Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell repeated a familiar Republican refrain about the economy Tuesday, when asked about the 0.7 percent decline in gross domestic product during the first quarter of 2015. He attributed the first GDP decline since the first quarter of 2014 to the “heavy hand of government.” “This has been the slowest recovery after a deep recession since World War II,” McConnell said. “Normally the pattern has been the deeper the recession the quicker the bounce back. Look at the steps that we’re taking: spending, borrowing, taxing, overregulation. All of that has produced a kind of tepid response to this deep recession.”