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McCain and Franken bury the hatchet
A high-profile dust-up in late December between Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) has not left any ill will between the two men, McCain told The Hill on Tuesday.
McCain downplayed any lingering effects from the exchange, which made national headlines and involved Franken cutting off McCain’s close friend, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), during the healthcare reform debate.
At a subsequent press conference, McCain expressed disgust with Franken, saying Lieberman’s request was “objected to by the newest member of the United States Senate in a most brusque way ... We’ve got to stop this kind of behavior. I have never seen anything like that and I hope that I don’t see it again.”
On Tuesday, McCain said he approached Franken after the incident and learned that Franken was simply following orders from Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to keep speakers to a 10-minute maximum. Reid’s office confirmed the order.
“It wasn’t Sen. Franken that was doing that. He told me he had been instructed not to allow any additional time … He was told to do it. So it was never anything between me and Sen. Franken.”
Franken also got a pass Tuesday from Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who made headlines shortly after the Franken-Lieberman exchange when he criticized the Senate’s “newest members” for a lack of decorum in the chamber.
“I have been deeply disturbed by some of the [healthcare] debate I have heard, usually from newer members, usually those who have been here one, two, three years, who do not have an appreciation of what this chamber means and how we work together,” Dodd said at the time.
Dodd told The Hill on Tuesday he wasn’t referring to Franken in his December floor speech and that he has a “very good” relationship with the senator.
“Absolutely not, no,” Dodd said when asked if his speech was referring to Franken. Dodd did not say to whom he was referring.
Franken’s office did not comment by press time.
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