Mitch McConnell Scoffs After Jon Stewart Blames Him For 9/11 Victims Funding Issues

Last week, Jon Stewart made an emotional plea before a sparsely populated Congressional hearing asking lawmakers to provide additional funding for, and to make permanent, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. His plea seemingly worked, with the House Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to permanently reauthorize the Victims Compensation Fund (it still has to pass a full vote on the floor). But when he appeared on Fox News Sunday yesterday to explain the nuances of the fight to the Fox audience, he called out Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell as the biggest hurdle to getting this done.

"In terms of getting the 9/11 bills passed, Mitch McConnell has been the white whale of this since 2010," he said. "I think it's the cynicism that's displayed by Washington that also causes this situation to be so emotional. They asked Mitch McConnell about the testimony after it was done, and he said...'Gosh, we haven't looked at that in awhile, but we will look at it, and I'm sure we'll deal with it as compassionately as we have in the past.' But I want to make it clear that this has never been dealt with compassionately by Senator McConnell. He has always held out until the very last minute and only then, under intense lobbying and public shaming, has he even deigned to move on it."

McConnell then appeared on Fox & Friends this morning, where he smugly brushed aside Stewart's complaints by saying "many things in Congress happen at the last minute." He continued: "We have never failed to address this issue. And we will address it again. I don’t know why he’s all bent out of shape. We will take care of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund."

McConnell also excused the fact so few members of the House showed up for the hearing by condescendingly saying "that frequently happens" because they are so busy: "Members have a lot of things going on at the same time." He added, "It sounds to me like he’s looking for some way to take offense. There is no way we won’t address this problem appropriately. We have in the past we will in the future."