McConnell: ‘Very confident’ Congress can avoid government shutdown

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Sunday said he expects Congress will be able to avoid a government shutdown.

“I’m very confident. The two appropriations committees are working on the bill on a bipartisan basis,” McConnell said on “Fox News Sunday” when asked about the risk of a government shutdown.

“We’ll be talking to Senate Democrats. They will be relevant to this process. It will require 60 votes. I’m confident Senate Democrats are not going to want to shut down the government.”

{mosads}Host Chris Wallace said there are a number of priorities President Trump and other Republicans want that Democrats find “unacceptable.” He pointed to the proposed funds for building a wall along the country’s southern border and a proposed increase in defense spending.

McConnell, however, said nobody wants a government shutdown.

“We’re going to negotiate all of those items in the context of this funding bill, which will fund the government through Sept. 30,” he said.

“We’ll be debating these issues again for next year’s appropriations, which start Oct. 1.”

The majority leader said every time there has been a government shutdown, Congress has been blamed as opposed to the president. 

“Congress owns the government shutdown brand. And there’s no incentive, frankly, for either side, to go to the brink,” he said.

“I think we’re going to be able to work all of this out later this month.”

When pressed further on whether he would risk a government shutdown to ensure funding for the president’s proposed border wall, McConnell said it all would be worked out on a bipartisan basis.

“The Democrats will be fully involved in the discussion — so will the president,” he said. 

“We’ll work it out and avoid any kind of catastrophic event.”