avoid a federal default. The House is expected to pass legislation late Tuesday that would kick off a multi-step process.

Congress approved a $480 billion increase in the nation's debt limit in October. That's enough for the Treasury to finance the government's operations through Dec. 15, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's projection.

But Republicans have warned they won't vote for any future debt ceiling increase to ensure the federal government can meet its financial obligations, and instead, the politically unpopular measure would have to be passed entirely by the Democratic majority in both chambers of Congress.

President Joe Biden had called on Republicans to "get out of the way" if they won't help Democrats shoulder the debt responsibility. But rather than step aside and allow for a quick vote, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has helped engineer an unusual legislative process that will play out over the next several days. Donald Trump, the former president, ridiculed McConnell for allowing any action, showing just how politically toxic the routine act of paying the nation's bills has become.

"I think this is in the best interest of the country," said McConnell, R-Ky. "I think it is also in the best interest of Republicans, who feel very strongly that the previous debt ceilings we agreed to when President Trump was here carried us through August. And this current debt ceiling is indeed about the future and not about the past."

The agreement spelled out in a House bill filed Tuesday establishes the days-long process ahead. In short, it would tuck a provision to fast-track the debt limit process into an unrelated Medicare bill that will prevent payment cuts to doctors and other health care providers. Once the Medicare bill becomes law, it will open the process for the Senate to raise the debt ceiling through subsequent legislation with a Democrats' only majority vote.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., struck an optimistic note that the debt ceiling plan will pass.

"This is a very good outcome for the American people. We will avoid default, which would have been disastrous. Democrats have always said that we were willing to shoulder the load at 50 votes to get this done as long it was not a convoluted or risky process, and Leader McConnell and I have achieved that."

Key to the agreement is that Democrats will have to vote on a specific amount by which the debt ceiling would be lifted. The amount has not yet been disclosed, but it is sure to be a staggering sum. Republicans want to try to blame Democrats for the nation's rising debt load and link it to Biden's $1.85 trillion social and environmental bill.

"To have Democrats raise the debt ceiling and be held politically accountable for racking up more debt is my goal, and this helps us accomplish that," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

The increase in the debt ceiling, however, is needed to meet financial obligations accrued by both parties under past legislation. The vast majority of it predates Biden's presidency.

"This is about meeting obligations that the government has already incurred, largely during the Trump Administration," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to Democratic colleagues. "Only three percent of the current debt has been accrued under President Biden."

Pelosi said that addressing the debt limit will prevent a drastic increase in interest rates for car loans, student debt, mortgages and other types of borrowing for Americans.

The legislation before the House on Tuesday establishes a fast-track process for the days ahead. A subsequent vote will be needed to pass the debt ceiling increase itself. Once the Senate has done so, the House will take up the bill and send it to Biden to be signed into law.

At their private luncheon Thursday, Republican senators sounded off against the plan. Many of them will not support it.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a member of GOP leadership, said the lunch discussion went about as would be expected — though he said the plan at least allows Republicans to achieve their goal of forcing Democrats to vote on their own to raise the debt ceiling by a specific amount.

The parliamentary machinations struck some House lawmakers as an "absurd" but necessary way to deal with the Senate, where the filibuster rules allow the Republican minority to block action.

"We're tying ourselves into parliamentary contortions to try to help the Senate deal with this straitjacket they have put themselves into," Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign has hired a Kentucky teenager known for his viral encounter with a Native American man at the Lincoln Memorial last year.

Nick Sandmann landed a paid position as grassroots director for McConnell’s reelection effort in Kentucky, the senator’s campaign said Friday. Sandmann started his new role this month, and McConnell campaign manager Kevin Golden said they’re “excited” to have him on board.

As grassroots director, Sandmann will assist in developing field operations and building coalitions.

“Along with our already strong team, his efforts to bring people together all across Kentucky will be critical to Senator McConnell’s victory this November,” Golden said in a statement.

