Former GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann on Mitch McConnell: 'His time is over'

Former GOP presidential candidate and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann on Wednesday called for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to step aside and to allow as new generation of Republicans become party leaders.

"I would hope, with all due respect that Mitch McConnell will just recognize and leave," Bachmann said on the John Solomon Reports podcast. "I think even for him to leave now in his term would be wise and to hand the reins over."

Earlier this month, the Kentucky Republican became the country's longest-serving Senate leader.

"You've got someone like Senator Rick Scott," said Bachmann about the Florida Republican who recently challenged McConnell for his leadership post.

"You've got other candidates who would do well to lead the Republicans in the Senate. We've taken a dramatic turn in the house. The Senate needs to take that lead and recognize if you want to change America, you have to change what you do in the Senate."

McConnell is largely considered a master Capitol Hill strategist and partisan dealmaker. But he's recently faced criticism from within his political party for not trying to block, or at least trim, the $1.7 trillion omnibus appropriations bill passed in the last congressional session by the Democrat-controlled Congress. 

McConnell cited defense spending as his main reason for voting for the measure. McConnell's Capitol Hill office did not respond to requests for comment before this story was published. 

"America no longer has the appetite for big spending simply because we can't," Bachmann also said. "We're looking at a broke treasury. People's lives aren't well, aren't doing well privately because government is stealing their money and spending it. People really do want a change."

Bachmann says Americans want a change and are done with politicians that are in it for personal benefit and not the people.

"If you look at Mitch McConnell-I don't think he enjoys a wide berth of support among the Republican base, or among a lot of people," she argued. "The donor class are all for him. The lobbyists are all for him. But he doesn't have a big base anymore."

"One thing politicians need to realize is they have a window of time on the stage-the political stage," Bachmann continued. "I don't think Mitch McConnell understands that his time is over."