Politics
Posted by Charlie Kirk Staff - 11.16.22

GOP Senators Demand Audit Of NRSC Spending After Midterm Fail

GOP Senators Demand Audit Of NRSC Spending After Midterm Fail

Politics
Posted by Charlie Kirk Staff - 11.16.22

A pair of Republican senators are demanding an audit of the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s spending after the party failed to make any headway in the upper chamber during the 2022 midterm election cycle.

Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Thom Tillis of North Carolina want an independent review of the NRSC, which is controlled by Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott, to find out how millions in contributions were spent while the party still managed to fall way short of winning a majority in the chamber.

Chris Hartline, an NRSC spokesperson, told Politico that an audit wasn’t needed because the organization regularly files details of income and expenditures with the Federal Election Commission, as required by law.

“We get audited every month. It’s called an FEC report,” Hartline said, adding that “every member of the caucus was kept in the loop on NRSC strategy and spending all cycle.”

The committee managed to haul in some $234.6 million for the recent election cycle leading up to Oct. 19. The committee spent $235.3 million since the beginning of 2021, the Politico report noted further.

Calls for the audit come as Scott makes moves to replace Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Scott announced his intention to challenge the Kentucky Republican on Tuesday.

“The status quo is broken and big change is needed. It’s time for new leadership in the Senate that unites Republicans to advance a bold conservative agenda,” Scott tweeted. “That’s why I’m running to be the Senate Republican Leader.”

“I’m writing to you today because I believe it’s time for the Senate Republican Conference to be far more bold and resolute than we have been in the past. We must start saying what we are for, not just what we are against,” Scott noted in a letter to fellow Republican senators. “I do not believe we can simply continue to say the Democrats are radical, which they are. Republican voters expect and deserve to know our plan to promote and advance conservative values.”

Scott already has supporters.

“I’ll be nominating @SenRickScott for Senate Republican leader,” Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who won reelection last week, tweeted on Tuesday. “We need a different, more collaborative governing model for our conference that is focused on fiscal sanity & bringing function to the Senate. I hope elections are delayed so Rick has a chance to lay out his vision.”

In an interview with Fox Business Network Tuesday morning, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) agreed that it was a bad idea to hold leadership elections this week and simply reappoint the same leaders after the party’s shellacking in the midterms.

“I think it is insane, it would be nuts for us to have leadership elections now and simply re-election the exact same leadership,” Cruz noted.

“I am so pissed off I cannot even see straight…The rage that I am feeling, there are almost not words to describe it…It is hard to describe my feelings as anything other than rage right now,” he said during his podcast on Monday, saying the GOP experienced an “enormous missed opportunity.”

“At best, we’re going to take the House with a couple of seats — maybe,” he added. “We’re going to be looking at a 2, 3, 4 vote majority at best.”

“The rage Americans are feeling across this country, the rage that I’m feeling, there are almost not words to describe it. Because this opportunity was screwed up, it was screwed up badly,” he said.

“And the people who are going to pay the price are the American people. The country is screwed for the next four years because of this,” noted the Texas Republican.

“We’re going to see horrible left-wing judges confirmed for the next two years because of this. We’re going to see judges taking away our free speech rights, our religious liberty rights, our Second Amendment rights,” he predicted.

“It is an enormous missed opportunity, and it is hard to describe my feelings as anything other than rage right now,” said Cruz.

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