Sandmann, a Transylvania University student, tweeted Thursday: “finally got to add more to my bio than just my schools.”

McConnell, the top congressional ally to President Donald Trump, is seeking a seventh term. His Democratic challenger is Amy McGrath, a retired Marine combat pilot who has raised huge amounts of campaign cash but faces an uphill fight against McConnell in conservative-leaning Kentucky.

Sandmann was in the national spotlight again at this week’s Republican National Convention. He gave a speech accusing news outlets of being driven by “anti-Christian, anti-conservative, anti-Donald Trump” bias in reporting on his encounter at the Lincoln Memorial.

Sandmann was among students from a northern Kentucky high school who participated in an anti-abortion march in Washington in early 2019.

Video widely shared online showed Sandmann and Nathan Phillips standing close to each other, with Sandmann staring and at times smiling at Phillips as Phillips played on a drum. Sandmann was wearing a red “Make America Great Again” cap. Both Sandmann and Phillips later said they were trying to defuse tensions among groups that had held competing demonstrations.

Congress is ending a chaotic session, a two-year political firestorm that started with the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history, was riven by impeachment and a pandemic, and now closes with a rare rebuff by Republicans of President Donald Trump.

In the few days remaining, GOP senators are ignoring Trump's demand to increase COVID-19 aid checks to $2,000 and are poised to override his veto of a major defense bill, asserting traditional Republican spending and security priorities in defiance of a president who has marched the party in a different direction.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a top Trump ally, tried to bridge the divide Thursday, saying Congress could try again to approve Trump's push for bigger COVID aid checks in the new session, which opens Sunday.

“I am with President Trump on this," Graham said on Fox News.

“Our economy is really hurting here,” he said. "There’s no way to get a vote by Jan. 3. The new Congress begins noon Jan. 3. So the new Congress, you could get a vote.’’

As the Senate grinds through the New Year's holiday, the one-two rebuke of Trump's demands punctuates the president’s final days and deepens the divide between the Republican Party's new wing of Trump-styled populists and what had been mainstay conservative views.

The stalemate is expected to drag into the weekend.

An exasperated Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said this week, “After all the insanity that Senate Republicans have tolerated from President Trump — his attacks on the rule of law, an independent judiciary, the conduct that led to his impeachment — is this where Senate Republicans are going to draw the line — $2,000 checks to the American people?”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has shown little interest in Trump's push to bolster the $600 relief checks just approved in a sweeping year-end package, declaring Congress has provided enough pandemic aid, for now, as he blocked repeated Democratic attempts to force a vote.

Opening the Senate on Thursday, McConnell called the House-passed bill matching Trump's $2,000 request “socialism for rich people” who don't need the federal help. He prefers a more targeted approach.

The refusal to act on the checks, along with the veto Friday or Saturday of the defense bill, could very well be among McConnell's final acts as majority leader as two GOP senators in Georgia are in the fights of their political lives in runoff elections next week that will determine which party controls the Senate.

Trump made an early return Thursday to the White House from his private club in Florida.

Trump and President-elect Joe Biden are separately poised to campaign in Georgia ahead of Tuesday's election as GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler face Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

It's a dizzying end to a session of Congress that resembles few others for the sheer number of crises and political standoffs as Trump's presidency defined and changed the legislative branch.

Congress opened in 2019 with the federal government shutdown over Trump's demands for money to build the border wall with Mexico. Nancy Pelosi regained the speaker's gavel after Democrats swept to the House majority in the midterm election.

Related video: Pelosi slams McConnell for halting stimulus checks

The Democratic-led House went on to impeach the president over his request to the Ukrainian president to “do us a favor” against Biden ahead of the presidential election. The Republican-led Senate acquitted the president in 2020 of the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

When the pandemic struck, Congress rallied with unusual speed and agreement to pass a $2 trillion relief package, the largest federal intervention of its kind in U.S. history.

