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House Dems mourn bills buried in McConnell’s ‘legislative graveyard’

Halloween-timed display tweaks Senate leader for boasts of killing House bills

House Democratic Caucus gets in the Halloween spirit. (Clyde McGrady/CQ Roll Call)
House Democratic Caucus gets in the Halloween spirit. (Clyde McGrady/CQ Roll Call)

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries is stepping up his office’s Halloween decorations while expressing his frustration with a stalled agenda he blames on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Throughout the week, the chairman’s office has been displaying a “legislative graveyard,” featuring decorative tombstones inscribed with bills that have passed the House, but have yet to move in the Republican-controlled Senate.

The tombstones represent more than a dozen bills, including ones addressing climate change, pensions and gun purchase background checks.

There’s even a Grim Reaper, a dig at McConnell, who has even referred to himself by the moniker.

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“If I’m still the majority leader of the Senate after next year, none of those things are going to pass the Senate,” he told voters in his home state of Kentucky in April, referring to bills passed by the Democrat-controlled House. “They won’t even be voted on. So think of me as the Grim Reaper, the guy who is going to make sure that socialism doesn’t land on the president’s desk.”

[ How you (and your pet!) can be buried at the Congressional Cemetery ]

The graveyard idea came from Jeffries staffer Zachary Leibell, who said the “scariest thing” a House member can do is pass a bill out of the chamber, “only for it to go to the Senate and endure a slow and painful demise.”

The Grim Reaper (Clyde McGrady / CQ Roll Call
The Grim Reaper looks out upon the graveyard. (Clyde McGrady/CQ Roll Call)

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