Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the record-breaking partial government shutdown and said the California Democrat is playing “one big political game” with the lives of 800,000 federal workers who are now going without paychecks.

The Kentucky Republican said Pelosi is adhering to the wishes of her far-left base by opposing money for a southern border barrier and additional border security funding that Democrats had largely agreed to in the past, including in the fiscal 2018 spending bill, which included $1.3 billion to upgrade existing fencing and barriers along the Mexican border.