The COVID-19 crisis also shuttered the Capitol and altered the workings of Congress. The House changed its rules to allow proxy voting, a first, so lawmakers could avoid the health risks of travel to Washington. The Senate ultimately halted its traditional daily lunches.

The usually bustling halls of Congress became eerily silent most days. Many members tested positive for the virus.

The Congress had few other notable legislative accomplishes, and could not agree on how to respond to the racial injustice reckoning that erupted after the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement.

Instead, the Senate was primarily focused on filling the courts with Trump's conservative judicial nominees, including confirming his third Supreme Court justice, Amy Coney Barrett.

As the session appeared to be winding down, Trump stunned Washington days before Christmas by delaying his signature on the latest $2 trillion-plus COVID relief and year-end funding package over his fresh demands for additional aid.

Trump’s push for $2,000 checks gained sudden momentum when dozens of House Republicans joined Democrats in approving the measure Monday. But the effort fizzled in the GOP-led Senate.

Democrats embraced Trump's demand, a rare alliance with the Republican president, but his own party split between those few joining his push for more aid and others objecting to more spending they said was not targeted to those who need it most.

Liberal senators, led by Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who support the relief boost are blocking action on the defense bill until a vote is taken on Trump’s demand.

McConnell offered an alternative aid bill, linking the $2,000 checks with Trump's other priorities, including a complicated repeal of protections for tech companies like Facebook or Twitter and the establishment of a bipartisan commission to review the 2020 presidential election.

But the GOP leader has scheduled no votes on his measure and it would be unlikely to have enough support in Congress to pass.

For now, the smaller $600 checks are being sent to households. Americans earning up to $75,000 qualify for the payments, which are phased out at higher income levels, and there’s an additional $600 payment per dependent child.

The outgoing president has been berating Republican leaders for the standoff, but he appears more focused on gathering GOP support for his extraordinary Electoral College challenge of Biden's victory when the vote is tallied in a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6.

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri is among those leading Trump’s challenge to the Electoral College result, but he was rebuked Thursday by GOP Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who warned colleagues off what he called a “dangerous ploy” that could damage trust in elections.

The challenge is not expected to change the election outcome, with Biden set to be inaugurated Jan. 20. But it will be among the first votes tallied in the new Congress.

The U.S. House voted to approve a short-term funding bill by a vote of 254-175. The vote followed passage in the Senate.

The bill, which allows the government to remain open until early December, now heads to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the stopgap spending legislation would also provide aid for those reeling from Hurricane Ida and other natural disasters, as well as funding to support Afghanistan evacuees from the 20-year war between the U.S. and the Taliban.

While Congress moved to avert one crisis, it’s putting off another.

Democrats were forced to remove a suspension of the federal government's borrowing limit from the bill at the insistence of Republicans.

The top priority for lawmakers at the moment is keeping the government funded to avoid a shutdown. But Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns that if the debt limit isn't raised by Oct. 18, the country would likely face a financial crisis and economic recession.

"At that point, we expect Treasury would be left with very limited resources that would be depleted quickly. It is uncertain whether we could continue to meet all the nation's commitments after that date," Yellen wrote in a letter to lawmakers earlier this week.

Yellen warned that waiting until the last minute to address the debt ceiling can cause harm to business and consumer confidence, raise borrowing costs for taxpayers, and negatively impact the credit rating of the U.S. for years to come.

"Failure to act promptly could also result in substantial disruptions to financial markets, as heightened uncertainty can exacerbate volatility and erode investor confidence," she wrote.

Meanwhile, Democrats are struggling to find a way to pass President Joe Biden's proposed $3.5 trillion budget plan that would fund social programs like universal pre-K and other programs focused on working families — a plan that faces roadblocks from some moderate Democrats.

In order to get the bill passed, Biden will need the support of nearly all 50 Democratic senators due to the current 50-50 split in the Senate.

