“I think it’s important to have a response,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday.

“None of us have had the experience of being an African American in this country and dealing with this discrimination, which persists here some 50 years after the 1964 civil rights bill and the 1965 civil rights bill,” he added.

“We’re still wrestling with America’s original sin,” McConnell said, referring to slavery. “We try to get better but every now and then it’s perfectly clear we’re a long way from the finish line.”

“I think the best way for the Senate Republicans to go forward on this is to listen to one of our own, who’s had these experiences — he’s had them since he’s been in the United States Senate,” McConnell said of Scott.