GOP leaders Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy play defense as backlash against Rick Scott's 'Rescue America' plan intensifies

• Sen. Rick Scott's 11-point, midterm victory plan leans very Trumpy.
• The Florida Republican picks culture war fights with schools, government, Big Tech, and others.

Sen. Rick Scott said he hoped his ultra-conservative plan to "Rescue America" would stir criticism from the "woke" left, Washington insiders as well as some on the right. He's getting his wish and then some — including from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

McConnell on Tuesday rebuked Scott for proposing the 11-point plan to "Rescue America," which has become a campaign talking point for Democrats who point to Scott's goal of forcing millions of low- and middle-income Americans currently exempt from income taxes to pay up so "they have skin in the game."

"If we're fortunate enough to have the majority next year, I'll be the majority leader, I'll decide in consultation with my members what to put on the floor," McConnell told reporters when asked about the plan at his weekly news conference. "And let me tell you what would not be part of our agenda. We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people, and sunsets social security and Medicare within five years."

"That will not be part of a Republican Senate majority agenda," he added. "We will focus instead on what the American people are concerned about: inflation, energy, defense, the border, and crime."

Across the Capitol, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy shook his head when asked if his developing midterm agenda would overlap with Scott's game plan. "No, ours will be our own," McCarthy told Insider outside the House chamber.

McCarthy declined, however, to lay out a specific timeline for the rollout of his "Commitment to America" rewrite, stating only that the reelection strategy getting tweaked by advisors like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich remains a work in progress.

"It'll be a few months from now," McCarthy said of the tentative release.

Scott's plan, which declares "there are two genders" and calls for naming a border wall after twice-impeached former President Donald Trump, has stunned some Republicans who say it's a gift to Democrats.

"If I'm a Democrat looking at this list, this is candy in a store to go after," said former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. "No matter how much red, white, and blue you wrap around it, there are some real problematic issues that are raised by what's in this plan."

The agenda could be used by Republicans who are in tough primary challenges but many of its parts could be "difficult to defend by Republicans trying to unseat Democrats in swing states for the general election," said Ron Bonjean, a former spokesman for Republican leaders in the House and Senate.

"Why take away the shovel from Democrats who are digging their own hole right now heading into the November elections?" Bonjean asked.

The Florida senator and chairman of the Senate Republicans' campaign arm released the plan on February 22, days ahead of his appearance at the conservative conference CPAC in Florida on February 26. The culture war-stoking blueprint calls for scrapping the Department of Education, discarding diversity efforts by removing race and ethnicity considerations from government programs, venerating the Second Amendment by shielding "gun rights always, at all costs," sunsetting all federal legislation after five years, clamping down on elections — and battling "wokeism" in general.

In his opening letter, Scott warned that his plan "is not for the faint of heart."

"It will be ridiculed by the 'woke' left, mocked by Washington insiders, and strike fear in the heart of some Republicans," he wrote. "At least I hope so."

A 'scary' worldview

Bill Hoagland, a former Senate Republican leadership aide who is now senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center, described Scott's worldview as "scary overall."

"These talking points are not something I would have a GOP candidate espouse," he told Insider, adding that Scott's ideas might rally the faithful in a MAGA primary fight or fire up attendees at CPAC "but they are not good for governing a diverse country."

Hoagland said he saw some merit in the education, law enforcement and deficit-reduction proposals Scott floated, but poked holes in just about everything else.

• Abolishing diversity efforts: "Really a nonstarter"
• Cracking down on immigration: "Only plays to the Reagan base"
• Glorifying Trump at the southern border: "Give me a break!"
• Gutting the government workforce: "Unbelievable. Are you going to start with the IRS? TSA? Border Patrol? Coast Guard in Florida?"

"They really are pretty far right, very polarizing and will make finding common ground on the issues we confront as a country much more difficult to achieve," Hoagland said of the total package. "If fully carried out they will not make America great, but further divide and split us apart."

Steele, Maryland's former lieutenant governor and the first African-American elected to statewide office there, called Scott's "colorblind equality" narrative "silly."

"Just because you don't want to see it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. You can't wish it away," he said. "There are a lot of aspects of this that are just grist for the Trump mill. This is not a GOP, this is not a conservative plan in my view."

The plan represents a challenge to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, who has avoided releasing such a document. McConnell's office did not respond to Insider's request for comment about Scott's vision.

"The Senate Republican leader sets the tone for the entire conference," Bonjean said. "So it's quite unusual that you have a campaign chairman that's rowing in a bit of a different direction."

Insider asked the campaigns of the 15 Senate Republicans up for reelection this November about the utility of Scott's outline and any plans to weave the provocative talking points into voter outreach back home.

A campaign aide to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who is seeking an eighth term this fall, told Insider that Grassley discussed a variety of topics with constituents during a Wednesday breakfast meeting.

The Grassley aide did not address the specifics of Scott's 11-point plan, but said Grassley fielded questions about China "stealing America's intellectual property" (Scott doesn't mention this specifically, but it would likely fit under his "America First" rubric), the COVID-related trucker protest in Canada, accountability for the IRS (Scott proposed slashing the IRS budget and staff in half), and protecting parental rights when it comes to education.

The campaign aide said Grassley also bashed Biden for the country's "open border policies" (Scott, too, plays up immigration woes), rising gas prices, and the need to lower the cost of prescription drugs. Scott doesn't touch drug pricing in his manifesto, but Senate Democrats last week mentioned that, and relaxing gas taxes, as inflationary fixes Congress should move on ASAP.

Former NRSC chair Phil Gramm praised Scott for stirring things up during an election year.

"Whether you agree with each and every point he makes, his plan is the kind of big thinking that America needs now," Gramm wrote in a testimonial blasted out by Scott's campaign.

Democrats' feeding frenzy

The Democratic National Committee, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki all pounced on Scott's economic proposal, saying it would raise taxes for working families and seniors.

During an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Scott said tax hikes aren't in his plan. However, the plan says: "All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount. Currently over half of Americans pay no income tax."

Liz Mair, a former Republican National Committee online communications director, said the economic portion is "policy-smart, but probably politically-stupid."

"It improves my opinion of Rick Scott as a future presidential contender, but I think people whose ideal candidate is Mike Lee or Rand Paul are probably not more than 5% of the party right now, so that may not count for too much," she wrote in an email.