At a press conference Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a positive outlook on negotiations, saying that they are in a "good place" and that she does not plan to delay a vote on the package.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the most powerful Republicans on Capitol Hill, denounced Republican efforts to use the tallying of Electoral College votes as a last-ditch effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

During a speech from the Senate floor, McConnell told his colleagues that his vote on Wednesday would be "the most important vote I have ever cast," adding that if Trump’s allies were successful in overturning the results of the election, “it would damage our republic forever.”

"If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral,” McConnell said. “We'd never see our country accept an election again."

McConnell added President Donald Trump had exhausted his path to victory.

“But over and over, the courts rejected these claims — including all-star judges whom the President himself nominated," he said. "...we cannot simply declare ourselves a national board of elections on steroids. The voters, the courts and the states have all spoken."

McConnell also criticized Democrats, who raised similar objections when Congress tallied Electoral College wins George W. Bush and in President Donald Trump’s first term. He also chastised the media for attempting to “de-legitimize” Trump’s presidency throughout his first term.

McConnell declined to recognize Joe Biden as president-elect after media outlets projected him the winner of the 2020 election, saying that President Donald Trump had the right to challenge the results. It wasn't until states certified results and the Electoral College cast its votes on Dec. 14 that McConnell recognized Biden as president-elect.

However, since the Electoral College vote, McConnell has cautioned Republicans against using today's vote tallying session as an opportunity to overturn the election results.

McConnell's speech Wednesday came after several Republican lawmakers objected to the Electoral College votes in Arizona, which prompted two hours of debate. Trump's allies have also promised to raise objections in other swing states, like Michigan and Pennsylvania.

However, the push to overturn the election will more than likely fail.

A majority of lawmakers in both chambers of Congress must approve the objections in order to throw out a state's Electoral Count. Democrats control the House of Representatives, and many Republican Senators have said they do not support the effort.

Vice President Mike Pence also said Wednesday that he will not reject the Electoral College results in his role of presiding over the session.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A petition seeking the impeachment of Kentucky’s attorney general was filed Friday by three grand jurors who criticized his handling of an investigation into Breonna Taylor’s shooting death by police.

The petition’s allegations against Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron include breach of public trust and failure to comply with his duties as the state’s chief law enforcement official. They do not accuse him of any crimes, but impeachment is not considered a criminal proceeding.

The petition is the latest in a flurry of tit-for-tat efforts to impeach Kentucky elected officials. Four Kentucky citizens recently petitioned the state House of Representatives to impeach Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear for executive actions he took in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and the matter was assigned to a House committee for review.

Beshear’s actions had been upheld by the state Supreme Court, and the governor says there are “zero grounds” for his removal.

Kentucky law requires impeachment petitions to be referred to a House committee but does not require any further action. Under the state’s constitution, the House possesses the sole power of impeachment. An impeachment trial is held in the state Senate, with a conviction requiring the support of two-thirds of the senators present.

The petition against Cameron, signed by a handful of Kentuckians, was submitted to the overwhelmingly Republican Kentucky House. Cameron is a close ally of U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and is seen as a rising GOP star.

Cameron’s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The petition’s signers include an attorney who did so on behalf of three grand jurors who have accused Cameron of misleading the public when describing the grand jury proceedings.

Cameron was the special prosecutor who investigated the actions of the Louisville police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Taylor during a warrant search last year. The investigation culminated in a grand jury ruling that did not charge any of the officers in the Black woman’s death. The shooting sparked protests in Louisville alongside national protests over racial injustice and police misconduct.

The petition is the latest seeking the ouster of prominent Kentucky officeholders. Another petition is seeking the ouster of Republican state Rep. Robert Goforth for an incident in which he allegedly tried to strangle a woman. Goforth, a former gubernatorial candidate, pleaded not guilty after his indictment on charges of strangulation and assault. The case is pending.

The petition against Cameron revives allegations raised anonymously by the three grand jurors. It accuses him of deceiving the public regarding his handling of the investigation into Taylor’s death.

