Updated: 2:55 P.M.

On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) dismissed what he termed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) “bizarre obsession” designed to blow “kisses to their powerful pals on the left.”

“Instead of focusing on jobs, [Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid] launched into another confusing attack on the left’s latest bizarre obsession,” the Republican leader said on the Senate floor. “Just think about that. The percentage of Americans in the workforce is at an almost four-decade low, and Democrats chose to ignore serious job-creation ideas so they could blow a few kisses to their powerful pals on the left.”

McConnell said that what working class Americans “need right now are real job-creation solutions, not some tone-deaf blame-deflection rally or some daily bout of shadow boxing here on the Senate floor.” He attacked it as part of Democrats’ “never-ending political road show.”

McConnell’s remarks came in response to a speech by Reid attacking the Koch brothers and touting the Democrats’ gender pay equity bill. McConnell’s office insists his comments were about Reid’s slam on the Kochs, not pay equity.

The spat comes on the same day that the White House is pushing executive actions aimed at helping federal contractors who are women, and top Democrats are touting the Paycheck Fairness Act, which enhances legal protections for women who are paid less on the basis of their gender. Republicans are highlight the White House’s own gender pay gap and dismissing the push as a gimmick that won’t solve the problem.

Clarification: This article initially attributed McConnell’s remarks to Democrats’ push on pay equity. His office contends that they were in reference to Reid’s comments about the Koch brothers. Reid discussed both pay equity and the Kochs in the floor speech McConnell was referring to.

