McConnell Says Tax Overhaul Is His Second-Greatest Achievement

(Bloomberg) -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he considers the landmark tax legislation poised to pass Congress this week as only the second-greatest achievement of his career.

The Kentucky Republican said he’s proudest of ensuring a Republican-nominated justice could replace Antonin Scalia -- which McConnell made possible by refusing to let former President Barack Obama fill the position during his last year in office.

"For me personally, it would be Neil Gorsuch and the changes we’re making in the circuit courts," McConnell said in an interview Tuesday. "But this would be a really close second," he said referring to the tax bill.

Senate Republicans ignited the "nuclear option" to allow confirmation of President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch and bar Democrats from blocking future picks, a dramatic rule change that could deepen partisan divisions and put more ideologically extreme justices on the court.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sahil Kapur in Washington at skapur39@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alexis Leondis at aleondis@bloomberg.net, John Voskuhl

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