Cameron had said in a widely viewed news conference that the grand jury had agreed that the officers who shot Taylor were justified because they were fired at by Taylor’s boyfriend. Officers fired 32 rounds into the home, five of which struck Taylor.

The three grand jurors said they did not agree and wanted to explore criminal charges, but said they were denied because Cameron’s prosecutors believed none of those charges would stick.

The impeachment petition was signed on their behalf by their Louisville attorney, Kevin Glogower.

“The grand jurors did not choose this battle,” Glogower said in a statement Friday. “This battle chose them. These are randomly selected citizens who were compelled to sit on a grand jury and were terribly misused by the most powerful law enforcement official in Kentucky.”

___

Lovan reported from Louisville, Kentucky.

Video above: McConnell slams Trump moments after acquitting him

Less than a month after excoriating Donald Trump in a blistering floor speech, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that he would “absolutely” support the former president again if he secured the Republican nomination in 2024.

The Kentucky Republican told Fox News that there's still “a lot to happen between now" and the next presidential election.

“I've got at least four members that I think are planning on running for president, plus governors and others,” McConnell said. “There's no incumbent. Should be a wide open race.”

But when directly asked if he would support Trump again were he to win the nomination, McConnell responded: “The nominee of the party? Absolutely.”

McConnell's remarks underscore an awkward balancing act he sought to maintain since Trump lost the election, reflecting the reality that McConnell’s own path back to power in the Senate hinges on enthusiasm from a party base that still ardently supports Trump.

McConnell's comments precede an annual gathering of conservative activists that this year is expected to showcase Trump's vise-grip hold on the GOP base.

Trump, along with most other leading 2024 presidential prospects, is set to address the Conservative Political Action Conference, which will be held in Orlando this year because of coronavirus restrictions. McConnell, a regular at the annual conference, will not be on the program following his condemnation of Trump.

Shortly after voting to acquit Trump at his second impeachment trial, McConnell delivered a scalding denunciation of Trump from the Senate floor, calling him “morally responsible” for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. In turn, an angry Trump blistered McConnell as a “dour, sullen and unsmiling political hack.”

The 36-year Senate veteran had an expedient relationship with Trump while he was in office. He made a habit of saying little about many of Trump’s outrageous comments.

But together they secured key Senate victories, such as the 2017 tax cuts and the confirmations of three Supreme Court justices and more than 200 other federal judges.

Their relationship soured after Trump’s denial of his Nov. 3 defeat and relentless efforts to reverse the voters’ verdict with his baseless claims that Democrats fraudulently stole the election.

It deteriorated further last month, after Republicans lost Senate control with two Georgia runoff defeats they blamed on Trump, followed by the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters. The day of the riot, McConnell railed against “thugs, mobs, or threats” and described the attack as “this failed insurrection.”

Still, McConnell likes to pride himself on playing the “long game,” which was the title of his 2016 memoir. And his comments on Thursday may yet prove prescient.

Recently, Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, a longtime Trump opponent, predicted the former president would win the nomination if he ran again.

“I don't know if he'll run in 2024 or not, but if he does, I'm pretty sure he will win the nomination,” Romney said during an online forum hosted by The New York Times.

CNN —

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell committed on Monday that Senate Republicans will support GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski's reelection bid in 2022 despite former President Donald Trump advocating that the GOP "get rid of" the 17 Republicans in Congress who voted against him during his second impeachment.

Of the seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump of inciting a deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, Alaska's Murkowski is the only one facing voters in the midterm election next year in a state Trump won by about 10 points last year.

"Absolutely," McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, replied when asked by CNN if the National Republican Senatorial Committee would back Murkowski even after Trump extolled to the Conservative Political Action Conference his desire for political revenge against his critics.

Related video: Trump names Republican impeachment supporters

Asked if he was worried the former President's considerable influence could make it harder for Murkowski to win reelection, McConnell responded firmly: "No."

Trump's attacks on Republican incumbents are another example of the sharp divide between the establishment wing of the party, represented by people like Murkowski and McConnell, and the Trump wing.

Trump also targeted the 10 GOP House members who had voted to impeach him in January.

On Monday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was silent when asked by CNN if he agreed with Trump that members who voted to impeach him should be primaried and purged from the party.

CNN —

Senators on both sides of the aisle said Wednesday evening there's an agreement with White House officials and 10 senators on a bipartisan infrastructure deal, with senators planning to meet with President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday to discuss it.

GOP Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said it's fully paid for and offsets the new spending.

"Everyone in that room agreed on the framework," Manchin said.

The pay-fors have been fully agreed to as well, Romney said.

The next 24 hours could determine whether two of President Joe Biden's major bipartisan priorities — infrastructure and policing legislation — will collapse.

Related video: What's the deal with infrastructure?

"We have a framework and we are going to the White House tomorrow," Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of the key GOP infrastructure negotiators, said.

Sen. Rob Portman, another lead GOP negotiator, said after leaving the meeting with the bipartisan group and White House officials that they were able to "get there" on the pay-fors, but still have some final details to workout.

"I think we have a good balanced group of pay-fors, and that was important to both sides. I will say, in good faith, we tried to get there. We didn't agree on everything, but we were able to get there," he said when asked to characterize where negotiations stand on the pay-fors of the infrastructure package.

Asked if they have a framework, Portman said he wouldn't use "exactly those words" Cassidy had, "but I would say, that we're very, very close."

"We're going to go back to our respective staffs and work out the details," he added.

He also confirmed they were invited to meet with Biden at the White House on Thursday and he will be attending.

Staffers on both sides still have to write the legislative language of their agreement, but they say the White House has signed off on the topline numbers and the pay-fors.

"White House senior staff had two productive meetings today with the bipartisan group of Senators who have been negotiating about infrastructure," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Wednesday evening. "The group made progress towards an outline of a potential agreement, and the President has invited the group to come to the White House tomorrow to discuss this in person."

Ahead of a two-week Senate recess, senators are struggling to finalize two far-reaching bipartisan deals that are the pillars of Biden's agenda. If they don't finalize an agreement, Democrats will try to go it alone on infrastructure — a risky gambit that has no guarantee of success. And there likely won't be any new policing legislation this Congress without Republican backing.

On infrastructure, a bipartisan group of senators huddled again with White House officials to try and find an agreement on how to pay for their $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan after a series of meetings Tuesday failed to yield an agreement. More officials were scheduled to meet with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday as well.

It comes at a key moment: As Democratic leaders are looking at employing the budget reconciliation process to approve a sweeping plan -- potentially as high as $6 trillion — a move that can't be filibustered in the Senate. But it would need the support of all 50 Democrats, something several have yet to back as they've called for bipartisan talks instead.

"We're fast approaching" the time to "fish or cut bait," Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, told CNN of the bipartisan group's efforts.

A proposed compromise on voting rights now has the support of a key advocate.

Stacey Abrams says she "absolutely could" support Senator Joe Manchin's proposed changes to the Democrats' elections package and that she'll look to Senate Democratic leaders to build on it to protect voters and reverse state-level restrictions.

"Basic building blocks that we need to ensure that democracy is accessible no matter your geography. Those provisions that he is setting forth are strong ones that will create a level playing field, will create standards that do not vary from state to state and, I think, will ensure that every American has improved access to the right to vote despite the onslaught of state legislations seeking to restrict access to the right to vote," Abrams said.

But the top Republican in the Senate calls Manchin's changes unacceptable and says the legislation isn't necessary at all.

"I've taken a look at all these new state laws, none of them are designed to suppress the vote. There is no rational basis for the federal government trying to take over all of American elections," said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

McConnell doesn't expect the bill to get support from Republicans, which would be necessary to overcome a filibuster in the Senate. 

This story originally reported by Kamil Zawadzki on Newsy.com.